Mike Cahill Returns With the Scientifically Mystical I Origins

Some things cannot be proved by science -- yet. That theme is one of the many story elements that director Mike Cahill ("After Earth”) wants us to take away from his new film titled "I Origins."  Both writer and director, Cahill depicts a world where science and spirituality come together to tell a love story that transcends death and challenges how we see the world.  Michael Pitt ("Seven Psychopaths") is Dr. Ian Gray. He is a microbiologist whose research focuses on the eye.  Brett Marling ("After Earth,” "The Sound of My Voice," "The East") plays Ian's lab assistant Karen.  Astrid Bergès-Frisbey ("Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides") stars as Sofi, Ian's cosmic soul mate. Finally, the "Walking Dead's" Steven Yeun co-stars as Kenny, Ian's roommate and research partner. "I Origins" runs just under 2 hours and contains swearing and some nudity. The MPAA gives this film an R rating.

Ian tells the first half of the film in retrospect. He is a husband, a father, and a scientist. Eight years prior, when Ian was a PhD graduate, he met a wild and exotic young woman at a Halloween party.  While the encounter was brief, the impression she left on him was lasting.  Ian didn't get the girl's name or number, and he doesn't know what she looks like because she was wearing a mask. He did get pictures of her eyes for his collection.  Apparently, he collects pictures of people's eyes. Part of the research he and Kenny does is with optical biometrics and the cataloging of the uniqueness of each person's eye pattern.  Eye color doesn't matter.  

After the encounter, Ian experiences an emptiness that he didn't realize he had, that is, until this magical woman momentarily filled, and then suddenly departed without a word. Kenny, still drunk from the party, notes that the logical scientist was waxing poetic. The next day, Ian meets his new rotating intern, Karen.  His first reaction to Karen is one of mild indifference with a slight bit of hope that she has the intellect to help him in his research.  His goal is to find a naturally evolved creature that presently is blind, but has a genetic compound that will allow a mutation that gives the creature the ability to sense light. He wants to build an eye from scratch.  Why would he do this?  Karen tackles the project with her full attention while Ian finds himself obsessed with finding that girl again.

Cahill spends time throughout the film balancing self-determinism and fate, cause and effect, the science of biology and the inexplicitness of love.  Obsessed with finding the girl, he studies pictures of the eyes that captivated him.  One day while buying lottery tickets, he has an epiphany.   On his ticket are the numbers 1111, in the drawing, on the timestamp, and he looks up and the light and shadows of the building across from him draws him to a bus stop. Upon taking a short bus trip, where something cosmic tells him to exit the vehicle and points him to a billboard with the mysterious girl's eyes.  The billboard stands as a symbol in this film as the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg did in "The Great Gatsby."  Here, the ethereal eyes are a metaphor for the the young woman's soul searching for Ian's 

Eventually he does find her again, and they begin a relationship that could only be described as unscientifically magical.  Her name is Sofi and she is of Argentinean/French descent.  She is a free spirit with a childlike quality of taking in the world with wonder and a sense of magic.  She is careless, irresponsible, spontaneous, believes in the soul and individuality, while Ian rejects them all in favor of science and reason.   Ultimately, the two are complete opposites and, of course, the two are doomed.  In scenes with Sofi, the white peacock is the Bird of Two Instances, and plays a major role symbolically for her.  

Karen, on the other hand, is smart, focused, and attractive.  She continues working on the research project full time and finally comes upon a worm that has the genetic make-up that they need for their progressive experiments.  Like the lab rats that Ian and Karen use for experiments, Karen confines herself to the laboratory and the goal of making a major scientific breakthrough.  Marling plays the role of Karen with a sense of grace that mirrors her own life -- that of a focused young woman wanting to send a cinematic message with her films. 

As Ian and Sofi's love grow, the two have conversations that show that the two have very different worldviews.  When Ian discusses his research of the eye and how he plans to disprove God by discrediting the Intelligent Design community.  Sofi asks, "Why do you try so hard to disprove God?" Ian's reply, "Who proved that God is there in the first place."  Another beautiful scene is of the two lovers discussing their life's philosophies concerning death.  Sofi pronounces that when she dies, she wants to be cremated. She wants her soul to scatter to the wind and be free like a white peacock.  Ian would rather be buried in the hopes that science will find a way to either reanimate his corpse or reconstitute him from his DNA. Sofi tells Ian, "You live in a room with books, a bed, your logic, but there is a door and there is something more on the other side." "Like my dirty laundry?" Ian laughs.  "No. you just cannot let go.  You have a hard time letting go." the scene is emblematic of another theme that Cahill promotes, and that is of both the scientific and religious communities needing to let go of their dogmatic stances and be open to a new light.

