“My name is Homunculus,” the person (Julian Richings) declares in a proper tone, clipping his consonants. Homunculus’ face seems like a medieval woodcut displaying scenes of individuals burning on the stake. His method is off-putting. He approaches Maria (Susanne Wuest) at a fluorescent-lit, eerily empty shopping center and informs her she has been chosen for a contest the place she will be able to expertise “authentic personal transcendence” and uncover “the very essence of mind-body articulation.” It speaks to the general tone of “Stanleyville” that Maria does not say “I understand what all those words mean individually but I have no idea what they mean when put together like that.” As a substitute, the truth that she has been “selected” out of apparently hundreds and/or thousands and thousands fills her with awe, and a way of objective sorely missing in her life. Regardless of understanding little to nothing about what the competition entails, she agrees to take part.
The opening sequences of Maxwell McCabe-Lokos’ “Stanleyville” are flat-affect in tone, presenting an imaginative and prescient of an emotionally sterile fashionable world, the place individuals do not often search for from their numerous screens, and once they do a search they’re irritated on the interruption. After a hawk flies into the plate glass window of her workplace, one thing snaps in Maria. She has a husband and teenage daughter, however, she walks away from them with no fanfare, dumping her purse into the trash. Homunculus seems shortly thereafter. The competition-winner will obtain an orange SUV, which holds no attraction for Maria, however, she reveals up at the appointed place at the appointed time for the mysterious contest.
It takes place in what appears to be a leisure heart: an enormous room with cement-block partitions, the corners tricked out with beds or couches or tables, delineating separate “rooms.” There are 4 different members, all of whom present up with broadly-drawn characters and even broader names: Felicie Arkady (Cara Ricketts), Andrew Frisbee, Jr. (Christian Serritiello), Bofill Pancreas (George Tchortov), and Manny Jumpcannon (Adam Brown). Andrew Frisbee is a finance man with daddy points, correcting anybody who leaves the “Jr.” of his identity. Bofill is a pleasant muscle-bound man concerned with a protein-powder pyramid scheme. Manny is a wannabe actor who attires like Keith Richards (or Jack Sparrow), and Felicie is no-nonsense and sensible: she’s in it for the orange SUV. Nothing will cease her from getting that automotive. Maria, washed-out, severe, intense, is the outsider in this band of misfits.
“Stanleyville” is an element of the Stanford Jail Experiment and half of MTV’s “The Real World.” It is half Milgram’s experiment and half “Squid Game.” The names and characterizations, the unreality of all of it, clue us in to the satirical nature of the story. The competition is made up of eight totally different timed “challenges,” each introduced by Homunculus in language each overly articulated and completely incomprehensible. Some challenges final a minute. Some final 20 hours. One problem entails every one of them writing a nationwide anthem “for the world.” One entails inventing a type of telecommunication. As the competition progresses, the strain mounts and societal norms and niceties break down. Andrew and Felicie conflict consistently. Manny cannot get himself collectively. Bofill struggles to take care of his smiley character. These 4 bonds in a technique: all of them take a look at Maria with suspicion.
The title is an enigma, creating an uneasy miasma over the entire proceedings. On the wall hangs a sepia-toned {photograph} of Victorian-era explorer Henry Morton Stanley (of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” fame), and Maria is drawn to it, observing Stanley like she’s trying to find a message. On a close-by stand sits a model head carrying a pith helmet. The helmet comes into play in one of many challenges. Henry Morton Stanley was an integral part of the Belgian colonization of the Congo, and in 1883 he based a small buying and selling publish, which ultimately morphed right into a metropolis referred to as Stanleyville in his honor (the town was re-named Kisangani). Stanley’s posthumous repute is extraordinarily controversial and nonetheless debated, however, none of that comes into “Stanleyville”‘s script, co-written by McCabe-Lokos and Rob Benvie. So what is admittedly happening right here? There are intriguing prospects—psychological experiments—however, they’re extra like avenues of hypothesis slightly than something clearly laid out. “Stanleyville” withholds greater than it reveals.
Because the 5 contestants descend into anarchy, Homunculus sometimes returns to current them with their subsequent problem. On occasions, he appears to be simply making all of it up. Does he even know what he is speaking about? Richings is a busy character actor, his seems are so distinct he can slot in any period, and in any context, supernatural or reasonable. He’s very “Other.” “Supernatural” followers will bear in mind his efficiency as “Death” over quite a lot of seasons, the place he strolled by way of the chaos, at occasions mild-mannered and at occasions extraordinarily horrifying. When you see his face you do not neglect it. Right here, he burbles his corporatized-New-Age converse like he is making it up on the fly, and is totally unperturbed by the chaos unfolding earlier than him.
What is this contest? How had been these individuals chosen? What should any of it do with something? Who’s Homunculus? “Stanleyville” does not say. This may be irritating, nearly just like the script is enjoying cat-and-mouse with us, and generally, the broad characters are a little bit predictable. The unraveling of every character strikes like clockwork. The actual level is how we’re kidding ourselves if we predict “society” is one thing strong. Beneath roils complete chaos, every individual for themselves. Even in a made-up state of affairs just like the Stanford Jail Experiment, even when the prize is a measly orange SUV (and never, say, 1,000,000 {dollars}), monsters may be born. Nobody is immune.