Introduction
Sometimes words fail to fully explain an experience. I’m not sure I can properly explain Digger without spoiling the story, but I’m going to try. If you watch enough films set in slightly surreal worlds, it gets easier to describe them, but I feel like we are seeing more films like this today than ever before. Is it a film with a message? Yes. Is it critical of humanity? Yes. Does it tell a straightforward story? Yes. Is that story bat-shit crazy? Yes. Is Alejandro G. Iñárritu a great filmmaker? The answer certainly appears to be yes. Is Digger a good film? No. It is an incredibly badass, in-your-face roller-coaster ride. It delivers a kick-you-in-the-balls shock to the system. Holy smokes. It might one day be considered a great movie. Only time will tell.
The Plot
Digger starts a little weird and just gets weirder and stranger. Let me at least set the table for weird and strange. This film reminds me a lot of a Wes Anderson film without the niceties but with all the absurdity. It reminds me somewhat of Yorgos Lanthimos’ films, but it’s a little more grounded. Iñárritu balances elements of these other directors’ styles with his own and turns out a slightly surreal, very odd, off-kilter punch to the central nervous system.
Explaining the plot of Digger would give away too much of what makes the film work, so I’m not going to try to summarize it in any great detail. Tom Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an unapologetic capitalist and resource tycoon primarily in the oil and gas sector. He is solely focused on right now, this moment, and does not have an eye on tomorrow because that is down the road, and he will deal with it when it gets here. In the case of this movie, that moment occurs immediately. It is bad for everyone.
The Performances
Cruise gives the performance that he has been holding in check for his entire career. He gets to go full Tom Cruise. I think he out-crazies some of the greats of over-the-top acting, like Willem Dafoe and Nicolas Cage, and somehow finds his Spinal Tap 11 of performances. I have always felt that Cruise has forcibly held himself in check for most of his career, knowing that a character like this might come along at some point and he could fully unleash himself. The statements this film makes are harsh on everyone, and for Cruise to throw himself this completely into making them is pretty damn ballsy.
As for the rest of the cast, no one in this film comes with anything less than their absolute A-game. John Goodman is incredible as the President. It reminds me of an unleashed version of what he might have wanted to do years ago when he made the TV series Alpha House, where he played a Republican senator. Here, we are never told the President’s party affiliation, but it becomes pretty obvious once he starts talking. Goodman’s performance has to be as off-the-wall as it is just to keep up with Cruise, and he nails it.
Riz Ahmed, as the scientist Ganesh, is the one who brings a sense of reality to everything happening around him. As it becomes more and more obvious what is happening, he also has to confront the possibility that maybe he could have done something about it if he had only found the courage to speak up sooner. Ahmed is incredible. There really isn’t much subtlety to his performance, or anyone else’s for that matter, but subtlety isn’t what this movie calls for. Ahmed deserves special mention because, amid all the insanity surrounding him, Ganesh becomes the voice of humanity.
The most grounded person in Digger, but also the person who, just by appearing in it, makes you go, “Yes, of course he should be in this movie,” is Jesse Plemons. He is somehow a bridge to all of the absurdity while also playing the most grounded character in the film. Plemons has become so good at occupying these slightly strange worlds that his presence almost immediately makes the whole thing feel more believable.
Further Discussion
Iñárritu does an incredible job telling his story and getting the absolute best from his actors. I think the actors provide the performances they do because of Iñárritu’s passion for what he is doing here. It feels obvious. Now, if we were only discussing story and performance, this would already be a great film, but Iñárritu’s other choices are equally brilliant.
Start with his decision to shoot Digger in VistaVision. Normal 35mm film runs vertically through the camera. VistaVision turns the film sideways and runs it horizontally, allowing each individual frame to use a much larger area of the film. Developed by Paramount in the 1950s and used on films such as White Christmas, Vertigo, and North by Northwest, VistaVision produces an image with significantly more detail than conventional 35mm and approaches some of the visual qualities we associate with larger film formats.
Iñárritu takes full advantage of that here. Everything feels in your face but also just slightly off. Many of the shots are deliberately off-kilter. Very seldom are we looking directly at the action. Instead, the camera might be looking slightly upward or positioned off to one side. When Iñárritu does put us directly in front of a scene, it is often to emphasize the exaggerated reactions of his actors.
Much of the filmmaking in Digger reminds me of Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. There is something similar in the way both films use exaggerated performances and unusual compositions to make an already absurd situation feel even more absurd. Further, the lighting choices are spectacular as well, with numerous scenes filmed partially in shadow, providing additional texture and tone to the story.
Very seldom does a shot feel conventionally composed. We might get an extreme close-up, followed by a long shot encompassing the entire room, followed by another shot positioned off to the side where we aren’t even looking directly at the action. It keeps you visually unsettled. You never quite get comfortable watching Digger, which is exactly how this movie should feel. It is a brilliant choice and adds so much to the film.
Conclusion
Digger was an amazing film. It is wacky and funny, and yet somehow also thought-provoking and deep. The performances are indeed nuts. It is a beautiful film. And yes, it has something to say. Listen. Watch. Laugh. Get a little mad. Maybe get a little uncomfortable. But watch this movie. I think I’m going to see it again.