"...human beings are like these worms. Maybe God is all around us but we don’t have the proper sense with which to see Him."

Cause and effect play an important role in the arc of this story, and the price that each of the characters pays for their experiences is essential to their growth.  On the day of Karen and Ian's greatest achievement, is also the day of Ian's greatest tragedy.  The sorrow over the loss of Sofi transcends the trope known as "fridging."  We feel just as keenly as Ian does when she dies.  But this too leads our protagonist on a path he wouldn't have naturally taken.  Seven years later, both Ian and Karen, now full professors and are happily married to each other, they reflect on the Karen's decision to call Ian into the lab the day Ian and Sofi were planning to have a spontaneous wedding.   The events of this particular day are a turning point in the film, where the tone changes from glad to sadness but only for a while. 

While Ian goes through all the stages of loss and eventually finds solace in Karen's arms. The audience as a third party, like Kenny who is now working in the private sector, sees Ian's relationship with Sofi as impractical, but with Karen as the "logical" choice.  Memories of Sofi lay dormant with Ian and Karen knows it, but doesn't care, Sofi is dead, and she is there and Sofi isn't.  The couple's joy expands after Tobias is born.  In the hospital, although not a legal requirement -- yet, the nurse photographs the child's eyes. And despite the parents informing the nurse that they understand the science behind the uniqueness of the eye and that they have used the system and that it will generate a unique 12-digit code, like a social security number for the child, she continues to explain.  After the picture is taken, and the eye scanned, the computer glitches and an African -- American male in his 60s appears on the screen.  The man's name is Paul Edgar Dairy.  The nurse apologizes, reboots the computer, and creates a fresh entry for the couple's new son.  

Months later, they have an encounter with Dr. Jane Simmons (Cara Seymour), a Yale researcher claiming to want to check Tobias for Autism.  Once again, Ian's life is set on a new course after realizing that Dr. Simmons was actually searching for something as important as Autism but potentially more meaningful to the human race -- the transmigration of the soul. First, there is a trip to Idaho to discover the truth behind Simmons' research, and then Ian undertakes a journey to India encouraged by his logical, loving, wife.  What he finds there are old emotions that as a scientist he finds hard to return to.  A part of his life that wasn't anchored in normalcy, but unhinged by spontaneity and superstation, one where there was no closure. 

In India Ian meets a woman who prepares him for the self-discovery that he needs to complete his journey. William Mapother from Cahill's "Another Earth," makes a brief appearance, serving as a literal symbol of faith.  In a conversation with Priya (Archie Panjabi), a community service worker. They discuss Ian's scientific ideology, and how it fits into his trip to India. Ian expresses that he is looking at data points and it is the data points that prove his reality and why believing in an unseen, an unheard God is ridiculous.  Priya asks him what if religion could prove something that science could not.  Ian replies that is nonsense to consider.  However, Priya replies with this wonderful saying from the 14th Dalai Lama; 

“If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.”  

Michael Pitt’s characterization of Ian is correct for a dogmatic scientist caught unaware in Sofi’s magical charms.  Astrid Bergès-Frisbey’s captures Sofi perfectly.  With her lithe body, long brown hair, and soul catching eyes, there is little wonder why Ian is captivated by this woman-child.  The question be

comes how long could Ian put up with Sofi’s qualities before they become a liability to their relationship.

Markus Förderer's photography is well done, especially when photographing the film's main symbol, the eye. The image of the eyes that Förderer films, turns magically into a mystical mandalas that one can view both the entire universe but deep into the soul as well.  Technically, Förderer's does a great job, especially in Ian's bus ride and billboard epiphany scene. While Cahill directs with a style that is sometimes Malick and sometimes Hitchcock and sometimes something else altogether.  "Fall on Your Sword" founder Will Bates' ("Another Earth"), and Phil Mossman's ("We Are What We Are") ambient compositions are both compelling, and energetic. Also included are Radiohead's "Motion Picture Soundtrack," The Dø's "Dust It Off," and a few others that work together to set the proper moods for Ian, Sofi and Karen's journey.

"I Origins" is an impressive story, beautifully filmed and does what the director and the actors intended – to depict a love story with smartly written characters with a foundation in science but with an aura of spirituality.  Wordplay and symbolism are an important aspect of the narrative, and sometimes you can't help but feel overwhelmed. The final act is the most important, as all the themes and allusions come to a nexus in a young girl by the name of Salomina (Kashish).  The young lady is amazing and fulfils the cinematic and narrative promise Cahill makes in the first act of this film.  However, the conclusion of "I Origins", as they do in Mike Cahill films, leaves the viewer with the impression that they may have missed something.  The ending is subtle and allows for the viewer to make up their own mind about what just took place.  The viewer isn't left empty but fulfilled in that they just witnessed something marvelous but was there all along.  Go see "I Origins" when it comes to your area.

