'Foe' is a movie desperate to be about something. All it delivers are some beautiful shots

Everyone is trying so hard in “Foe.”

The movie, directed and co-written by Garth Davis (along with Iain Reid, on whose novel it's based), desperately wants to say something meaningful about something. Climate change? Relationships? Artificial intelligence? The nature of humanity, or the question of what makes one human?

How about a combo platter?

Whatever it’s trying on all those fronts, it doesn’t really succeed. On the plus side, it looks great, as do Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal, who command most of the screen time. So there’s that.

They play Hen and Junior, two people living in the middle of hot, sweaty Nowhere, USA, in the year 2065 (also the year in which “The Creator” is set — evidently a boffo time for dystopia and despair). The planet is becoming uninhabitable, and humans have begun to colonize space.

What is 'Foe' about?

Not that you would know any of this from Hen and Junior’s place. It’s straight out of the Dust Bowl. When they’re not fighting or having sex, both of which they do a lot, they’re listening to big hits of the ’50s. The 1950s. On vinyl.

One night they are awakened by a car approaching in the middle of the night. It’s a man named Terrance (Aaron Pierre), in one of the greatest “I’m here from the government and I’m here to help” arrivals of all time. He’s got some good news and some bad news, at least from his perspective. And then some weird news from anyone’s. Junior has been selected to go off and live in space for a couple of years.

Without Hen.

Neither of them is thrilled about the prospect, but this is not a voluntary situation. But hey, don’t worry, Hen. You’ll be supplied with an artificial Junior while the real one’s gone! What could possibly go wrong?

Maybe not what you think, exactly.

Terrance announces that he will be moving in to observe Junior, to better replicate him. Life goes on, but strangely. And it seems kind of strange to begin with. Junior works in a crowded chicken-processing plant, and Hen as a waitress in a diner that seems to do good business.

But from whom? Maybe all the chicken-processing employees eat there. It’s just kind of odd. (As is the seemingly endless supply of beer at Hen and Junior’s house. Maybe they drink it because water is scarce. Perhaps the beer-drinking part of the future isn’t so bleak, after all.)

Hen is distracted, unhappy, seemingly deeply so. Junior is frustrated, a feeling that is exacerbated by a government guy observing and quizzing him all the time. He’s even more unhappy and frazzled by Terrance’s questioning of Hen.

Sometimes Junior and Hen argue. Sometimes they don’t, and can’t keep their hands off each other. Sometimes she sits in a tree and watches him work on their land. Sometimes they go out in the middle of even more nowhere in the middle of nowhere and Junior sprints for what seems like miles into a burning farmhouse.

There is a disjointed feel to it. The timeline is askew somehow. Something is off, and it keeps the audience slightly discombobulated. Some of this is by design. Once things are sorted out, it seems that some of it just kind of worked out that way.

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Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal give their all

The cinematography, by Mátyás Erdély, is often breathtaking. It recalls the work of Terrence Malick, with long, gorgeous shots of fields bathed in golden sun, although there is necessarily more of a starkness to this landscape. Ronan and Mescal, although they’re always sweaty (or steamy), are also lovingly shot.

But they speak, either to each other or sometimes, in her case, voiceover, in Big Movie Ideas.

Maybe that is how people communicate in 2065. Probably not. More likely Davis, who directed the affecting “Lion,” is trying to do too much, and can’t figure out the best way forward.

As with his actors and crew, it’s an A for effort. But it’s just not enough.

'Foe' 2 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Garth Davis.

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, Aaron Pierre.

Rating: R for language, some sexual content and nudity.

How to watch: In theaters Friday, Oct. 20.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X, formerly known as Twitter: @goodyk.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Foe' review: Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal try too hard, to no avail