11-06-22
Usually, I do not watch these types of movies but I was pleasantly intrigued by the story the producers created in this film. The main character, Ren, is the cofounder alongside Sam in the Otherlife company.*Otherlife created a drug that alters the brain's sense of time and allows its user to mentally transport themselves to another realm. The drug they created allows the user to enter it through their eye, quickly transporting them to an imagined demention. There are only 5 days before their product goes live and they are struggling to find a breakthrough. One patient uses the drug and overdoses, dying in Rens arms. While Otherlife is struggling, the government wants to interfere and use the drug as a means of imprisonment. Ren thinks that this means of technology must be kept safe and under wraps as it can be used unethically. The film expresses the importance of technology in our lives and shows how technology may affect us in the future. For me, this is a sobering look into the possibilities that have yet to be discovered in this world. Is it really possible to be trapped within your own mind, with seconds passing by in the real-world while you mentally rot away in a technical asylum? Otherlife shows us one point of view into this future. At the beginning of the movie, Ren's brother is tragically killed when he hits his head in a scuba diving accident. Ren desperately tries to save him by recreating the memory of the event and giving him the option of a different ending. In the end we see Ren and her father at the hospital. In the previous scene, we see that she gives her brother a drug that saves him. We know that this isn't really the case and is instead one of Ren's altered realities. Instead, Ren and her father end up pulling the plug, killing her brother. This film delivers a deep message about loss, letting go, and inevitability. We are taught as watchers that things don't always go our way, even if you give it your all.*

This film reminded me of ex machina and is a great watch for fans of technology and futuristic media.*