For pretty much his whole career, director Romain Gavras has fused his penchant for politically charged imagery with his own infectious pop sensibility. He initially made his name as a creator of controversial (and often beloved) music videos like M.I.A.’s “Born Free” and “Bad Girls,” and Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild.” His incendiary 2022 feature, Athena (for my money, one of the absolute best films of the decade), followed a massive uprising at a French housing project, but Gavras shot the ensuing war between rebellious youths and an invading police army like a Hollywood epic, filled with breathtaking action as well as tragedy. These seemingly contradictory stylistic and thematic impulses make perfect sense when one looks at his origins: Romain is the son of Costa-Gavras, the legendary Greek French filmmaker of politically explosive dramas like Z, State of Siege, and Missing — but he spent his childhood sneaking out to see Hollywood fare like Die Hard.
Now, Romain Gavras is back with Sacrifice, a visually dazzling comic-dramatic provocation about a fancy environmental-charity gala in Greece that’s invaded by a group of wild-eyed eco-activists. The guerrillas, led by a determined Anya Taylor-Joy, are convinced that to save the planet they must sacrifice several people to an active volcano. Among the human offerings is a hopelessly narcissistic, dim-bulb movie star played by Chris Evans who doesn’t quite understand what he’s gotten himself into. Co-written by playwright (and Succession co-writer) Will Arbery, Sacrificestarts off as a showbiz satire that eventually transforms into a cross between Apocalypse Now and The Lord of the Rings. Along the way, Gavras has continued to make music videos. (“Storm,” featuring the English rapper Yung Lean and a group of perfectly coordinated dancing schoolboys, went viral earlier this year.)
