In 1990, Douglas Quaid decided he wanted to have an adventure on Mars, and he didn’t even have to leave Planet Earth to do it!
For those of you caught unawares, this is the foundation behind director Paul Verhoeven’s stellar adaptation of the Philip K. Dick story, Total Recall (aka “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”), a motion picture so expertly well done it went on to garner two Academy Awards nominations and a slew of other citations from like-minded organizations (including the Academy Of Science Fiction, Fantasy, And Horror Films). Essentially, the core premise is that, in the future, memories aren’t only made by living life but could also be manufactured and ingested. The proper technology could be utilized to grant recipients all kinds of different experiences pleasurable or otherwise. Storytellers have been fascinated with that prospect ever since; so every couple of years or so audiences are gifted yet one more extrapolation of what a fictional alternative to reality might resemble up on the silver screen.
2017’s OtherLife is one such entry.
Directed by Ben C. Lucas, the script shows attributed to Lucas and Kelley Eskridge and Gregory Widen. Amongst its cast members were such faces as Jessica De Gouw, Liam Graham, Clarence Ryan, T.J. Power, Tiriel Mora, and others. Initially, the single greatest difference between what OtherLife tries to do with Total Recall’s foundation is that there’s vastly less action and a bit more heartfelt drama. Still, the wheels do kinda/sorta come off the vehicle in the last reel when the story descends rather predictably into the storyteller’s need to cast someone as ‘the evil antagonist’ when perhaps, frankly, none was needed.
Still, what emerges is an occasionally touching look at how cutting-edge science could be used to mend not only broken hearts but also broken minds.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
For those of you caught unawares, this is the foundation behind director Paul Verhoeven’s stellar adaptation of the Philip K. Dick story, Total Recall (aka “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”), a motion picture so expertly well done it went on to garner two Academy Awards nominations and a slew of other citations from like-minded organizations (including the Academy Of Science Fiction, Fantasy, And Horror Films). Essentially, the core premise is that, in the future, memories aren’t only made by living life but could also be manufactured and ingested. The proper technology could be utilized to grant recipients all kinds of different experiences pleasurable or otherwise. Storytellers have been fascinated with that prospect ever since; so every couple of years or so audiences are gifted yet one more extrapolation of what a fictional alternative to reality might resemble up on the silver screen.
2017’s OtherLife is one such entry.
Directed by Ben C. Lucas, the script shows attributed to Lucas and Kelley Eskridge and Gregory Widen. Amongst its cast members were such faces as Jessica De Gouw, Liam Graham, Clarence Ryan, T.J. Power, Tiriel Mora, and others. Initially, the single greatest difference between what OtherLife tries to do with Total Recall’s foundation is that there’s vastly less action and a bit more heartfelt drama. Still, the wheels do kinda/sorta come off the vehicle in the last reel when the story descends rather predictably into the storyteller’s need to cast someone as ‘the evil antagonist’ when perhaps, frankly, none was needed.
Still, what emerges is an occasionally touching look at how cutting-edge science could be used to mend not only broken hearts but also broken minds.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“After inventing a drug that induces time-compressed virtual realities, young Ren grapples with partner Sam over how to use their powerful creation.”
In short, OtherLife is probably best described as the kind of film that – had it been first in the realm of exploring the subject matter of implanted memories – might’ve produced quite a stir back in its original cycle through theaters. But as audiences have seen this kind of thing done before – and accomplished with vastly greater budgets with pictures like Total Recall (1990), The Matrix (1999), Minority Report (2002), and Inception (2010) – I can’t help but suspect this one will go largely unnoticed by mainstream audiences. Hopefully, those who remain passionate about good SciFi storytelling will stumble across it for good measure as there’s enough in here to make for a quality experience if only for a single viewing.
Ren Amari (played by Jessica De Gouw) is a pioneer coder who has cracked the science of chemically inserting memories via nanite-fueled eye drops into the human brain. The company she has cofounded – OtherLife – is only days away from its public launch, and the technology she has created promises to change life as we know it, giving users the chance to live out practically any experience via compressed reality while seated in the safety of his or her own home. You want to go to the moon? There are drops for that. You say you want to climb Mount Everest? There are drops for that, too. The possibilities appear to be endless, so long as Ren and her company coders can sufficiently perfect these adventures and insert them into the proper encryption.
However, the young lady’s truest life pursuit remains using this tech to restart her brother Jared’s brain. As fate would have it, Jared (Liam Graham) suffered an undersea head injury that has left him comatose; and Ren believes there’s a solution buried somewhere within some complex equations that’ll allow her to re-educate the sleeping man’s brain so that he can emerge happy and healthy once more. But when a coworker accidentally drips her experimental cocktail into his eyes thinking it’s another thrilling excursion, he dies as a consequence, a development that threatens to tear the company apart. Her business partner Sam (T.J. Power) devises a solution: as he’s been secretly courting government investment in their programming, he negotiates a scheme wherein Ren can serve as a test subject for a year’s long incarceration program in exchange for criminal charges being dropped. Though she’ll live out those 365 days in her mind, only a single minute will pass in reality.
