Set in the present day, the film depicts an altered world where Neo again lives a regular life by taking the blue pill. He and Trinity exist in the same uni- verse, but don’t recognise one another. Their love has vanished in a changing universe and they have no rec- ollection of their past. Neo is a user of the blue pill who tells his psychiatrist about the memories that occupy his mind and prompt him to wonder: am I crazy? Following a chance encounter with Trinity, he again takes a red pill that transports him back to the reality in which he is The One. What initially set The Matrix apart among the many blockbusters and dystopian films was its phil- osophical framework. Among the works that provid- ed inspiration for the Wachowskis’ screenplay were Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Baudrillard's Simula- cra and Simulation and even Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. However, the most important source for the actual concept was Descartes’ Demon and his claim – “I think, there- fore I am” ( Cogito ergo sum ). Still, the screenwrit- ing-directing duo of Lana and Lilly, formerly Larry and Andy, didn’t collaborate on this fourth instal- ment, with Lana having decided to tell this chap- ter of the story on her own. Despite the question of discovering one’s true identity being woven into the very fabric of The Matrix’s DNA, the siblings didn’t go public on the topic of their gender reassignment until Lana un- derwent her transition (believed to have been com- pleted around 2010), and then Lilly, six years later. Lilly herself says that The Matrix was always a met- aphor for finding one's own identity, a trans allego- ry, though it was a closed version because the world wasn’t yet ready for such things. Lana and Lilly today live their lives as openly trans women who have completed the transition process. Although Lilly is not part of this project, as she has been working on her own “Work in Progress” series, she nonetheless gave her blessing to her sister and the entire creative team. Familiar characters that appear in the new Matrix film include Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Mor- pheus (unfortunately this time without Laurence Fishburne, as he is instead portrayed by Yahya Ab- dul-Mateen II, best known to the public for the Can- dyman reboot), while there are also some new charac- ters, such as Neo's psychiatrist, played by Neil Patrick Harris. Christina Ricci and Priyanka Chopra Jonas also put in appearances, but – most importantly for all Matrix fans – Carrie-Anne Moss remains Trinity and Keanu Reeves is once again Neo! The Matrix Resurrections is expected to premiere in cinemas worldwide around 22 nd December, and all we can do is hope that the fourth instalment will follow the example of the first one, which thrilled us, and not the third one, which we more or less for- gave... Just because of the original!
Film » Film | 31
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator