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Life is a constant stream of decisions. What do I do now? where do I go? what should I wear? what do I eat? should I take this job? should I steal this? should I go down this path? Every decision, regardless of how small or big it might seem, leads to more decisions and more ponderings of "what if?" As we go further down our paths in life, we can't help but wonder from time to time, how my life would've changed if I had gone the other way? That is sort of the question that is in the back of this inventive indie thriller from James Ward Byrkit.
Coherence follows a group of friends meeting for a dinner party the night of the passing of a comet. As the night progresses, a series of weird and unexplainable events start to unfold that make them all question the decisions of their past, as well as the nature of themselves and who they are. But the events of the night might also put them or others in danger.
This film was recommended to me by a couple of people, so I was looking forward to it. I was happy to see it delivered as far as "mind****ery" goes. Director and co-writer Byrkit makes the most of his extremely low budget ($50K) by relying in a solid script, weird occurrences, and solid performances to build this dread about what's happening.
I'm trying to avoid too much details here cause it's definitely a film worth seeing without spoiling, and maybe even with as little knowledge as possible, but reading about the production and filming details, and how Byrkit and co-writer Alex Manugian would only give the actors some pointers about the characters and the beats of the story, while allowing them to improvise, and then see the end result, it's impressive.
There were maybe one or two performances that were a bit spotty, and I had some slight issues with some really grainy outside shots, but considering the budget, I can't fault them too much for that. I'm a sucker for a mind**** film, so whenever a film manages to sweep the rug from under my feet, I'm sold. This film might not have completely dropped me to my feet, but it certainly kept tugging at that carpet and kept me wondering most of the time. Definitely worth a watch.
Grade:
COHERENCE
(2013, Byrkit)
A thriller film
(2013, Byrkit)
A thriller film
"This whole night we've been worrying... there's some dark version of us out there somewhere. What if we're the dark version?"
Life is a constant stream of decisions. What do I do now? where do I go? what should I wear? what do I eat? should I take this job? should I steal this? should I go down this path? Every decision, regardless of how small or big it might seem, leads to more decisions and more ponderings of "what if?" As we go further down our paths in life, we can't help but wonder from time to time, how my life would've changed if I had gone the other way? That is sort of the question that is in the back of this inventive indie thriller from James Ward Byrkit.
Coherence follows a group of friends meeting for a dinner party the night of the passing of a comet. As the night progresses, a series of weird and unexplainable events start to unfold that make them all question the decisions of their past, as well as the nature of themselves and who they are. But the events of the night might also put them or others in danger.
This film was recommended to me by a couple of people, so I was looking forward to it. I was happy to see it delivered as far as "mind****ery" goes. Director and co-writer Byrkit makes the most of his extremely low budget ($50K) by relying in a solid script, weird occurrences, and solid performances to build this dread about what's happening.
I'm trying to avoid too much details here cause it's definitely a film worth seeing without spoiling, and maybe even with as little knowledge as possible, but reading about the production and filming details, and how Byrkit and co-writer Alex Manugian would only give the actors some pointers about the characters and the beats of the story, while allowing them to improvise, and then see the end result, it's impressive.
There were maybe one or two performances that were a bit spotty, and I had some slight issues with some really grainy outside shots, but considering the budget, I can't fault them too much for that. I'm a sucker for a mind**** film, so whenever a film manages to sweep the rug from under my feet, I'm sold. This film might not have completely dropped me to my feet, but it certainly kept tugging at that carpet and kept me wondering most of the time. Definitely worth a watch.
Grade: