SYNCHRONIC
Gateway drug
RELEASED OUT NOW! 2019 | 15 | VOD
Directors Justin Benson,
Aaron Moorhead
Cast Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan, Katie Aselton, Ally Ioannides
Directorial duo Benson and Moorhead’s fourth feature is probably their most accessible yet, but still commendably oddball.
New Orleans paramedic buddies Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan) are encountering an increasing number of ODS in bizarre circumstances – with users left run through with a sword, bitten by a rare snake and so on. An obscure designer drug, Synchronic, turns out to be responsible; it causes you to experience time in a non-linear fashion, by messing with your
This is no comfort-food nostalgia piece
pineal gland. When Dennis’s daughter disappears, obviously lost in the past, Steve takes it upon himself to bring her back.
It’s a premise you might struggle to swallow. How does a biochemical effect cause physical relocation, not just altered perception? You can roll with it, though. It helps that the central relationship between the two friends – one a family man, the other a discontented lothario – is well fleshed-out, featuring some frank discussion of feelings.
As Steve records video diaries of his experiments with the drug, there’s a strong Doc Brown vibe – but this is no comfort-food nostalgia piece. “Fuck Back To The Future!”, he spits at one point, and we’re repeatedly reminded that for black people the past was an even more dangerous place. Why hanker for days of yore, the film says, when “the present is a miracle”? The result is a badtrip time travel flick that’s entertainingly bizarro but also provokes some thought.
One long walk-and-talk sequence featuring the two buddies takes place in front of Anne Rice’s house.