When a comet passes near the earth’s atmosphere in the dour dystopian thriller “Only,” it first brings falling ash and then a virus that is usually fatal to women. Millions of women across the globe perish, and survivors are forced into hiding. It’s a grim concept that “Only” embraces with fatiguing fidelity.
In flashback, Eva (Freida Pinto) and Will (Leslie Odom Jr.) are depicted as a lovey-dovey couple, celebrating years together and making plans for the future. But when the pandemic strikes, Will insists they go into quarantine. He obsessively disinfects and shutters their city apartment, and protects Eva from the hostile authorities.
The story begins on the 400th day of their sequestration. Based on the silence of her chat room for survivors, Eva may be the last woman in the world. When the police come looking for her, Eva and Will flee to the countryside, a barren landscape that at least gives them room to breathe.
The writer-director Takashi Doscher forgoes apocalyptic spectacle to focus on the pandemic’s effects on Will and Eva’s romance. Too bad. Most of the scenes could have been lifted from a generic relationship drama, and it is only the couple’s conversation, not their visually desaturated world, that distinguishes them. The saving grace of this often enervating thriller is that Doscher grants time for his actors to build character and intimacy, and both Pinto and Odom offer warm, affectingly natural performances as two people facing the end of their world.
Only
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
