The Discovery (2017)
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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Overrated and overhyped
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Writer-director Charlie McDowell returns to Sundance this year with a thriller about a scientist who uncovers scientific proof that there is indeed an afterlife. His son is portrayed by Jason Segel, who's not too sure about his father's "discovery", and Rooney Mara plays a mystery woman who has her own reasons for wanting to find out more about the afterlife. Even with Redford in it, Segel and Mara are the straight in cover faces of this film and unfortunately the biggest problem of it as well since it's really not scary or even at least a bit interesting and instead meh.
The director portrays humans as simple and extremely mailable, assuming a TV story can change the minds of people so easily or make humans commit suicide to move on to the next existence. Lots of potential in the idea of measuring brain activity through the death experience, but story just never goes anywhere. Old ideas that memories remain in dead bio matter? Really? And cadavers still possessing brain waves of future thoughts? It appeared to be an agenda driven movie, without ever making the agenda clear. (unless reincarnation is still believed by some as an agenda.) A very sad view of humanity suggesting all of us are just waiting to move on to the next reality to try and fix the mistakes of the past.
If you're the kind of person who likes to question and ponder things like life, the universe, and everything then this film will sing to your soul. The directing and acting are very good as is the story line. The film dives into the topic of human afterlife and consciousness while providing a little romance along the way. This is the perfect movie for a couple to sit back and enjoy together or even if you're just by yourself.
The premise for this movie was really interesting, which is why I decided to watch it. However, the plot was really lacking in the imaginative details I was hoping for. We never hear any stories about the afterlife, or see the afterlife, or learn about how it was discovered. The characters spend the whole movie trying to film what they think is the afterlife, only to disprove the main plot line in the process. We just end up with an anticlimactic story line and an unnecessary love story that did nothing for the overall film. It's only purpose was to give the main character a reason to keep living in a time loop of what was primarily a very mundane moment.