Swan Song
Director: Benjamin Cleary
Year Released: 2021
Rating: 2.0
Artist Cameron (Mahershala Ali) has a terminal illness and needs to support his wife Poppy (Naomie Harris) and their children, so he makes the decision to clone himself in the form of Jack (Ali once again) and "swap" positions so his family won't feel the pain of his passing away. From a visual perspective it's very crisp (I'd expect nothing less from Apple) and Ali is fantastic (which is a given), but it tries to present this as a complex ethical/moral decision, but it's really simple: as the "man of the house" he needs to do whatever's necessary to protect his family from unnecessary anguish. Of course, this all gets stretched out to the point where Cameron and his clone have shouting matches with each other - because Cameron just "can't let go" - but if you ask me I'd be more than happy to let my own clone teach, do chores, run errands, etc. Also: if society and science have progressed to where they have the ability to essentially recreate life, how come they haven't developed the technology to "cure" Cameron's sickness? Hmmm?