Review of Coherence (2014) by Amadouiraklidis — 24 Sep 2022

Great movie with a couple of issues.

First, the decision making was incoherent for the first half of the movie. It took 10-15 minutes too long for the characters to understand the basics of what was going on. Some of the decisions even after make no sense. Some people still wanting to leave the house, alone no less. This issue went away for the second half of the movie. Second. The characters lacked continuity and coherence. Laurie is supposedly the worst, a succubus, yet was a completely normal person for the most part. Then, completely out of character, she starts putting the moves on Kevin and kissing him? Kevin and Emily have a good relationship at the start but after one kiss and reminisce, he no longer cares about her? Just makes no sense. Third, there could have been a lot more done with the movie. The ending was good, but it doesn't seem like enough. The height of the drama was a couple of fights, some old sexual infidelity, the main character trying to kill and replace 'herself' in another universe, and an inappropriate kiss. The stakes could have been elevated and more continuous. My heart only started really pumping when Emily was trying to get rid of her clone, with 3 minutes left in the movie.

Onto the good things. The idea of the movie is incredible. The direction of the script was driven by the director giving each actor cards with their general direction, presumably for the specific scene or period in the film. The rest was filled in with improvisation and light direction. It makes for an incredibly authentic experience and a story that develops really naturally.

It also has one of the most authentic processes of discovery imaginable. The actors are trying to figure out what's going on just as much as we the audience are, and that elevates the movie to an elite echelon of movies. The movie takes us down a maze and the experience just grows and grows and grows.

This movie is excellent. Worth the watch, without a doubt.