Charlize Theron stars as live-action version of animated superhero in Aeon Flux
AEON FLUX (Karyn Kusama, 2005)
Nitehawk Cinema
136 Metropolitan Ave. between Berry St. & Wythe Ave.
Sunday, January 27, 10:45 am
Series runs January 24-27
718-384-3980
www.aeonflux.com
nitehawkcinema.com
We were big fans of Peter Chung’s animated Aeon Flux shorts, which aired on MTV’s Liquid Television, and Karyn Kusama didn’t let us down with this live-action version — pay no attention to the mostly terrible reviews it garnered. A black-haired Charlize Theron stars as the title character, a Monican secret agent who is assigned by the otherworldly Handler (an oddly cast Frances McDormand) to assassinate Trevor Goodchild (Martin Csokas, who looks more and more like Kevin Spacey as the film goes on), the leader of the walled city of Bregna, the last civilization on earth in the year 2411. But Aeon is not able to pull the trigger, as some faraway, faded memory keeps her from killing him, even following the government’s murder of her sister (Amelia Warner) — and she soon finds herself being hunted by her former partner, Sithandra (Sophie Okonedo), who has hands for feet, while Trevor’s brother (Jonny Lee Miller) has plans of his own. Aeon Flux is simply good sci-fi fun; there are no outrageous special effects, the plot is riddled with holes, and we’re still trying to figure out what it all means, but heck, we never understood what was going on in the cool animated series either. The film is screening January 27 at 10:45 am in the Nitehawk Cinema tribute to Kusama being held January 24-27 in conjunction with the release of her latest, Destroyer. The four-day retrospective also includes Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation, Destroyer, Girlfight, and XX, with Kusama in person at several shows.