The Discovery (2017)
Directed by Charlie McDowell
In the near future, due to a breakthrough scientific discovery by Dr. Thomas Harbor, there is now definitive proof of an afterlife. While countless people have chosen suicide to reset their existence, others try to decide what it all means. Among them is Dr. Harbor's son Will, who has arrived at his father's isolated compound with a mysterious young woman named Isla. There, they discover the strange acolytes who help Dr. Harbor with his experiments.
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4 films that influenced The Discovery
What critics say influenced The Discovery
The Discovery is a poor, albeit ambitious, imitation of the superior Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind .
By the time the film ends, it arrives at what feels like a slower, more self-important afterlife of “Black Mirror,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and McDowell’s better, similarly high-concept “The One I Love.”
The Discovery reminds you of various recent/not-so-recent grounded-yet-intellectual high-concept thinkers like Another Earth , Vanilla Sky, The Lobster and, most especially, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , which is unquestionably a major influence here.
I’ll not say what happens from there, other than it sets in motion a fascinating albeit sometimes convoluted journey that reminded me a little of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and a little of “Vanilla Sky” — though in many instances, it felt like its own original and new and fresh creation.
They’re the only two passengers on a ferry surrounded by frigid water, and their meet-cute hums with the same off-kilter electricity that galvanized the lovers from “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Part Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, part Flatliners , The Discovery uses a dark sci-fi premise to explore those big existential questions.
By turns resoundingly human and regretfully half-baked, the film wears its influences on its sleeve, beginning with a brilliant prologue that recalls the opening sequence of “Children of Men.” Doctor Thomas Harber (Robert Redford, commanding in his small but vital role) is introduced on a television monitor, a mediated version of himself flickering on the screen.
It’s an elegiac world, recalling Alfonso Cuarón’s similarly subdued Children of Men .
"The Discovery" has a lot of interesting ideas (mostly reminiscent of the 1990 film "Flatliners"), but the plot struggles to make any headway, as though it's trying to move through mud.
I’ll not say what happens from there, other than it sets in motion a fascinating albeit sometimes convoluted journey that reminded me a little of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and a little of “Vanilla Sky” — though in many instances, it felt like its own original and new and fresh creation.