Wasted effort. Wasted resources. Wasted time.
The kinder part of my inner dialogue about this film murmurs that this is a potentially decent film that was decimated by COVID restrictions. There are indeed references to lockdown that nod at this possibility. But I don't think that COVID is what passed this film through the Blend-Tek. The writers had the seeds of a good idea, then cast them adrift into the winds of possibility. And they blew away.
The opening sequence had the makings of an ok teen adventure sci-fi, but the film makers' kludgy introduction of a "door" slammed that possibility shut. The subsequent sequences are unevenly paced, fragmented, mismatched and incoherent. Attempts at surrealism look like cheap stoner art. Attempts to tug on emotional heart strings and to impart a sense of eeriness or awe fall totally flat. Interwoven social commentary is ham-fisted and inelegant. Special effects look worse than cheap. The acting isn't even zoom-meetinged in. Even when it is.
Nothing useful is done to tie this jumbled anthology piece together. Rather than a symphony of unique, mind-blowing segments coming together and playing off each other to impart a cosmic message, this looks like a bottom-of-the-bin grab-bag bundle from a goodwill fire sale. A competent director may have done something interesting with this idea, even during the COVID lockdown. That is not what we have here.
M, F, K? K.
The kinder part of my inner dialogue about this film murmurs that this is a potentially decent film that was decimated by COVID restrictions. There are indeed references to lockdown that nod at this possibility. But I don't think that COVID is what passed this film through the Blend-Tek. The writers had the seeds of a good idea, then cast them adrift into the winds of possibility. And they blew away.
The opening sequence had the makings of an ok teen adventure sci-fi, but the film makers' kludgy introduction of a "door" slammed that possibility shut. The subsequent sequences are unevenly paced, fragmented, mismatched and incoherent. Attempts at surrealism look like cheap stoner art. Attempts to tug on emotional heart strings and to impart a sense of eeriness or awe fall totally flat. Interwoven social commentary is ham-fisted and inelegant. Special effects look worse than cheap. The acting isn't even zoom-meetinged in. Even when it is.
Nothing useful is done to tie this jumbled anthology piece together. Rather than a symphony of unique, mind-blowing segments coming together and playing off each other to impart a cosmic message, this looks like a bottom-of-the-bin grab-bag bundle from a goodwill fire sale. A competent director may have done something interesting with this idea, even during the COVID lockdown. That is not what we have here.
M, F, K? K.