“After inventing a drug that induces time-compressed virtual realities, young Ren grapples with partner Sam over how to use their powerful creation.”
In short, OtherLife is probably best described as the kind of film that – had it been first in the realm of exploring the subject matter of implanted memories – might’ve produced quite a stir back in its original cycle through theaters. But as audiences have seen this kind of thing done before – and accomplished with vastly greater budgets with pictures like Total Recall (1990), The Matrix (1999), Minority Report (2002), and Inception (2010) – I can’t help but suspect this one will go largely unnoticed by mainstream audiences. Hopefully, those who remain passionate about good SciFi storytelling will stumble across it for good measure as there’s enough in here to make for a quality experience if only for a single viewing.
Ren Amari (played by Jessica De Gouw) is a pioneer coder who has cracked the science of chemically inserting memories via nanite-fueled eye drops into the human brain. The company she has cofounded – OtherLife – is only days away from its public launch, and the technology she has created promises to change life as we know it, giving users the chance to live out practically any experience via compressed reality while seated in the safety of his or her own home. You want to go to the moon? There are drops for that. You say you want to climb Mount Everest? There are drops for that, too. The possibilities appear to be endless, so long as Ren and her company coders can sufficiently perfect these adventures and insert them into the proper encryption.
However, the young lady’s truest life pursuit remains using this tech to restart her brother Jared’s brain. As fate would have it, Jared (Liam Graham) suffered an undersea head injury that has left him comatose; and Ren believes there’s a solution buried somewhere within some complex equations that’ll allow her to re-educate the sleeping man’s brain so that he can emerge happy and healthy once more. But when a coworker accidentally drips her experimental cocktail into his eyes thinking it’s another thrilling excursion, he dies as a consequence, a development that threatens to tear the company apart. Her business partner Sam (T.J. Power) devises a solution: as he’s been secretly courting government investment in their programming, he negotiates a scheme wherein Ren can serve as a test subject for a year’s long incarceration program in exchange for criminal charges being dropped. Though she’ll live out those 365 days in her mind, only a single minute will pass in reality.
Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that something is bound to go wrong. While Ren agrees to undergo the procedure, she emphatically explains that OtherLife has never been sufficiently tested beyond the 24-hour memory window; so that scene alone should present enough foreshadowing to establish things are about to get topsy-turvy. Indeed, as the lady stands in her black cell watching the wall counter tick beyond the 365th day, she (and we!) begin to suspect “we’re no longer in Kansas anymore” and nothing could be further from the truth. Before you know it, Ren learns that the cell is real (or is it?), she can break out (or can she?), and she takes it on the run (or does she?) from the forces that have taken over her mind, her life, and her company.
Much like The Matrix played with the level of a questioned reality, OtherLife will likely have viewers transfixed with what evolves over the course of the movie, hoping to spot just where and when they’ve been transported. Though the films lacks a great deal of the effects work that makes similar fare out of those big budget crowd-pleasers, the picture still manages to work exceedingly well on what was likely a miniscule investment by comparison. A great deal of questioning what’s real and what isn’t is accomplished with more conventional trickery – along with some cracking scriptwriting – and I’ll merely suggest that readers be patient with this one: it may not twist and turn the way expected, but the inevitable reveal works well within the construct as presented.
Chiefly, OtherLife’s problem is that it never quite figures out how to best use those ideas that make it different from such mainstream fare, a flaw not uncommon to smaller and maybe even smarter releases.
Science Fiction films, in particular, often struggle in establishing bigger audiences because so many people looking for something different aren’t all that interested in having their minds blown authentically with ideas. Instead, they want big visuals. They want big actors and actresses. They want innovative sequences and a stirring orchestral score. Investing in something truly cerebral for two hours can be a bit of a slog; and any premise which sounds remotely like it could be ‘too involved’ or ‘too complex’ or ‘just too difficult’ gets passed over in favor of lighter or flashier merriment.
Much like The Matrix played with the level of a questioned reality, OtherLife will likely have viewers transfixed with what evolves over the course of the movie, hoping to spot just where and when they’ve been transported. Though the films lacks a great deal of the effects work that makes similar fare out of those big budget crowd-pleasers, the picture still manages to work exceedingly well on what was likely a miniscule investment by comparison. A great deal of questioning what’s real and what isn’t is accomplished with more conventional trickery – along with some cracking scriptwriting – and I’ll merely suggest that readers be patient with this one: it may not twist and turn the way expected, but the inevitable reveal works well within the construct as presented.
