Outerlands (2025)
First screened and reviewed in January 2026
Director: Elena Oxman. Cast: Asia Kate Dillon, Ridley Asha Bateman, Louise Krause, Lea DeLaria, Daniel K. Isaac, Anya Prinz, Allie Heng, Winter Dewitt, Melinda Meeng, Safiya Fredericks. Screenplay: Elena Oxman. In Brief:(2026)
Puts elements in play for a tense, paranoid mystery in a plausible, particular milieu but can't decide on a good path.
VOR:③
Narrative and lead character are unique and layered enough to stand out from the pack. Potential isn't realized, though it'll win some devotees.
Elena Oxman's script and direction, seemingly conceived in close tandem with Asia Kate Dillon's central performance, put several elements in play for a tense, paranoid mystery in a plausible, particular milieu. What does it mean when a one-night stand with a hapless co-worker culminates in inheriting her terse, 12-year-old child as your ward—either because she's been kidnapped or you've been played, or both? What, if anything, does your drinking have to do with what's happened, or why? What, if anything, does nonbinary gender have to do with it? What, if anything, do video games have to do with it? Or your painful personal past? Or that middle-tier bank worker who keeps sticking her neck out for you?
Oxman doesn't come across as much of a stylist or technician but she does establish an involving, unsettling mood, comparable to something like Christopher Nolan's Following or, with less intensity, Darren Aronofsky's π. Still, Oxman can't decide on a good path through all the elements she's devised; if anything, her plot sense and POV feel less certain as we go. Things we know about Outerlands's characters or their circumstances in one scene don't seem to matter or even exist when we shift to some new storyline or emphasis. I can see the argument for using messy structure to explore a messy life, but Outerlands just doesn't earn that level of benefit of the doubt. Dillon comes off better than their director does, but neither the role nor the performance feel sturdy enough to anchor an interesting project that clearly seeks something other than "stability" per se but hangs together less and less steadily on its own elliptical terms. The end features a few tender grace notes but mostly comes off as a whiff. Grade:C+
(I originally wrote this capsule on Letterboxd, where you can comment if you like.)
