Soylent Green 4K 1973

The only major award in English-language science fiction was presented to the author of "The Steel Rat" and "The World of Death" specifically for this film (1973, the Nebula Award).

The film is based on his novel "Make Way! Make Way!" The novel addresses the issue of overpopulation. This is an unusually realistic portrayal of a socially dysfunctional society—a departure for the master of humorous science fiction and brilliant wit. The book’s heavy, pessimistic mood is perfectly conveyed in the film as well. There is hunger everywhere and a multitude of people; you can almost physically feel how they fill the screen, making it hard to breathe and leaving you wanting to escape to an open space after watching. The only salvation for people is “The House,” where you can comfortably depart for the afterlife.

Women are treated as little more than furniture—they live in posh apartments, serving as mere appendages to them, and are at the mercy of their landlords. Being a police officer is a great profession—it offers the chance to seize evidence, or simply pilfer fresh produce, meat, jam, and even alcohol from the pantries of wealthy suspects! Everyone else has to make do with Soylent—red, blue, and the new green—artificial food made of plastic.

The main character—a police officer—investigates the murder of a high-ranking figure among the oligarchic elite, falls in love with the murdered man’s “furniture,” and unravels the mystery of Green Soylent...

In general, science fiction films from the ’60s and ’70s, aside from their plots, are interesting first and foremost for their stylistic charm—a sort of vintage (by today’s standards) vision of the future. Retro-futurism. It’s not so much an intellectual feast as it is a visual one.