MONOCHROMIA (2013)

In a world a little like ours a whole lot like someone elses', a chemical weapon is released. It is not supposed to do much, but in the end the entire world becomes color blind. Nothing is the same. 

Years later, a scientist (James Porter) is on the verge of a cure, but others covet his secret for one reason; greed. If they control who can and cannot see in color then they have ultimate power. The companies that used to produce color dyes for paint, fabric and many other things will come back and bring prosperity to the world again.

A mad billionaire sends his cronies to do his dirty work and the scientist ends up dead. Really dead. His cousin (Cherry Lynn Zinger) has to discover who did it and retrieve the secret of returning color to the world at large.

Being the considered expert on all films Legge, I was really looking forward to his new film. The basic concept felt a little darker and more satiric than the others. What? Don't believe I'm the expert? I did write a book on the man you know.

UNABASHED PLUG!!!!!!  

Here is the book I wrote. You can buy your very own copy of it here. Monochromia is not reviewed in it. That will be in the second edition.

So, how is the latest from the demented mind of Michael Legge? This reminds me a lot of Cutthroats, one of his earlier films. Where that one skewered the office worker environment Monochromia deals with things on a more world wide level. What would it be like if color was gone? Sure, we all like some old school movies and TV, but if your world was like that? It would be horrible.

Legge does double duty as the billionaire madman bent on controlling the world and his own flunky. Lorna Nogeira is, Alvin, the flunky's moll, Nadine. They are probably the heart of the film as while they do dastardly things, they do love each other in their own demented way. Being a huge Cherry Lynn Zinger fan I was ecstatic to see her back in a major role in a Legge film. She always makes me smile and this time was no exception.

The film works on the surface as a quirky comedy that takes place in a dimension slightly to the left of our own, much like Legge's political satire, Democrazy, but beneath the surface you get that feeling of dread. That whole everything is really just black and white, plain and simple. No gray areas. People are good or bad, evil or innocent nothing in between.

The things we expect from a Legge film are present. Scenes in a restaurant primarily, but this one felt more, I don;t know, intimate. The whole film dealing with a world wide crisis, felt more like it was what was happening on a street level. It made the crisis more personal and more real.

MONOCHROMIA shows us the importance of what we take for granted and makes us laugh in the process.

Now go buy this thing here.