Fox Searchlight is opening "I Origins" in a few major cities across the nation. Take a moment and check the Limited Release schedule.  The film opens in these cities on July 18, 2014. More release dates and locations are in the works.

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I Origins: A Look Deep Into the Soul of Science

Movie Data

Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi

Year:  2014

Staring: Michael Pitt, Steven Yeun, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Brit Marling 

Director: Mike Cahill

Producer(s): Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Hunter Gray

Writer: Mike Cahill

Rating: R

Running Time: 113 minutes

Release Date: 7/18/2014

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I Origins: A Look Deep Into the Soul of Science

Sometimes I think I'm cursed.  I see an announcement for a film that looks interesting only to find out that it is available in limited number of theaters in a limited number of cities.  However, that doesn't dissuade me from letting you know about a film by Mike Cahill.  If you recall, Mike Cahill was the director and the co-writer of "Another Earth."  

Along with actress Brett Marling ("After Earth, "The Sound of My Voice," "The East"), they scripted  "An Another Earth"as an ambitious tale that blended drama and science fiction in a story of self realization and redemption.  

In "I Origins," Cahill is both director and the sole credit for writer. In the film he explores the relationship our how our beliefs in science and religion and he challenges the dogmatic views of both. 

The film focuses on molecular biologist Ian Gray played by Michael Pitt ("Seven Psychopaths"). He and his lab assistant Karen (Marling), research the human eye. Gray's goal in his research, besides the potential of correcting imperfections in the eye, is to explore the evolution of the eye in an effort to disprove the creationist's belief in Intelligent Design. 

Also staring in "I Origins" is "Walking Dead's" Steven Yeun. Playing Ian's love interest that sparks the his inspiration is Astrid Bergès-Frisbey.  Astrid played the character Syrena, the captured mermaid, in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"

In the trailers above, Ian Gray (Pitt) must deal with the profound lost of a loved one, and Karen (Marling) discusses with Gray the possibility that it might be possible that the eyes and the connections they have to the brain may hold genetic information that may actually have connections to what some call a soul.. In the third clip, linked here (they play one after another), Sofi (Bergès-Frisbey) and Ian discuss his research into the eye and how he plans on disproving God.  Sofie asks, "Why do you try so hard to disprove God?" Ian's reply "Who proved that God is there in the first place."

Fox Searchlight is opening "I Origins" in a few major cities across the nation. Take a moment and check the Limited Release schedule.  The film opens in these cities on July 18, 2014.

Movie Data

Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi

Year:  2014

Staring: Michael Pitt, Steven Yeun, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Brit Marling 

Director: Mike Cahill

Producer(s): Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Hunter Gray

Writer: Mike Cahill

Rating: R

Running Time: 113 minutes

Release Date: 7/18/2014

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Apes and Humans ~ A Lesson In Tribal Leadership

I never thought "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was profound in any way.  I did, however, thought it was an interesting film as an attempt at reimagining a favorite franchise from my youth, I watched it with some anticipation.  However, I thought it was more of a CGI driven film and not much in the way of social commentary.  Its sequel "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," is something much more.  There is no monkey business involved in this film but a serious Science Fiction drama that plays archetypical characters together in a classical story of family, betrayal, and revolution.  In some ways, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" plays like a Greek tragedy.  

A decade has passed since the Apes ran into the Muir Woods and the Simian Flu has spread across the world.  As you recall, Will's (James Franco) jerk of a neighbor (David Hewlett), an airline pilot, spread the ALZ-113 virus across the world.  Caesar (Andy Serkis) is an older, wiser leader of the simian population.  He and Cornelia (Judy Greer) have a son who for being about 10 years seems to be more like an older teen.  His name is Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston) and he has all the insecurities of a human teen growing up in his father’s shadow.  Blue Eyes is a young prince, impetuous, a careless know-it-all who doesn't listen to his dad.

Many of the themes from the "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" play out in this film as well.  As in the first film, this film also starts with a hunt.  This time the hunters are the Apes and they are hunting a deer.  The Apes, led by Caesar herd the deer toward a cliff.  Blue Eyes doesn't wait as his father ordered and attacks too soon.  A giant brown bear attacks him and Koba (Toby Kebbell), the Ape his father freed from abusive testing, saves him.  This scene is important as we see the relationship between leader, his son, and a trusted lieutenant.  

