X
- 2014
- Not Rated
- Oscilloscope
- 1 h 29 m
- 2014
- Not Rated
- Oscilloscope
- 1 h 29 m
Summary On the night of an astrological anomaly, eight friends at a dinner party experience a troubling chain of reality bending events.
Directed By: James Ward Byrkit
Written By: Alex Manugian, James Ward Byrkit
- 2014
- Not Rated
- Oscilloscope
- 1 h 29 m
- 2014
- Not Rated
- Oscilloscope
- 1 h 29 m
Coherence
65
7.9
Where to Watch
Summary On the night of an astrological anomaly, eight friends at a dinner party experience a troubling chain of reality bending events.
Directed By: James Ward Byrkit
Written By: Alex Manugian, James Ward Byrkit
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
65
57% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
43% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
65
57% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
43% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Shot over five nights in a single location, and almost entirely improvised, Coherence is no-budget filmmaking at its most delectably inventive.
The wordy end product may be short on demons and murderous droids, yet Coherence is a satisfying and chilling addition to the ever-growing pal-ocalypse subgenre.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 177 User Ratings
7.9
85% Positive
151 Ratings
151 Ratings
10% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
5% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 177 User Ratings
7.9
85% Positive
151 Ratings
151 Ratings
10% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
5% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
Al principio puede parecer lenta, pero tiene muchos detalles que si le prestas buena atención, verás lo genial que es la peli
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Byrkit’s film is very much its own thing. It’s an urbane dinner-party movie that turns into something magnificent, terrible, and strange – and yet it never quite stops being an urbane dinner-party movie, never lets up its tone of ironic refinement. Coherence is a gentle film, but you walk away from it with your brain on fire.
After the fundamental problem of Coherence has become clear, or clear-ish – there’s another dinner party, at that other house, that looks an awful lot like this one – the movie becomes slightly too much like an unfolding mathematical puzzle, although an ingenious one that reaches a chilling conclusion.
Coherence is a debut of tremendous ambition and potential, yet sadly, despite some genuine moments of tension, the film ironically makes too many wrong turns and its convoluted themes fail to coalesce on a human level, tempering the initial intrigue and culminating in a plaintive sense of admiration, rather than enraptured adulation.
It feels like this is a short film idea stretched to feature length, and the padding doesn't work.
The Rod Serling tension Byrkit is angling for never quite arrives, nor does any real Borgesian frisson. But thanks to its social setting, it does offer a vivid and perhaps intentional satirical portrait of L.A. culture.
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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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. Aside from a small amount of character set-up in the opening, there are no pauses. 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. Coherence also manages to steer almost entirely clear of one of science fiction’s least desirable traits: tedious exposition. A useful snippet of information here and there is all the viewer needs. The filmmakers trust the audience’s intelligence.
A 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. 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. 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. This gives the film an outstanding sense of realism, grounding the strange occurrences in a solid and familiar setting.
Director 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. 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. No doubt this will help the film’s shareability no end – it certainly makes the viewing experience a memorable, if haunting, one. 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.
Coherence 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. 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.
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This was good. It's short enough to be worth engaging with, so I'd say just watch it. Give it a try. It's a perfectly palatable, pretty intelligent sci-fi without glitz and gloss. No spoilers, but the ending is awful, makes no sense and completely contradicts the central protagonist's character. 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. I mean, I literally have never seen a more random smeg of an ending in all my life. They completely went off the rails and just rushed towards something, ANYTHING in what appeared to be raw desperation. It would be like if this review started talking about fire ants or something. Absolutely crazy and pointless. But again, it's well worth watching and deciding for yourself. Do this if you're a big movie fan or sci-fi connoisseur. You'll be glad you watched it. Just don't expect too much.
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Coherence is a chaotic and highly spontaneous dinner party mystery. The acting is artificial, which may work for you (or not) as part of the unnerving vibe. The characters' actions are puzzling and the plot is erratic. Coherence is definitely a film that will keep you guessing. Recommended to lovers of improv and indie films such as Primer and the Blair Witch Project.
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A regular independent film, which seems to have neglected the most technical aspects.
Low-budget independent films are boxes of surprises. You never know if they are excellent or crap. This film seemed like a good bet, with a plot based on a group of friends who get together for dinner during the passage of a comet that, in a somewhat mysterious way, causes a series of problems such as the Internet and electricity failing, broken cell phones and , stranger still, a juxtaposition of parallel realities.
I thought it would be more of a psychological horror film, and I believe there are scenes where some inroads are made in this field, but the suspense and the clever mystery created end up standing out. However, the characters are poor and very cliché, and the whole story becomes so strange that it quickly loses credibility. At one point, it all sounds so surreal that it doesn't really matter what really happened there. Another annoying thing was having so many characters talking on top of each other during the film. If it happens on time it makes things more authentic, but if it is always happening it is too much. None of the actors are known, the bet was on unknown names, but with experience in indie films and sporadic participation in TV series (Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon etc.).
The film uses sound effects and music quite well to increase suspense and become more tense. Being a low budget film it is not surprising that there is only one filming location and that it is a relatively poor film. What is more difficult to forgive is the rather amateur work of filming, with most scenes so shaky that it seems that the cameraman was nervous. Another thing that is not easily forgiven is the deficient editing and post-production work. These are details that may seem of less relevance but that can lose the chances of a serious film career.
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So annoying that I could not finish it. The characters are insufferable. The men all look alike, with slightly different personalities. That makes it hard to tell them apart. They initially appear as if they're smart, maybe well educated people, but then everything they say and do is moronic. Glad I didn't stick around for the ending.
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Production Company
Bellanova Films,
Ugly Duckling Films
Release Date Jun 20, 2014
Duration 1 h 29 m
Rating Not Rated
Tagline Rearrange your brain.
Awards
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Gotham Awards
• 2 Nominations
