![]() Rather than script out all of the dialogue, he let the cast, made up of his real-life friends, improvise the film's many convos. ![]() Coherence’s craziest elements are best left for you to discover firsthand.Īdding to Coherence's uniqueness is the naturalistic way Byrkit shot it. Just to further complicate matters, the dinner guests come up against alternate realities triggered by power outages. Mundane-looking items like portrait photographs, glow sticks, and a ping pong paddle gradually take on world-altering implications. Things mentioned casually in conversations prove to be crucial to the story as the movie progresses. Openly citing Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone as the film’s major influence, Byrkit’s directorial debut is a cerebral yet seriously entertaining barrage of brain-frying twists. The guy knows a good deal about working on successful Hollywood mega-budget films, but for Coherence, he scaled everything back considerably-except his imagination. He wrote the underrated and wonderfully odd Rango (2011), that delightful kiddie western about a chameleon who wears a tacky Hawaiian shirt and is voiced by Johnny Depp. Byrkit was also the storyboard artist for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006), and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007). Indeed, Coherence, at first glance, looks and sounds like a chatty Sundance Film Festival movie directed by the ghost of Sigmund Freud.īut that disposition quickly disappears, and, before long, Coherence is revealed to be something else entirely: a sneaky Rod Serling homage that’s intricately plotted, consistently beguiling, and ultimately one of the best sci-fi movies in years.Ĭoherence was written and directed by James Ward Byrkit, a first-time feature filmmaker whose past credits aren’t too shabby. On its surface, the indie film (opening in limited theaters today) is about eight 30- to 40-something, well-off friends linking up for a dinner party, one in which discussions about their careers and relationships occasionally segue into explanations of the “ Schrödinger's cat" thought experiment, quantum decoherence, and other scientific topics that most people wouldn’t equate with fun. ![]() Permanent Midnight is a weekly Complex Pop Culture column where senior staff writer, and resident genre fiction fanatic, Matt Barone will put the spotlight on the best new indie horror/sci-fi/weirdo cinema, twisted novels, and other below-the-radar oddities.Īll of Coherence’s superficial elements don’t exactly entice, lest you’re an astrophysicist whose idea of Friday night ratchetness involves Merlot, finely cut cheese, and stimulating conversation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |