The entire cast is very experienced, and they all shine in Coherence. Emily Foxler is fantastic in her role as Em. The cast is great and made up of some very recognizable faces such as Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Maury Sterling (Max from “Homeland”) and former Miss America Elizabeth Gracen, just to name a few. Can there be another, or several, and what would happen if these realities brushed against each other ever so slightly? How much could one existence change another, and how much force would have to be exerted to do so? It questions our reality, or at least the concept that our reality is the only one. Coincidentally, there is a comet flying overhead at the same time, and as we all know, when comets come into play, all the rules go out the window, and Coherence definitely throws the rules out. This is a confident movie that feels like the first entry in career worth following.Coherence is the story of the events that occur on the night of a dinner party consisting of eight friends. And although it takes a left turn near the end that some viewers might not like, you should at least give it credit for refusing to get complacent. It's not a masterpiece, not by a long shot, but it does demonstrate a refreshing willingness to embrace the unknown, the implied, the mysterious. I'll stop here because I don't want to oversell the movie. What on earth, or in the heavens, is going on? In the other house!! There are mysterious notes left on the front door numbered photographs of the principal characters (one seemingly taken that very day) accusations that a certain character is not really that character wary or secretive expressions on the faces of people you thought you could trust. The first vertigo-inducing moment comes when Hugh returns from an expedition to the only fully lighted house in the neighborhood and reports that he peeked through the windows and saw them-the members of that very group-having dinner. Also on hand is Mike ( Nicholas Brendon of "Buffy") whose greatest performance might be as a guy who isn't depressed and irritated that nobody remembers that he starred on "Roswell." There's a pagan cleric type named Beth ( Elizabeth Gracen), and a tall, volatile, bearded guy named Hugh ( Hugo Armstrong) who keeps trying to contact a friend who seems to have inside knowledge of all the strange goings-on (disrupted cell phone service, power outages and the like). Em shows up at the party with her boyfriend Kevin ( Maury Sterling of “Homeland”) who proceeds to add tension to the evening by offering up an anecdote involving his ex-girlfriend Laurie ( Lauren Maher), who's also a guest. This is an ensemble movie, but its closest thing to a protagonist is Em (Emily Foxler, who has a great reactive face), a dancer whose career has suffered an unspecified setback. What's being threatened in "Coherence" is who they are, or what they think they are not just the integrity of their bodies (though that's at risk, too) but their identities. The characters are frightened by what they don't know, then by the implications of what they've been able to figure out. (Spoilers start in the next paragraph.) And it's genuinely more of a horror film than a suspense or "terror" film because, while there's some violence, the source of unease is philosophical. This is a less-is-more science fiction-horror tale, indebted to the original "The Twilight Zone" (particularly "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street") as well Luis Bunuel's " The Exterminating Angel," as well as certain recent science fiction indies that I won't name here because I did, you'd immediately deduce the film's first big twist. Once "Coherence" delves into its premise, the viewer is bound to come down with a bad case of the creeps. Even on a moonless night in a forest, your eyes adjust.Īmazingly, though, none of the movie's technical or artistic shortcomings prove to be deal breakers. That the comet has allegedly wrought havoc with electricity only partly excuses this. When the characters venture outdoors, it's hard to tell what's going on because you can barely see the actors. A lot of the action in this night-set film is confined to the interior of the house. It's shot with multiple video cameras, often wildly, and while much of the overlapping dialogue is comprehensible, some sinks into audio muck. "Coherence" was produced on a shoestring.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |