The Night Eats the World

Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie) arrives at his ex-girlfriend's new place to pick up things of his she took along when she moved out. She can't spare time to speak with him, and he's not comfortable around these people, so he ends up in a back room with his stuff, passed out.

By the time he wakes up the next morning, there's been a zombie apocalypse, and he seems to be the only person left not infected. From that point on, the movie is largely like the first half of the Will Smith version of I Am Legend. Considering that was the good half of that movie, this is fine with me. We watch Sam try to sort out what's going on, devise ways to arm himself, explore the apartment building he's in safety, gather supplies. We see what he does to keep himself occupied. Sometimes it's overtly stated, when we watch him compose music out of various household items, or use a paintball gun he found to take potshots at the undead in the street. Sometimes, it's in the background, when we see that he's removed all the doors in the apartments as he jogs through, or there are photos taped to a wall that weren't there earlier.

And we watch him struggle with isolation and the precariousness of his position. The movie spans months, at least, as it's going into spring by the end, and it was at least late summer when it started. We see his occasional nightmares, his panic at the slightest noise from within the building, real or imagined. One of the tenants ended up in the elevator when he turned. Sam leaves him there and carries on conversations with him. Because there's no one else who he can even pretend is responsive, and because there's no chance he can be rejected or walked away from. Captive audience.

Because that's part of it, too. Just from the glimpses we see at the party, Sam struggles to put himself out there. He doesn't talk to anyone at the party other than his ex. Just sits or stands alone and drinks. Instead, he wants to retreat into the things he came there for, which turn out to be, at least in part, tapes he recorded at some point during his childhood that he just enjoys listening to. 

In that sense, this apocalypse works out quite well for him, up to a point. He can just hole up in this safe spot and enjoy the things he's always enjoyed. He doesn't have to go out and meet anyone or look for anyone else. It's actively dangerous to do so. He tries, once, when he sees a cat, and it nearly ends disastrously. Better to just stay inside. He does eventually have to confront this, to stay or go, but the choice seems made as much because he suddenly picked up the idiot ball as anything else. Unless it's meant to be a subconscious thing, his mind forcing his own hand.