2073 (2024) [Blu-ray review]
It took me 4 days to get through 2073. It’s not a long movie, but what about it kept irritating my brain? Some dystopian dramas flood the screen with bombast and spectacle, while others opt for a quieter, more human-centric approach. 2073, the first narrative feature from acclaimed documentarian Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy, Diego Maradona) and released by NEON, falls into the latter camp.
It paints a harrowing yet reflective vision of Earth at the brink of ecological, corporate, and social disaster, focusing on a small cadre of survivors who cling to an ember of hope despite the encroaching gloom. Now on Blu-ray, 2073 can be experienced with crisp visuals and sound that highlight both the film’s technical artistry and its emotional core.
Table of Contents
What is 2073?
Set in the titular year 2073, Kapadia’s film envisions a planet battered by decades of environmental crises and corporate overreach. What it does from there will bug the brain. I am a documentary purist and if you engage in making a documentary, I have a low tolerance for trying to write a fictional narrative into fact. But, people will argue that the rise of Michael Moore in the 90s and 00s gave way to the editorial documentary that has led the mainstream into thinking they love documentaries.
Yet among these dark circumstances, the film centers on a modest narrative: what happened in the present day that would impact the future so much? New San Francisco is the home of this terrible future. That is when 2073 isn’t batting us back and forth between a never-ending run of news clips. I get it, billionaires and oligarchs are bad. But, if you haven’t figured it out, Boomers are willing to sell the planet out for nothing. What do they care? They’re already close to death.
So what ultimately is the point of 2073? To scare teenagers? To offer up something that hasn’t been said before?
Let’s talk about the direction
Kapadia is famed for raw, incisive documentaries about real figures: Senna (2010), Amy (2015), Diego Maradona (2019). Each one revealed a knack for empathetic storytelling, weaving personal arcs with broader social contexts. 2073 retains that verité approach: the camera lingers on battered landscapes, letting them speak for themselves, and the script invests in small, authentic gestures. It’s as if Kapadia is documenting a hypothetical future with the same observational style he’d bring to a real subject.
The result is a subdued, almost docu-style realism that sets it apart from more flamboyant dystopias. Scenes of a battered outpost or a black-market clinic unfold with a matter-of-fact intimacy—like we’re eavesdropping on real people. That authenticity underscores the film’s cautionary undertones, blending cinematic flair with a sense that “this might truly be how we end up.” If you stop right there and don’t try to project onto 2073, you might have a good time.
But, these are the kinds of documentaries that get people revved up to go nuts.
Let’s talk about the Blu-ray
Though the film presumably had a limited theatrical run, it was shot with high-quality digital cameras in combination with 35mm for exteriors. The new Blu-ray from NEON ensures that delicate interplay is captured in 1080p with minimal compression. Exterior scenes display subtle grains of dust swirling in the background, the sky’s color gradient shifting from muddy brown to stormy grey. The disc’s consistent bit rate avoids unsightly banding in night sequences, letting the final storms or acid rain showcase the layered color transitions. The final results are richly cinematic, preserving the meticulous detail that Kapadia’s team strove for.
There are no substantial special features. However, it’s quite the interesting release for a ‘documentary’ that you might have missed. Purchase it if you’re curious.
