Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Writer: Seth Overton
Based on the novel by Andreas Eschbach
Cast: Colin Farrell, Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Rachel Weisz, Oscar Isaac, Jeff Goldblum, John C. Reilly, Ian McShane
Plot: Knot after knot, day in, day out, for an entire lifetime, always the same hand movements, always looping the same knots in the fine hair, so fine and so tiny that with time, the fingers trembled and the eyes became weak from strain.
On Planet G-101/2 in the Gheera galaxy, reverence for and fear of the immortal Emperor Alexander (Ed Harris) is drilled into all citizens as children. The planet’s entire economy is organized around skilled artisans who knot carpets made from their wives’ and daughters' hair. A carpet weaver spends his entire life fashioning just one carpet, which will be transported from the planet to decorate the palace of the Emperor. The weaver’s son takes up the post and spends his entire life doing the same painstaking labor. It has been so for thousands upon thousands of years.
Ostvan (Colin Farrell) is a carpet maker motivated by an almost religious devotion to the distant and seemingly immortal Emperor. Ostvan visits one of his wives (Rachel Weisz) in the city of Yahannachia, where preparations for the annual carpet buying ceremony are in place. His carpet is still far from ready, but he is confident he could sell it and pass on the earnings to his son in 10 years.
At home, he finds that his wife has invited a guest for dinner (Oscar Isaac). Ostvan is insulted that his wife acted without his permission, but decides to let it slide when he finds out that the man is a preacher of the Emperor and his son's teacher. He sends her and the daughters outside the room, as it is tradition for men to dine separately. While drinking, the teacher lets his guard down and betrays the fact that he has been having religious doubts. He speaks of a man called Jubal, who told him many heretical things about the God Emperor, things the teacher had long suspected. He speaks of a rebellion brewing and the overthrow of their tyranny.
The next day, the now bald-headed wife is in tears as guards take away the treacherous teacher. Ostvan sits stoically while sipping a glass of whisky. After he finishes his drink, he bags the hair he has collected and leaves for his workshop.
Elsewhere, in the Central World, Jubal (Joaquin Pheonix) and his Council of Rebels prepare their meticulously planned attack on the Emperor's palace. The Council expects heavy resistance, but to their surprise, they capture the palace and kill the emperor without suffering any casualties. Everyone cheers for Jubal and his perfect plan, but this victory does not seem to bring him any satisfaction. He is troubled by a secret: the rebels' success and the Emperor's death were planned by the Emperor himself, grown weary of his long life.
Looking for answers, they find the Archivist (Jeff Goldblum) an eccentric servant for the late Emperor who reluctantly recognizes them as the new leaders and lets them in the archive rooms. They explore the imperial archives in increasing disbelief. The Star Palace contains no hair carpets, yet, rather than one planet producing them, there are more than ten thousand! More incredibly yet, all the carpets are shipped to a planet that no longer appears on any imperial star chart and cannot be located in space.
Ten years later, back in Yahannachia, nothing has changed. Preparations for the annual carpet buying fair are still in place. Ostvan has finally finished his carpet and is awaiting the arrival of the trader and getting ready for his retirement. Meanwhile, his wife bribed one of the prison guards and has been visiting the teacher in secret, bringing him food.
The Trader (John C. Reilly)- a corpulent bourgeois man holding a cigar, finally arrives at the spaceport. There, he is greeted by Jubal who tells him the Emperor is dead and asks him on whose authority he is still collecting carpets. The trader is left speechless for a few seconds. News of the Emperor's demise have not reached these godforsaken parts of the galaxy. He answers that there is no authority. It is simply tradition.
The carpet buying fair has begun. Old men gather around accompanied by their successors, as the trader enters the city to buy their lifetime work. Jubal tries to interrupt the fair, telling everyone they have been liberated. They are no longer required to weave carpets. In the crowd, there is also the carpet maker's wife. She runs, elated, towards the prison, planning to meet with the teacher and leave the planet together. A few others from the crowd leave the fair as well, but most of them ignore Jubal and things go on as usual.
The trader buys most of the carpets, including Ostvan's and loads them up into his spaceship. He allows Jubal to travel with him to a distant space station near a black hole - the delivery point for all the hair carpets. Once traders arrive at the space station, an automated system transfers them a number of credits for each carpet sent through the black hole.
When entering the black hole, Jubal is transported to a lone barren planet, in an isolated bubble of space, removed from all the other stars of the galaxy. He is astonished to learn that all the hair carpets have been sent through to this world and now cover most of its surface. Only an ancient palace remains and, within it, a captive former king (Ian McShane) kept alive by artificial means, forced to watch the destruction of his world.
He returns to the Imperial Archives, once again demanding answers from the Archivist. With a sly smile, the archivist recounts an ancient story: the former king had teased the Emperor's predecessor about being unable to grow hair on his head, so in vengeance the old Emperor had decided to cover his enemy's entire planet with the hair of his former subjects, a plan which the next Emperor had allowed to continue ever since.
Knot after knot, day in, day out, for entire lifetimes.
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