Escape from the 21st Century

Escape from the 21^st Century follows Chengyong (Yang Song), Zha (Ruoyun Zhang) and Pao Pao (Chenhao Li), three youths who live on K – a planet very similar to Earth – in the year 1999. After falling into a lake polluted by industrial waste, the boys discover they can travel back and forth between 1999 and 2019 by sneezing. However, they also learn that the future is a pretty grim place to be, and their youthful idealism clashes with the darkness of the world that awaits them in 20 years as they try to create a better future.

As one can surmise from the sneeze-based time travel, Escape from the 21^st Century is a fairly silly film, and its writing certainly leans into the absurd, taking every interaction and story beat to over-the-top extremes with a constant stream of wonderfully goofy humour. However, the film’s comedy is also effectively balanced by a strong sense of pathos and genuine emotion, with the exaggerated antics serving as a springboard into nuanced explorations of complex themes including the exploitation of human life under capitalism, the struggles of existing morally in an immoral society, the struggles of growing up and the nature of destiny.

Just as the flick’s protagonists exist in the past and future, Escape from the 21^st Century constantly jumps between comedy and tragedy, with these two seemingly disparate tones feeding into and enhancing each other. The piece exists in conversation with itself, occupying two distinct storytelling styles and embracing the juxtaposition, resulting in a deeply compelling narrative experience.

Escape from the 21^st Century’s solid writing and directing is bolstered by a talented ensemble cast, who rise to the occasion and serve the two distinct styles excellently, as well as a dynamic, kinetic visual style. The cinematography in this movie is nothing short of gorgeous, with a maximalist, in-your-face aesthetic that incorporates cinematic language from sources including thrillers, action flicks, cartoons and video games to create a constantly-shifting and engaging visual landscape that grabs its audience by the brain and refuses to let go for 90 delirious, delightful minutes.

Overall, Escape from the 21^st Century is an absolute blast – it never takes itself too seriously, showing its audience a fantastic, larger-than-life time, but its surface-level spectacle belies a passionate, beating heart at its core, resulting in a movie that is as fascinatingly complicated as it is exceedingly simple.

Umar Ali

Escape from the 21st Century is released digitally on demand on 24^th February and on Blu-ray on 24^th March 2025.

Watch the trailer for Escape from the 21st Century here: