{"id":38989,"date":"2013-12-06T06:00:02","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=38989"},"modified":"2014-07-12T09:19:21","modified_gmt":"2014-07-12T13:19:21","slug":"coherence-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=38989","title":{"rendered":"Coherence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Coherence<\/a>In Neil Simon\u2019s mystery farce Murder by Death<\/em><\/a>, satirical versions of the most famous detectives in fiction are invited to spend the night in a Charles Addams-esque\u00a0mansion, with the promise of \u201cdinner and a murder.\u201d By the time their exotic host\u2014played with fey charm by Truman Capote\u2014has truly ramped up the evening by not only providing said corpse as promised, but also\u00a0macabre\u00a0clues that increasingly defy the laws of logic, time, and space,\u00a0the portly Milo Perrier (James Coco, acting as the story’s Hercule Poirot stand-in) is forced to inquire:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen is a dining room filled with people not<\/i> a dining room filled with people?\u201d<\/p>\n

If you happen to know the movie\u2019s answer to that question, I\u2019ve just afforded you a (mild) spoiler as to the goings-on contained in writer\/director James Ward Byrkit\u2019s joyfully batcrap-crazy metaphysical thriller Coherence<\/em>. Filmed on a low budget where every dollar really is on the screen, Byrkit\u2019s film centers on a small dinner party being enjoyed by four couples, when a comet\u2019s near-Earth passing that very night leads to a neighborhood-wide blackout, followed by physically and mentally disorienting events sure to keep viewers guessing, and frequently surprised (along with the characters) until the very final frames. Thank me later for saying exactly nothing else about the details of the script.<\/p>\n

Maybe I do have to say just a little<\/i> bit more. While the\u00a0movie is an ensemble piece through and through, we\u2019re set up to experience this bizarre story mainly through the eyes of Em (Emily Foxler<\/a>, now Baldoni), who during the opening shot is trying to manage a stressful cell-phone call in her car while on her way to the party. The cellular signal is irregular and she has a difficult time understanding what\u2019s being said. What causes her phone\u2019s screen to spontaneously crack as it goes dead? How will she soon react to the uncomfortable situation of breaking bread with her boyfriend\u2019s ex?<\/p>\n

Will some or all of the guests in attendance get so drunk they won\u2019t recognize themselves, or might they behave in ways that make them unrecognizable to each other? Oh, look, I am starting to drop more hints. If I have already perhaps offered too much in the way of spoilers, I\u2019ll just blame that on my evil twin.<\/p>\n

OK, now\u00a0I really<\/em> have to get a hold of myself. Is this actually me typing these words, or someone else?<\/p>\n

The film is a delicious mix of smart, carefully managed plotting and lively performances, boasting a talented cast (who reportedly improvised a great deal of their dialogue) and efficient, energetic direction. As twist after twist is revealed, the story drives towards dark farce that frequently threatens to unravel into complete absurdity at any moment\u2026but never does.<\/p>\n

Partly reminiscent of the inventive sci-fi shocker Cube<\/a><\/em> and partly familiar for its resemblance to Luis Bu\u00f1uel\u2019s ghoulish social satire The Exterminating Angel<\/em><\/a> (which likewise observes that groups of so-called civilized people will descend into savagery when presented with an adequately impenetrable existential dilemma), Coherence<\/em> also tosses in dashes of The Twilight Zone<\/i>, elements of John. W. Campbell\u2019s short story\u00a0\u201cWho Goes There?,\u201d something of\u00a0a Dogme 95<\/a> feel, and a sprinkling of Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s Cat<\/a> (if you hadn’t already learned it from The Big Bang Theory), <\/em>all while performing the minor miracle of being deviously complex but never terribly difficult to follow.<\/p>\n

Want more? It even succeeds in parodying<\/i> the genre it works in without ever sacrificing its own integrity, courtesy of some viciously on-target zingers in the dialogue. At one point relatively early in the evening\u2019s action, one of the assembled guests shrieks in protest of a suggested plan that the group take their blue glowsticks (Or are they red? That difference might be crucial) and split up to cover more ground, a well-known thriller no-no. The person who originally suggested the idea fires back, with poker-faced sincerity:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not splitting up. We\u2019re just going in two different groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, another character condemns the kind of uncinematic inaction that would have saved many a movie victim from certain doom:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s smart? Sitting here, doing nothing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, yes. But then, had they done what was \u201csmart,\u201d we wouldn\u2019t have this extremely clever movie to talk about. And talk about it you will.<\/p>\n