Skyscraper Films,
Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius, Brit Marling, Avery Pohl, Davenia McFadden, Kandice Stroh, Richard Wharton, Matthew Carey
Peter (Christopher Denham), a jounalist, and his girlfriend Lorna (Nicole Vicius) set out to film a secret documentary. They infiltrate a cult headed by Maggie (Brit Marling) who claims to be from the future. But as Peter begins to forget about the documentary and seems under the power of Maggie, Lorna tries to get him to either quit, or to bring him back into focus in what he’s doing.
In this Sundance film festival film, we get twists and turns and a somewhat surprising, if not confusing ending. The problem with this film is that it’s typical film school, Sundance style, experimental film type stuff. There’s little action, too much dreary dialog, and nothing much going on, at least for the first 45 minutes of the film. Then just when you’ve gotten fed up and are ready to turn off this drivel, they head off to the La Brea Tar Pits on a field trip that gets pretty suspenseful. Suddenly I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. Just when I though I didn’t care, it got pretty interesting. There was a twist that really caught my attention. But the film is only 84 minutes long, and as I realized there was no time left to resolve this, I was right. The ending makes you say, “Hmmm” but doesn’t give you anything to go on. Now there are some films that make you talk about what it all means for weeks after you watch it. This isn’t that kind of film. This one feels like a cheap shot to the stomach that makes you more mad than curious. I am afraid, despite the second half that looked like it was going to be good, it left me really wanting some kind, any kind, of resolution. But you’re not going to get it. I was expecting to hate this film, but then found myself kind of liking it, only to be sadly disappointed at the end.
Skip it.
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