Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.
George Lucas's debut feature is a genuinely singular vision of dystopia — cold, sterile, and hypnotic. The cinematography uses stark white environments and clinical framing to create an oppressive aesthetic that remains iconic and influential. Its conception is deeply original, predating much of the dystopian sci-fi canon it would influence. The plot is sparse and deliberately dehumanizing, which works thematically but limits dramatic engagement. Acting is serviceable — Duvall is committed but the intentionally affectless performances are a mixed asset. The ending, with THX emerging into an orange sunset, is quietly powerful but abrupt. A genuinely strange and distinctive film that stands apart from nearly everything else of its era.