Caution: Awesomeness Ahead

Incomplete until the last shot. Something that can be said about literally every  film ever made, though it is rarely ever as crucial as it is here. I found myself watching this with amazement for several reasons; it’s beauty, it’s complexity and it’s seemingly hollowness. How those three things could ever be coupled together is a mystery to me. I wondered how it was possible this was my take on the film as I watched it. It perplexed me, and it continued to right down to the final shot. Something was missing throughout it’s entirety and it bothered me. I loved the camera work, the performances, the screenplay, all of it and yet somehow something felt missing. As beautiful as it all looked it felt hollow. I couldn’t understand why.

Brit Marling fronts what is essentially a two person show along with William Mapother in a very honest and daring way. She plays Rhoda Williams in such a disconnected manner that I was wasn’t able to get a full grasp on her for a good part of the film. She sees, hears and knows the world around her but she never really feels any of it. A starling position to be in. One that she put me in. She is a troubled individual dealing with a terrible incident that occurred to her. One that she feels she is the cause of. She was disconnected from her world and as such I felt disconnected from her. Something that, upon reflection, was perfect. That is until her encounters with William Mapother’s John Burrow who is also dealing with a life altering tragedy. Mapother’s John Burrow is a lost man. A man who used to know his way until one fateful night. Stricken with grief over a tragic event he has unraveled. He doesn’t seem to care anymore. He spends his days and nights watching TV and drinking heavily. He doesn’t appear to leave the house much nor does he appear to have any real desire to. He, like Rhoda, has nothing to live for. It is because of this shared state of disconnection they are able connect. Together they find a sort of medium with each other. Marling’s Rhoda starts to feel again. Starts to feel as though she has something to live for. Something that balances her existence out. It is then that we are finally able to connect to her and it is a moving experience.

Mike Cahill and Brit Marling wrote what is my favorite screenplay of the year so far. Everything about this extraordinary story feels real and true. Even amidst the back drop of the finding of another planet that seems to be exactly like ours the film never feels like something that isn’t a documentary. Cahill’s direction does nothing but solidify and back this up. Marling’s Rhoda and Mapother’s Burrows feel like real people not characters being portrayed by actors. It never feels as though Cahill is directing a string of events, but rather that he happened to be the one present when they took place. A feat very few films have ever managed to achieve.

The ending is an astounding one. In a sense everything comes full circle. The last shot lingers in the mind long after it cuts from the screen and the credits begin to roll. I sat amazed and bewildered starring at my TV screen watching the white letters roll up their black, empty backdrop until they were gone. I pondered what I had just seen. It was undoubtedly very well acted, directed and written but did I like it? Why had it felt so hollow? Was it lacking something, and if so what is it? I thought about it and thought about it. Nothing was coming to me. I couldn’t point out one thing that I didn’t like. I couldn’t point out one thing that I thought should’ve been changed or done differently. I then realized that the film had cut off and I was just staring at a blank TV screen. My reflection staring back at me. It was then that I understood why it felt hollow. It was because while watching I didn’t see the whole picture. I couldn’t. It was only after that last shot lingered in my mind, and everything had stopped, did I see the beauty of it all.

10/10