City of Ember
In the midst of an unspecified catastrophe, an underground city is constructed to shelter a large group of survivors, with secret instructions to future generations in a small box timed to open 200 years later. This box is entrusted to the mayor of the City of Ember. Each mayor, in turn, passes the box on to his or her successor. Over time, the significance of the box is forgotten, and the succession is broken when the seventh mayor dies before revealing the importance of the box. The box opens at the allotted time, but goes unnoticed. 41 years after the box opens, Ember's electric generator begins to fail, and the reserves of canned goods and light bulbs are depleted.
At a rite of passage for all graduating students, Mayor Cole (Bill Murray) stands before the students as they choose their occupations by lottery. Protagonist Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan), who dreams of becoming a messenger, is assigned "Pipeworks Laborer" under the technician Sul (Martin Landau), and her classmate Doon Horrow (Harry Treadaway), the son of Loris 'Barrow' Harrow (Tim Robbins), is assigned to be a "Messenger"; whereupon the two secretly exchange assignments. At home, Lina finds the timed box, and enlists Doon's help to decipher its contents. Gradually, they learn that the document is a set of instructions toward an exit from the city; and later discover that Mayor Cole has been hoarding canned food in a secret vault. When they report the theft, they are arrested and the mayor attempts to take the box from Lina; but a blackout allows Lina to escape. Now fugitives from the mayor's police, the pair obtain Poppy (Amy Quinn and Catherine Quinn), Lina's 4 year old sister, and escape with the help of Sul, along a subterranean river. Meanwhile, the Mayor turns against his accomplice Looper, and locks himself in his vault, only to be devoured by a gigantic mole. Lina, Doon, and Poppy reach the surface, where they witness the sunrise; and later tie a message of their discovery to a rock and drop it into the city, where it is found by Loris.
psychedelic, depressing, dark, atmospheric, sci-fi