“Dawn Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is different in that, although there is plenty of PG-13 type of violence, the film is centered on family.  One can see a sense of family on several different levels.  Caesar's nuclear family has a new addition, his wife Cornelia has a newborn chimpanzee, but she is weak.  Andy Serkis' facial features that emote through the digital effects are one of a caring husband fearing for his wife's health, and concern that his eldest son makes the correct decisions in his life.

Caesar and the various Apes he freed from the zoo and the Gen-Sys research lab have built a simple communal civilization.  Notice I didn't say primitive, because it isn't.  The Apes just don't need much, like electricity, and all the technology that comes with it.  They ride horses, and live with only one commandment, "Ape not kill Ape.”  Maurice the circus orangutan, who already knew sign language when he first met Caesar, teaches the other somewhat evolved apes and their young.  Most of the Apes have rudimentary speech skills, however, they all know sign language, and that is how Caesar communicates.  He uses his voice only when he wants to make a point.  

Good stories have conflicts that matter, and family does matters.  Not too far away in the woods, Blue Eyes and his friend Ash (son of Rocket, another of Caesar's lieutenants played by Larramie Doc Shaw) walk through the woods when they come across Carver (Kirk Acevedo).  Carver and Koba are similar in type as they are both loyal to their leaders, but they both have distrust and hate for each other's species.  Carver shoots on instinct and wounds Ash.  Behind him is a small group of humans led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke), his new wife, Ellie (Keri Russell), Malcolm's son Alex (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Foster and Kemp.  From the trees, the apes descend, prepared to defend themselves and their land. Malcolm, the leader of the humans, deescalates the situation, however, Koba and Carver both wants revenge.  Caesar, shocks the humans when he roars, "don't come back!"

Malcolm and his group are from the city of San Francisco, and they need power.  There is a hydroelectric plant in the mountains now on the Ape's land.  The humans want to get to the plant and restart the power.  Historically, the scenario is similar to the takeover of American Indian land by white settlers.  In San Francisco, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) decides that if the apes won't let them have access to the hydroelectric plant, he and the citizens of the town will take it by force.  Malcolm promises that if Dreyfus gave him a chance, he would try again to negotiate with the Apes for access to the power plant.  In the meantime, Dreyfus orders the armory to prepare the weapons just in case war is inevitable.

Malcolm is able to convince Caesar that the humans mean no harm, and both of them negotiate in good faith.  Unknown to either Malcolm or Caesar, betrayal lurks in their own groups.  One condition that Caesar gives the humans is that they must submit to simian gun control laws.  Give up their weapons and Caesar with break them into pieces.  

Writer, producer, and director of “Felicity,” Matt Reeves balances the points of view of both races delicately and fairly.  Like Caesar, Malcolm too worries about his son, and his wife Ellie.  He also sees the advantage of a peace whether separate or not.  Ellie also shares this belief as demonstrated when she helps Cornelia by giving her some antibiotics to help her recover from her sickness.  Carver fears the Apes because as far as he is concerned they started the pandemic that killed most of the population -- except for small groups who are genetically immune, including the folks still alive in San Francisco,  Ellie reminds him that it was a manmade virus that caused all the deaths.  Koba, still angry for the pain he endured at the hands of man wants retribution.

Writers Mark Bomback ("The Wolverine," "Unstoppable"), and the husband and wife team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, take what was a respectful reimagining of a classic Science Fiction film and update it for a new technological society.  Also updated are our thoughts, not just on treating other human beings equally, but also in light of changing mindsets on human exceptionalism, our thoughts turn now on how we can better take care of the planet and the creatures that live on it with us.  Of course, the underlying message has always been that we should all get along.  Where “Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was more about rebellion and gaining freedom for the oppressed, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" is more about mercy versus vengeance and which race is the more savage.  The first film contained the underlying message of greed and how messing with science without the necessary precautions can backfire, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" is more about how both societies are blinded by their own prejudices.

Jason Clarke of "The Great Gatsby" and "Lawless" does a wonderful job as Malcolm.  He holds your attention and portrays that sense of honesty needed for this role.  Keri Russell ("Dark Skies,"  "We Were Soldiers") carries her part well as the medic, wife, and step-mom.  Kodi Smit-McPhee is no stranger to post-apocalyptic worlds.  He starred alongside Viggo Mortenson in 2009's "The Road.”  I felt for these human characters as much as I did for Caesar’s family.  Gary Oldman's Dreyfus character seem like a reasonable man, however, he too succumbs to his prejudices and ultimately fails his mission.  I have seen Kirk Acevedo playing this kind of shoot first, survival of the fitness kill or be killed attitude.  He does it very well, but now I think he may be typecast in theses hate filled, morally bankrupt roles.  

Honestly, the best actors were the ones who played nonhuman characters.  Andy Serkis deserves an Oscar for his part in this film.  Although an accomplished actor and now a director, his work as Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" films has made him the de facto consultant on all things motion capture.  For reasons that I am unaware of, or maybe technology took another leap in the last three years, but I feel the digital creatures in “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” are superior to “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”.  Toby Kebbell ("The East,” "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”) is excellent as Koba the vengeful ape who is ungrateful of what he has and is filled with hate.

Michael Giacchino's ("John Carter," "Lost") thoughtful score is both tender and at times grand.  As the first big battle scene of the film is approaching, strains of Jerry Goldsmith's original tribal theme could be heard.  Also of note was the celebration after getting the water plant working.  With power restored, the humans gather to listen to "The Weight" by the 60's group, The Band.  As I mentioned before, Applause to the visual effects folks, as I think WETA Digital did an impressively beautiful job of creating the Apes' hairy texture and facial features.  

Overall, I am very happy with this new sequel. As I said in the beginning of this review, I felt that both the story and the characters are comprised of many archetypal elements, however, the writers and director draw on those elements and craft them into a compelling narrative and visually spectacular images. In this film there is no moral ambiguity, there were no real shading of right and wrong, good verses bad, or mercy verses death, I knew which characters to root for whether they be Ape or Human.  "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" not only entertained me with its even pacing, but the story and the messages behind it left me sitting in my chair at the theater, with the lights coming on, and the credits rolling, thinking.  Thinking about how we as people treat each other, and how we as a race treat the planet, the environment, and all creatures on this planet. 

Movie Data

Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Year: 2014

Staring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirk Acevedo 

Director: Matt Reeves

Producer(s): Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver

Writer: Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Pierre Boulle (novel "La Planète des Singes")

Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 130 minutes

Release Date: 7/11/2014

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Three independent films worth watching this 4th of July weekend.

Just because a film doesn't have a big budget doesn't mean it doesn't have big ideas or something to say.  Three films that I have seen in the last month have not only caught my attention but my imagination as well.

Chef - Comedy
First from Open Road Films is John Favreau's summer film "Chef.”  The film may not make tons of money, but it will make many people happy.  "Chef" is a story of one man's search for happiness and finding it at the most essential level: food, family, and personal self-worth.  "Chef" includes “Iron Man" alums Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson in supporting roles.  But the big stars along with Favreau are Emjay Anthony, John Leguizamo, and Sofia Vergara.  The MPAA gave "Chef" an R rating for language, and some suggestive male bonding references.  The film runs just under 2 hours and worth every minute.

The Rover - Crime Drama

Secondly, I recommend the Australian film from A24 studios titled "The Rover.”  A carefully paced film that loves wide-open spaces, and with a sense of turmoil that burns below the surface.  Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson star in a film that typifies Australian cinematic style with long periods of silence and then sudden bursts of violence that shatters the narrative and reminds the viewer that the world that we are wandering in. is a wilderness of pain and violence.  "The Rover" is a film about the search for humanity, civility and the safety of structure.  The film is violent and deserves its R rating, and runs about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The Signal - Sci-Fi

Last, but not least is "The Signal" from the art house Focus films.  Director William Eubank takes us on a journey into the depths of conspiracies and into a world of interesting concepts.  Is it Alien contact, or is it something from "The Twilight Zone?"  That is the question "The Signal" asks.   The film stars Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke and Laurence Fishburne star in this well-made stylish Science Fiction adventure.  "The Signal" is Science Fiction in its true form, unaltered by fantastical elements from fantasy or the horror genres.  If you don’t see “The Signal” in theaters, make sure that you catch it on Blu-ray or DVD. Rated PG-13 and runs 85 minutes.

Summer 2014 Independent Film | A Constantly Racing Mind

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Snowpiercer: The Can't Miss Film of the Year

Good day.

On this day, July 1st 2014…
at this hour, 0600…
we are at the very first airport in the world…
topic of so much controversy over the past 7 years…
has continued development.
Protests from environmental
groups and a number of developing countries continue.
It had been claimed the CW7 is the answer to global warming.
And we are witnesses.
Leaders who argue that
global warming can no longer be ignored.
Today, 79 countries will began dispersing CW7…
in the upper layers of the atmosphere.
And surprisingly bring down the average global temperature…
It is just a day away that…
according to scientists…
the artificial cooling subtance CW7…
will succeed in bringing average
global temperature down to managable level.
As a revolutionary solution to mankind’s warming of the planet.
Soon after dispersing CW7,

the world froze. All life became extinct.


