New on Netflix: That's why the comedy “Don't look up” is already an Oscar favorite

Created: 12/23/2021 Updated: 12/23/2021, 12:09 PM

From: Katja Kraft

"Doomsday prophet with a bedroom view" is what his fans call Dr.

Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) - but what important things he has to say about the end of the world, they don't want to hear.

© Netflix

Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence in “Don't look up” are new on Netflix: The brilliant doomsday film starts this Christmas.

Absolutely worth seeing!

Hell, the guys at Netflix just know how to do it. Let's not be annoyed that the streaming provider's new production - "Don't look up" - will only be shown in cinemas for a short time before it starts on December 24th on Netflix. You want to be taken into account at the award ceremonies - and at the Oscars, for example: only films that were shown in the cinema receive awards. Few will buy a ticket, be it for convenience or because you miss the short window of time in which the film can be seen on the big screen. This continues to affect the houses hit by the pandemic. But from a viewer's perspective you have to admit that the people in charge invest a lot of the money that Netflix rakes in damn good projects.So we end the scolding - and start the song of praise. Adam McKay wrote and shot another masterpiece. “Don't look up”, that's 145 fast-paced minutes of film, full of deep black humor, pop-cultural allusions, hilarious dialogues, clever cuts - and an ensemble that blows your mind.

Leonardo DiCaprio (as a curious scientist, always shortly before the next panic attack - Oscar-worthy), Cate Blanchett (as an affected talk show host with a penchant for alcohol and powerful men - Oscar-worthy), Jennifer Lawrence (as a stubborn doctoral student - Oscar-worthy), Meryl Streep (as a power-obsessed US -President - Oscar-worthy), Jonah Hill (as the boozy son of the said US President - Oscar-worthy), Mark Rylance (as self-centered tech billionaire and man-driver - Oscar-worthy) form the phenomenal main cast.

And then in half of the film Timothée Chalamet comes along to take on a supporting role (that of religious punk).

Could it be a size bigger?

Pregnant Jennifer Lawrence at the premiere of "Don't Look Up".

© Mike Coppola

The plot is easy to tell: a comet is racing towards earth, according to calculations by Dr. In six months and 14 days he will hit Mindy (DiCaprio) and his colleague Kate (Lawrence) - and wipe out all life. The scientists are supposed to click this to the US President, but she and her stupid son and US Chief of Staff are only thinking about the next primaries for Congress.

What follows is typically Adam McKay: At mad speed he chases us through a bitterly serious topic with grandiose montages, very funny politician satirises and extremely successful allusions to our curious social media times.

It is about all of us ignorance of bad news, the mistrust in science when it admonishes us to change our habits;

it's about fake news, conspiracy theories;

to simple-minded, power-hungry politicians - and citizens who have become comfortable and who gave them their votes.

“Don't look up” is popcorn cinema that has a long lasting effect

Nobody wants to believe in the comet. Until it can actually be seen with the naked eye from Earth. In the English original, Mindy yells at this moment “They are finally seeing it!” In the German version it says “Finally they see him.” A bad translation. It's not about him, the comet. It's about what he stands for. For everything that we, the most well-informed, know about around the clock, but what we cowardly shut our eyes to. Climate crisis, factory farming, racism. And. And. And. If the people in the film use the US government's attempt at a rescue operation only as an opportunity for the next public viewing event, one feels caught out. We amorous escapists. "We really had it all, if you think about it," Mindy says at one point. And what did we do with it?

Be sure to watch, be sure to wait for the credits, be sure to take something with you.

The latter happens all by itself.

At this popcorn cinema that has a long lasting effect.