9/10
decent sci-fi effort
22 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
This seems to be becoming one of those love it or hate it kind of films. It has either vicious haters or passionate admirers. I'm closer to the admirers. While I do understand some of the criticisms I am reading here (long, drawn out scenes, loud music mix, etc), the good far outweighs the bad.

Brandon Slagle (who also wrote the film) is Lukas Reyes, and everyman who had just celebrated his wedding anniversay with his young (almost too young looking) bride, Sera (Andrea Chen).

The next morning, all evidence of their life together...is gone. The rest of his life, however, seems to be the same.

Lukas's best friend, Damon (Dee Martin) has the perfect solution...get his friend crazy drunk...and he does. The next morning Lukas wakes up, seemingly married to another woman, Nara (Devanny Pinn). He has no memory of this life and upon her claims they've been married for two years, he threatens to call the police on her and throws her out.

Sera soon appears, but not before Lukas finds himself attached by a group of mysterious men calling themselves "The Knowers", who "police and fix" any rifts in the "symbiotic relationship" between parallel worlds, which states that each world must maintain a balance, which I assume means that multiple versions of the same person cannot occupy the same world at the same time, or that world destroys itself.

It is an interesting, if slightly convoluted, storyline indeed, and quite ambitious for an independent film with no instantly marketable names in it. A lot of similar indie films rely on gore or sex to market themselves, but this one trusts its subject matter to sell it.

Does it work? For the most part, yes.

The performances are rather understated. A lot of them seem more like improvised conversations sans a few longer passages of dialogue. While this is on one hand a good thing, it also offsets the tone on occasion. Sometimes the film feels like a grandiose epic and sometimes it feels like a small "mumblecore" drama. The editing and cinematography is above average and the music, while it IS loud, is quite well done. A few licensed songs pop up here and there, and in appropriate places.

Overall this is an enjoyable effort, with room to expand upon the storyline. A film called "15 Past Midnight" is listed as in-development on IMDb, and I can only assume that is a sequel. If the right tools are given, that could very well be something to look forward to.
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