We join the perpetual motion train in its 17th year after the release of CW-7 in the hopes of stopping Global Warming.  The chem-trails have the opposite effect that leaves the world buried under a ton of snow, and the world a winter wasteland.  The perpetual engine, “Snowpiercer,” developed by Wilford Industries and run by Wilfred himself has taken on an aura of mythical proportions.  It is the eve of a new year, and the stench of revolution is in the air.  

Director Joon-ho Bong's "Snowpiercer" is a brilliant story full of metaphor and symbolism that traces its roots back to feudalism, the industrial revolution, with all the benefits and damage that is develops in a closed system.  Chris Evans ("Sunshine," "Captain America," "Fantastic Four") leads a revolution that threatens to destroy the fragile balance between life and death.  John Hurt ("Alien," "1984," "Outlander") is the architect of the revolution, the spiritual leader of the unwashed masses residing in the back of the train.  Kang-ho Song ("The Host" 2006) is the gatekeeper.  He is the one who designed the locking doors between one train cabin and the other in the massively long train.  Ah-sung Ko also of "The Host" plays his drug-addicted daughter.  Jamie Bell ("Defiance," "The Eagle") is the revolutionary second in command and Evan's spirited friend.  Octavia Spencer ("The Help," "Being John Malkovich") is a desperate mother in search of her child taken by the people from the front of the train.  Tilda Swinton ("Constantine," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe") is the face of Kafka-esque forbidden front of the train, and Ed Harris ("Phantom," "A History of Violence") is the elusive Wilford.  After Bong Joon-ho read Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette's graphic novel "Le Transperceneige," he decided that he wanted to make it into a feature film.  From the beginning of the story until its very end, "Snowpiercer" is filled with violence, harsh language, and drug addiction and debauchery, giving it an R rating.  Prepare for a two-hour adrenaline charged, emotionally intense ride.

It is 2031 and the world is frozen over.  As the world froze, the lucky few boarded the Snowpiercer, and started a trek around the world that takes a year to complete and there have been 17 of them.  The people of the train find themselves separated by location and into classes.  Those in the upper class reside in the forward sections of the train.  The prisoners are somewhere in the middle and the dregs of their closed society are physically and symbolically in the ass of the train.  Gilliam (Hurt) is the elder statesman of the rear compartments and he along with Curtis (Evans) and Edgar (Bell) plot to rush the forward cabins and fight their way to the Sacred Engine.  Armed soldiers from the front treat the refugees like criminals with head counts and doling out 'power bars' in single files.  From time to time, a short plump woman (Emma Levie) comes to the back section armed with a tape measure to find children of the right height for purposes unknown.  The brutality that the haves inflict on the have-nots is exceptional.  When the guards take Tim (Marcanthonee Reis), Tanya’s (Spencer) son, they savagely beat her.  When Andrew's (Ewen Bremner) child is taken, he fights back.  Minister Mason (Swinton) uses him as an example to keep the masses at bay.  Sticking his arm outside into the frozen air, Mason gives a blustering speech about the divine balance and that everybody has a place on the train.  She places a shoe on his wildly matted hair and exclaims, "Would you put a shoe on your head?"  Continuing to drive her point, she tells the passengers that she is a hat and belongs on the head (the front of the train) and to "know your place.  Accept your place.  Be a shoe."  In the time it takes for Mason to make the ludicrous speech, Andy's arm freezes solid and eventually loses it in a horrific manner. 

Curtis, bearded and grimy, with Edgar lead the uprising as they charge past the first few gates and a fight ensues.  Their first stop is at the prison cabin where they release Namgoong Minsoo (Kang-ho Song) and his daughter Yona (Ah-sung Ko).  Both turn out to be addicted to the industrial waste by-product Kronole.  The substance is both addictive and very flammable.  Namgoong designed the electronic systems that open the doors between compartments.  The small group of revolutionaries finds him in a drawer deep in cryo-sleep.  For the price of four Kronoles per door, he and his daughter will open the doors that lead from one social class to another.  Tagging along are Andy, Tanya, Edgar, and helping the grizzled and maimed Gilliam is the young Grey (Luke Pasqualino - "Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome").  With each door that opens, another world of both wonder and horror unfolds.  There is a point in the film, that after battling their way into a room they find something they haven't seen in 17 years -- a window.  Opening the window exposes the revolutionaries like the man in Plato's cave who walked out of the cave and sees the world for what it really is.  

The battles are bloody and violent, but not done for the sake of gratuitous violence.  Bong composes each shot is to give the viewer an emotional feeling of disgust and anger.  The anger is for the rich people at the front and the social injustice of the back.  After the bloodiest battle that takes place after crossing the Yekaterina (which denotes a New Year), Edgar is martyred and Curtis captures Minister Mason and uses her to transverse to the next few compartments.  In one compartment they find what the protein bars are made of (trust me, ingredient labeling is much overrated), and that you can see the sun and sit under a tree in the conservatory car, and fish swim above your head in the aquarium car.  You can even sit down and have sushi prepared by an actual sushi chef.  Once again, Mason talks about concepts of economics and balance.  In a closed society, order is necessary and all the leaders of the train have done, was for their benefit.  A dark foreshadowing of what is to come.  


All of the actors are exceptional in their roles.  Evans, although forlorn and morose is never depressing.  John Hurt and Tilda Swinton give memorable performances.  Jamie Bell and Olivia Spencer are strong in their supporting performances and we want to see them win.  The bad guys, Vlad Ivanov and Adnan Haskovic as Franco the Elder and Younger, are silent and menacing.  Alison Pill ("Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") is surreal as the Mary Poppins like schoolteacher.

The first two acts are caffeine rich and keep the pace moving.  Entering the third act, the tone changes, and the rush is now more emotionally charged.  A story that Curtis tells about the first days of the train are horrifying, reminiscent of the holocaust.  The decadence of the first class passengers mortifies both Curtis and the audience.  As Curtis approaches the front, his followers dwindle down to Namgoong and Yona.  We reach a moment that recalls Orwell's "1984" and Winston's (John Hurt) revelation about Big Brother.  Or one could say that "Snowpiercer" is very Matrixesque in this manner.  The meeting with Wilford (Harris) is disturbing to say the least and in some ways unexpected.  One would expect the ending to be somewhat Marxist in nature, but it isn't.  The secrets that "Snowpiercer" reveals are socially challenging in these days of climate change and ecological fear.  Lately we tend to ask ourselves what is in our food, or should we?  For those of us in First World countries, do we care how the others in the Third World live?  Shouldn't we? Where is my place in the world and can I change it?  "Snowpiercer" asks these questions and more.  Sometimes it is better to tear down current paradigms and symbols and start anew. 

Although "Snowpiercer" is out in Korea on August 1st, 2013.  The Weinstein Company has the distribution rights in the United States and the film opened to about 8 theaters on June 27, 2014, and a wider release for July 3, 2014

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Snowpiercer ~ Curtis - This Is Your Destiny

Movie Data

Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

Year:  2013

Staring: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris, Kang-ho Song, Ah-sung Ko

Director: Joon-ho Bong

Producer(s): Tae-sung Jeong, Steven Nam, Chan-wook Park

Writer: Joon-ho Bong, Kelly Masterson

Rating: R

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The Rover - One Man's Search For Justice In the Land of the Lawless

" I am looking for my car. There are three men in it.  Have you seen it?"

The opening scenes of "The Rover" warn the viewer that this is not a slick Hollywood Blockbuster, instead it is a carefully paced film that loves wide open spaces, and with a sense of turmoil that burns below the surface.  "The Rover" typifies Australian cinematic style in this manner as well as the sudden bursts of violence that shatters the narrative and reminds the viewer that the world that we are wandering in. is a wilderness of pain and violence.  Guy Pearce ("Memento," "The Count of Monte Cristo," "Animal Kingdom," "Lockout ") stars along with Robert Pattinson ("Water for Elephants," "The Twilight Saga: New Moon") in this straight forward narrative of two men searching for the life and security that the world once held for them. “  The Rover" is a violent film, and deserves its R rating, and runs about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The opening title card only says "10 years after the collapse."  The fall of the Western economy leads many to the mines of Australia to eke out a living. Thievery and robbery are the norm, and the price of water and petrol are high.   David Michôd ("Animal Kingdom" "Hesher") and writer and actor Joel Edgerton ("The Great Gatsby," "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones") ,  tells a direct narrative of brutality in the Australian outback.   Sitting in his car, Eric (Guy Pearce) finally decides to exit his compact car and enter a bar for a drink.  Pearce’s Eric is dressed in a short sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts, as if he was planning on doing some gardening in his backyard but decided to have a drink instead.  He has a full beard and moustache and his hair is a slicked back mess and thinning.  Approaching the bar from a short distance are three men in a small pickup truck covered in mud.  They are fighting with one another.  A wounded Henry (Scoot McNairy), argues with Archie (David Field) who is sitting in the back seat while Caleb (Tawanda Manyimo) drives the getaway car.  They are arguing over leaving Hank’s brother Rey (Robert Pattinson) behind either wounded or dead in the street.  A struggle ensues and the car goes crashing by the barroom window as Eric drinks his beer morosely.  The three men, sitting in their car, uninjured, try to get the car to move but cannot.  Two men in the bar leave the bar with shotguns to investigate and Eric follows.  Archie leaves the backseat and breaks into Eric's car and electronically hotwires it; the other two follow.  Eric is able to start the truck and pursues the three carjackers.  

