One of the most exciting aspects of an artist’s career is how past works inform present efforts and vice versa. Case in point, director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s newest, Digger, brings aspects of 2014’s Birdman (perhaps better known as The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance on the streets) into sharp relief.

Even as someone largely positive on the Best Picture winner, the “confrontation” between the playwright/actor Riggan (Michael Keaton) and critic Tabitha (Lindsay Duncan) struck a sour note. Revisiting it just recently, it feels even worse, especially given the current state of arts criticism. It is a slapping around by someone with the money, influence, stage, microphone, and spotlight who still has the nerve to act like their battered opponent is somehow the aggressor. I’m not sure if, a dozen years later, he’s refined his criticism or realized he was firing in the wrong direction. Either way, Digger suggests an evolving perspective.

The script, written by Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, and Sabina Berman, reveals a rage directed not against the professional critic but rather those who criticize art in general. It isn’t “how dare you not like my film!” but, rather, “how dare you question the validity of its existence.” It is a pushback against the “who is this for?!” and “can you believe the studio spent 200 million dollars on that?!” heads. With its whole chest, Digger admits that, yes, expecting art to save us from climate change or fascism or corporate greed is inherently silly. And, nonetheless, entirely necessary.

Now does he just do the work to tell us that? Not really, no. Iñárritu is a man who either doesn’t value subtlety or doesn’t trust his audience to grasp subtext. So he makes Kenny (Jesse Plemons) speak the point out loud while literally on a stage. It is a credit to Plemons’ talent that he gives the “hey, this is what this movie is about!” monologue energy and danger, considering what a momentum-killing block of text it is. But just as art must art, Iñárritu must Iñárritu.

You might notice that I’ve been resisting saying the plot of Digger. Perhaps you are even a bit frustrated I’ve waited this long to get around to it. I get that. The truth is, I’m still working out exactly which of this film’s cards to flip and which to keep close to the chest. By now, chances to know the “reality” abound, but I think I’ll leave this space safe for those who might not want the game spoiled yet.

Let’s say this. In broad strokes, Digger tells the story of an environmental disaster triggered by the titular character (Tom Cruise), a third-generation oilman. He’s expanded the business from, according to family lore, his grandfather in the American Southwest with just a shovel to a sprawling super corporation seemingly drilling on every bit of land it bribes, begs, and gladhands its way into owning. With a piece of the ice shelf threatening to cause a tsunami in Europe, Digger, US President Compson (John Goodman), and a motley crew of government stooges played by the likes of Michael Stuhlbarg and Burn Gorman must spin the global calamity to ensure none of the blame lands on them or blessed capitalism. Frustrating their efforts are people like Digger’s half-sister and green energy entrepreneur Emma (Sandra Hüller) and scientist Dr. Nirav Ganesh (Riz Ahmed).

Giving Ahmed’s character the last name of the god of beginnings and good luck is exactly the sort of “irony” Iñárritu can’t resist. It’s bad, but one can’t help but at least partially respect how little he cares about being, to steal an expression from Gen Z, “cringe”.

 However, it is immediately clear that there is something pervasively artificial about this feature’s world. It isn’t just Digger’s beloved cat Maggie with her “no I totally know how to paint a cat” face. It’s the sound design, the view outside Digger’s enormous bedroom picture window. It’s too aggressive to be Wes Anderson dollhouse symmetry perfection. It isn’t just a stylistic choice, it’s a hint. Something else is afoot.

The good news about the artificiality is it, ironically, allows Cruise to turn in an authentic performance. To judge by the trailers, Digger the character is a feature-length, Les Grossman-esque cartoon. Bigger than life, endlessly high on his own supply, and utterly devoid of social niceties. There are notes of that for sure. However, as the film reveals itself, so too does Cruise’s performance. Despite the buzz and the numerous interviews, this isn’t a “give me my Oscar” spotlight-demanding turn. He’s putting in the work, but part of that work is going small, average, relatively unremarkable. It’s Cruise at his most helpless, his least dynamic (complimentary). I can’t think of a time he’s made himself this willfully small.

There’s also plenty of catnip (no pun intended) here for extratextual watchers familiar with Cruise’s personal life, if that’s your jam.

The cast, in general, is heavy with grotesques. Goodman goes slack-jawed, with watery, red-rimmed eyes. Stuhlbarg slimy in suits tailored to be as flattering as possible. Ahmed in what would be, in most films, the worst hairpiece but here finishes second to Cruise’s. They create a dissonance with Iñárritu’s immaculately composed frames and Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s incomparable execution. The people are ugly gashes intruding on beautiful scenes. The result is irritating, sometimes downright obnoxious. And yet, far too interesting to dismiss. And that’s the story of the film itself.

If you are inclined, you will read and hear a number of conflicting and overlapping opinions about this movie in the days to come. The strange thing is that, for once, I suspect most of them will be right. The film lurches, distrusts its audience, and is perhaps a little too convinced of its own specialness. It is also frequently fascinating, occasionally moving, and so specifically, aggressively itself that I can’t quite shake it. Iñárritu has made a movie that seems determined to argue with you from minute one. I’m still arguing back. More positive than negative, certainly, but not comfortably so. Digger is the rare film I’d recommend not because I’m confident you’ll love it, but because I genuinely don’t know what you’ll think or feel. Time to find out.

Digger breaks ground in theatres everywhere October 2.

Digger Trailer: