Keswick Film Club - I Origins

Synopsis

'If God doesn't exist', say the disbelievers in evolution, 'how do you explain eyes? How could they have evolved?' Ian Gray is working on the explanation, researching in a lab to find the genetic switch that prompted the creation of a photosensitive cell. But when he spots the eyes of Sofi on a billboard, he is thrown: he feels he knows her already. Tracking her down, this feeling grows still further: did he know her in a past life? Is there a God after all?

Ian goes on researching eyes, identifying the uniqueness in all eyes, but a startling find several years later makes him doubt himself all over again...

The actors get good reviews here, especially the two main stars Michael Pitt (seen in Keswick recently in ' Seven Psychopaths') and Brit Marling (who co-wrote and appeared in both of Mike Cahill's films). You will probably recognize Sofi (Astrid BergèsFrisbey) too, who was in 'The Well-Digger's Daughter'.

This is Director Mike Cahill's second film after 'Another Earth' which also played around with a mix of sci-fi and spirituality (a young girl who killed a man's family in a car crash goes back to try to help him 4 years later in search of her own redemption, whilst another earth has appeared in the sky, offering humankind a different escape). You are going to have to suspend some of your disbelief to get the best from the film, but 'I Origins addresses its subject with the kind of bright-eyed earnestness normally seen only in spaniels and MA students. What sets the film apart, beyond the glowing photography, delicate performances and beautifully selected Radiohead soundtrack, is that few young directors would have the nerve and ambition to 'go spiritual' without the protection of irony or dogmatism. It's not so much science fiction as hipster Terrence Malick — which, believe it or not, is a compliment' - Robbie Collin, Telegraph