![]() You never know if they are excellent or crap. Low-budget independent films are boxes of surprises. Just don't expect too much.Ī regular independent film, which seems to have neglected the most technical aspects. ![]() Do this if you're a big movie fan or sci-fi connoisseur. ![]() But again, it's well worth watching and deciding for yourself. It would be like if this review started talking about fire ants or something. They completely went off the rails and just rushed towards something, ANYTHING in what appeared to be raw desperation. I mean, I literally have never seen a more random smeg of an ending in all my life. I felt like they ran out of budget or something and the producer burst in on the writer during lunch, said "We can't afford the ending you wrote! You need to wrap up this story in ten minutes! You have five minutes to write the new resolution!" and things went from there. No spoilers, but the ending is awful, makes no sense and completely contradicts the central protagonist's character. It's a perfectly palatable, pretty intelligent sci-fi without glitz and gloss. It's short enough to be worth engaging with, so I'd say just watch it. While it has most definitely succeeded artistically, being praised by both critics and cinemagoers alike, the only problem Coherence now faces is reaching the audience it deserves – the production has precious little money for marketing and distribution. This is a film that rewards repeat viewings there’s a wealth of clues and allusions so subtle they would go completely unnoticed to even the most eagle-eyed first-time viewer.Ĭoherence has been crafted with love and intelligence, overcoming the obstacle of its minuscule budget to prove that real cinema doesn’t need whistles and bells to have an impact. No doubt this will help the film’s shareability no end – it certainly makes the viewing experience a memorable, if haunting, one. One of the things Coherence will leave you with is the tantalizing question of “what would you do?”, not dissimilar to the effect **** Twilight Zone parable. This gives the film an outstanding sense of realism, grounding the strange occurrences in a solid and familiar setting.ĭirector Byrkit has several times in interviews acknowledged and cited the Twilight Zone as a source of inspiration, and Coherence certainly has a sense of a modern, feature-length episode of the iconic TV show. It will not come as a surprise to those who have seen the film to learn that the dialogue was improvised based only on character descriptions and loose scene outlines. While Nicolas Brendon may be the only familiar face in the line-up (having famously played Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the entire cast performs exceptionally well. The filmmakers trust the audience’s intelligence.Ī major strength of Coherence is found in the performances – each actor creates a character so whole and alive it feels as if they go on living while off-screen, not just puppets illustrating a story. A useful snippet of information here and there is all the viewer needs. Coherence also manages to steer almost entirely clear of one of science fiction’s least desirable traits: tedious exposition. All other character development occurs as the story moves along, both lending the film excellent pace and helping the viewer keep up with the increasingly complex story. Aside from a small amount of character set-up in the opening, there are no pauses. Much of Coherence’s success stems from its focus on the central premise – the key idea is so good that it doesn’t bother to waste time with anything else. ![]() The film then descends into an expanding riddle about paranoia and alternate realities, as one character, Em, emerges as the audience surrogate, watching her friends – and herself – fall apart at the seams, in a situation that they don’t understand. Soon the situation becomes disorienting and bizarre when photos and notes start turning up belonging to the dinner party guests, presumably from the other house. When eight friends meet up for an ordinary dinner party, it seems like any other night, until a power cut mysteriously leaves only theirs and one other house with power. Produced on a shoestring budget in director James Ward Byrkit’s house, Coherence manages to blow its big-budget competitors out of the water via a sensational concept supported by a solid cast. Coherence, which is currently garnering much acclaim at festivals and independent showings, is an exceptional (and refreshing) cinematic experience, both as an example of the sci-fi genre and independent cinema in general. The term ‘sci-fi’ can bring to mind images of mega-budget action sequences and CGI futurescapes in stark contrast, the most exciting sci-fi in years takes place in the present day and features eight people sitting around a dining room table.
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