Blade Runner 2049

(2017) dir Denis Villeneuve w/Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, Dave Bautista, Robin Wright, Hiam Abbass, Mackenzie Davis, Edward James Olmos [164 min; DCP]

This long-anticipated follow up to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic (which we screen in April), features Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, and a host of other movie stars and character actors, but the real focus of the film is the remarkable world-building and visual design. Roger Deakins’ cinematography (and, by extension, the lighting and styling that he usually advises on) both drives and serves the story in equal measure. BLADE RUNNER 2049 is a remarkable cinematic experience and, as director Villeneuve himself has stated, an extremely expensive art film disguised as a genre blockbuster.