I Origins
As reported by Dollyforme
A fun older movie I got from Redbox, not a flashy Sci Fi movie at all, very low budget but thought provoking.
A Biologist Ian (Pitt) and research partner Karen (Marling) are investigating the human eye; when Ian has a whirlwind romance with model Sofi (Bergès-Frisbey), a tragic accident propels the story in an unexpected direction. Thoughtful and intelligent filmmaking with some intense physical horror, and a welcome willingness to…
This movie does ask the question - is there life after death? The question sounds like grounds for a fantasy, but I Origins is an unusual, science-based metaphysical thriller that manages to be both provocative and romantic. Cast rather wonderfully against type, Boardwalk Empire's cherub-faced Michael Pitt stars as Ian Gray, a New York biologist seeking to prove Darwin's theory of evolution by tracing the development of the eye back to its earliest and most basic organisms, thereby disproving religious creationism. In flashback, the rational, level-headed Gray pursues a love affair with the impulsive, spiritual Sofi (Astrid Bergés-Frisbey), a French girl he meets at a party. Although it takes a while, the two plot strands gradually converge. Though a little stretched, the film's mysteries are thoughtful and even profound, with a series of twists that aren't so much played for surprise as to push the limits of rationality. From its ethereal opening (and voiceover), it is clear that the film’s protagonist, scientist Ian Gray (Michael Pitt), dances to the beat of his own drum. An intense and curious creature, he shoots close-ups of the human eye, for reasons that become clearer through the persistence of his first-year assistant, Karen (Brit Marling). Unlike this bookish newcomer, Gray is partial to a wild and untamed life away from the lab.
It is through this that he meets the alluring and elusive Sofi (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey). Their cat-and-mouse courting swiftly turns to lust-fuelled desire (delivered via a flurry of touching sequences, edited by Cahill himself). One could be forgiven for expecting science to take a back seat, as the pair embark on a heady affair whose formal union is only stymied by the bureaucracy of the registry office they visit.
Yet writer-director Cahill’s fascination with Earth, science, faith and the after-life remains intact and resolutely focused, with a freak accident helping to readjust the narrative’s equilibrium. From then on, investigative science – relayed in an accessible, if at times only half-convincing way – takes centre stage.
Cahill elicits exquisite, disarming turns from both Pitt and Bergès-Frisbey, the former defiantly carrying the film, the latter offering a forbidden, fragile beauty. Marling, an indie darling in such company, provides solid support.
I Origins won Sundance’s science-based prize, the Alfred P Sloan award, but carries a greater depth of emotion in its arsenal than its lower-budget elder. Visually, the film mines a vein akin to classic Malick, albeit with an altogether more other-worldly quality, one that appears to be fast-becoming Cahill’s raison d’être. As this curious tale reaches its third act, Gray is no longer sure that his beloved science can so easily dismiss the creationists he’s been so at pains to disprove. A profoundly haunting sequence, featuring a young Indian newcomer named Kashish, provides more startling questions than it can answer. We may, in time, solve the riddle of how we came to be, the film seems to be saying, but the answer is unlikely to provide what we had expected.
Aided by the superior lensing of German Markus Forderer, and a suitably immersive score (from Will Bates and Phil Mossman), Cahill’s film overcomes its scientific shortcomings with a clear and defined sense of purpose. As with its likeable predecessor, this journey into (and out of) our world defies expectation even as it divides opinion (which it did in the US, during its brief theatrical run). Yet armed with a profoundly affecting tone and style that’s impossible to shake off, I Origins could well prove the most emotive film of the year. It’s a rare and rather moving delight.
CAST & CREW
Dr Ian Gray Michael Pitt
Karen Brit Marling
Sofi Astrid Bergès-Frisbey
Kenny Steven Yeun
Priya Varma Archie Panjabi
Dr Simmons Cara Seymour
Margaret Dairy Venida Evans
Darryl Mackenzie William Mapother
Director Mike Cahill