During the pursuit, Eric catches up to the thieves, but is knocked unconscious and left on the side fo the road. Upon awaking,  Eric stops at every shithole town that litters the Australian desert.  He also finds himself at odds with an old brothel/opium den owner who goes by the name of Grandma (Gillian Jones), several Chinese acrobats and a dwarf (Jamie Fallon), whom Eric ends up murdering in a quite nonchalant way.  Eric also runs into Rey who is losing blood from a gunshot wound.  After driving miles to find a doctor, Eric finds one by the name of Dorothy (Susan Prior).  After she removes the bullet, cleans, and dresses the wound, Dorothy finds Eric in a shed where she keeps quite a few dogs held in cages.  Watching the caged dogs, Eric is quiet and filled with sorrow. He sits in front of them and sobs.  Dorothy tells him that the owners left the dogs with her to care for.  The owners never returned.  She didn’t want to release the dogs because she knows that they would be killed and eaten as food.  The next day during an encounter with the Chinese acrobats who came avenge the dwarf..  Eric uses Dorothy’s rifle to shoot them from a distance.  Rey, still recovering, marvels at his accuracy.  Eric takes Rey with him as he is the key in finding the brother, the other two thieves and his car.  

Eric’s car acts as a McGuffin in this film.  It seems to be Eric’s purpose for living.  One must ask themselves why the damn car is so important.  The interaction between Eric and Rey, which starts out guarded, is insightful to the audience.  We find that Eric is an ex-soldier and a failed farmer and Rey is a young American man who may be described as one with limited mental abilities.  Rey is a role that Robert Pattinson gives an exceptionally good performance.  His mannerisms and the difficulty he has in getting his words out are painfully realistic.  Throughout the film, Rey’s character metamorphoses into something other than a mentally challenged kid who is severely dependent on his older brother.   

The theme of friendship and trust grows throughout the film in small yet credible ways.  Eric is harder to fathom as he is a man full of despair, and acts as a one whose search for meaning has failed.  After Rey accidently kills a motel owner’s daughter, he ends up in a gunfight with a soldier who Eric dispatches matter-of factly.  The next day Rey is deep in thought and tells Eric that he is thinking of the girl he killed.  Eric replies, "You should never stop thinking about a life you take.  That is the price you pay for taking it."

As the two travel the Australian Wasteland there are people surrealistically crucified on the side of the road.  Eric is morose throughout the film with an air of existentialism on the surface but with a terrible anger boiling beneath.  At one point, after being captured by the soldiers, he talks to the Sargent filling out his transfer papers.  Eric asks the soldier why he doesn't just kill him rather than sending him to Sydney.  The soldier’s reply borders on the absurd, "Why shoot them, if we shoot them and never send them to Sidney they will wonder why they are paying us.”  He then confesses to the soldier about murdering his wife 10 years before. For Eric, the loss of structure, the lawlessness, and the struggle just to survive, leaves the his world meaningless and sullen.  As Eric awaits his death, gunshots ring out, and within seconds, the soldier he just confessed to, is dead.  Rey arrives like the cavalry to the rescue.  Welcome to the apocalyptic version of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."

Amidst the ramshackle buildings and the desert heat and openness, “The Rover” is paced stubbornly and has a quality reminiscent of "The Book of Eli."  Michôd questions the value of the Rule of Law, or in this case the lack of it.  One sits mesmerized to the screen as each scene and each act of violence unfolds and you are given time to reflect on what the world has come to.  The Human psyche is a fragile thing and in either Eric and Rey’s world, or your own world, where respect for human life and politeness come into question as each bit of civility, slowly and insidiously is stripped from humanity.  The film exudes complacency as seen near the end when an old man watches the murder of his companions.

Have I scared you with a description of this film?  Don’t be, my intentions are only to guide you.  The Rover is a film for those who are not faint of heart and enjoys a directing style that aims clearly at telling a story of violence in a realistic but in a weirdly beautiful way. Natasha Braier's cinematography and Peter Sciberras editing doesn't rush or force the characters or the story.  "The Rover" is a film about the search for humanity, civility and the safety of structure.  The film is also about justice; not just justice for the film’s bad guys, but also for the "hero" as well. 

Movie Data

Genre: Crime, Drama

Year:  2014

Staring: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy, Tawanda Manyimo, David Field, Susan Prior, Gillian Jones

Director: David Michôd

Producer(s): David Linde, David Michôd, Liz Watts

Writer: Joel Edgerton, David Michôd

Rating: R

Running Time: 102 minutes

Release Date:  6/20/2014

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