Chiefly, OtherLife’s problem is that it never quite figures out how to best use those ideas that make it different from such mainstream fare, a flaw not uncommon to smaller and maybe even smarter releases.
Science Fiction films, in particular, often struggle in establishing bigger audiences because so many people looking for something different aren’t all that interested in having their minds blown authentically with ideas. Instead, they want big visuals. They want big actors and actresses. They want innovative sequences and a stirring orchestral score. Investing in something truly cerebral for two hours can be a bit of a slog; and any premise which sounds remotely like it could be ‘too involved’ or ‘too complex’ or ‘just too difficult’ gets passed over in favor of lighter or flashier merriment.
The truth here is that OtherLife really isn’t all that complicated: once you’re introduced to its science – how it works, why it works, what Ren and others are trying to do with it, etc. – the resulting story winds up being fairly passé. Some might say it’s even fairly plain. There are no alien overlords. There are no real cerebral mechanics lurking behind the curtain. Most of the time, it’s little more than a tale about a grieving girl who wants nothing more than to have her brother back from the existential beyond; and it’s this parallel narrative – who is truly living an ‘other life’ – that honestly gives OtherLife its two realities. So if you’re showing up for glitz and glamour, this one will likely underwhelm.
Still, I’ll admit to being disappointed that the small team of screenwriters couldn’t avoid the usual trappings of the motion picture industry, feeling that there had to be a ‘good guy’ and a ‘bad guy’ in a theatrical affair that could’ve accomplished more by sticking true to just the ‘woman in search of a cure’ background. Because far too many of us expect a villain, Ren’s business partner Sam evolves unnecessarily and rather predictably into the type of ‘white male rogue’ who’s only too willing to sacrifice not only his principles but also his friends in pursuit of the Almighty Dollar. You guessed it, too – the government are bad people – and this kind of painting-by-numbers rarely serves the Science Fiction community that well much less anything simply dramatic in nature.
Thankfully, everything gets resolved, but a lot of friendships are spoiled in the process.
Still, I’ll admit to being disappointed that the small team of screenwriters couldn’t avoid the usual trappings of the motion picture industry, feeling that there had to be a ‘good guy’ and a ‘bad guy’ in a theatrical affair that could’ve accomplished more by sticking true to just the ‘woman in search of a cure’ background. Because far too many of us expect a villain, Ren’s business partner Sam evolves unnecessarily and rather predictably into the type of ‘white male rogue’ who’s only too willing to sacrifice not only his principles but also his friends in pursuit of the Almighty Dollar. You guessed it, too – the government are bad people – and this kind of painting-by-numbers rarely serves the Science Fiction community that well much less anything simply dramatic in nature.
Thankfully, everything gets resolved, but a lot of friendships are spoiled in the process.
OtherLife (2017) was produced by WBMC, Cherry Road Films, Head Gear Films, Kreo Films FZ, Metrol Technology, and a few other participants. (A full accounting – for those interested – can be found on IMDB.com.) DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Rising Sun Media. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I found the provided sights-and-sounds pretty darn solid across the runtime. There are a few special effects sequences that might be a bit undercooked, but they do work fine for the purposes required here. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Ach! You’ll have to look elsewhere because this disc boasts zip, zero, and zilch. Always a big miss, if you ask me.
Strongly Recommended.
Honestly, I liked this one. Quite a bit. It’s most likely that OtherLife – while not entirely impressive in its second half – will be embraced by fans of the harder concept-driven stories, so true SciFi junkies are most strongly encouraged to check out its wares. There may not be all that many fresh and innovative takes on the subject matter – memory tampering, worlds within worlds, questionable perspectives, etc., and much of it has been done before – but these 90-plus minutes prove that when done right Science Fiction is still the best genre to tug at one’s heart and still get you thinking. Sadly, there are the rather lazy swipes at the all-too-frequent enemies – i.e. government intrusion on researchers, capitalism, white males, etc. – that spoil the otherwise effective human drama that should’ve stayed front-and-center throughout.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Rising Sun Media (via Allied Vaughn) with a Blu-ray copy of OtherLife by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
Strongly Recommended.
Honestly, I liked this one. Quite a bit. It’s most likely that OtherLife – while not entirely impressive in its second half – will be embraced by fans of the harder concept-driven stories, so true SciFi junkies are most strongly encouraged to check out its wares. There may not be all that many fresh and innovative takes on the subject matter – memory tampering, worlds within worlds, questionable perspectives, etc., and much of it has been done before – but these 90-plus minutes prove that when done right Science Fiction is still the best genre to tug at one’s heart and still get you thinking. Sadly, there are the rather lazy swipes at the all-too-frequent enemies – i.e. government intrusion on researchers, capitalism, white males, etc. – that spoil the otherwise effective human drama that should’ve stayed front-and-center throughout.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Rising Sun Media (via Allied Vaughn) with a Blu-ray copy of OtherLife by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
RSS Feed