Holy s this movie was cool. The mystery took a bit to reveal itself, and i found myself being pulled into the discoveries of the team. Each new discovery about the shimmers' nature pulled me as a viewer in closer. Humans are predisposed for self destruction Lea destroyed her happy marriage by cheating on her husband, causing him to take on the shimmer undercover mission. He ended up finding out about the divorce and returning a year later; vacant of the personality he left with. This gave me body snatchers vibes, which is why i love this movie as Sci-Fi horror. The Lovecraftian way the mystery unravels was an amazing way to pair the destructive nature the women on the mission. The choice to have Tessa Thompsons character choose to become one with the flowers was a cool touch, showing peoples' differing ways they deal with their impending loss of self. Instead of peacefully accepting the change, after Lea finds out her real husband died on the mission and a clone came back, she blew up her own clone; this non violent marvel of science, due to her own damaged subconscious. She unknowingly brought the shimmer outside of the bubble with her, and chose to embrace her husband, even though he was alien and changed. Her own personality and sense of self was annihilated, as was everything the shimmer was, or so we thought.
Having the protagonist basically 'die' in the end might rub people the wrong way as a non positive ending, but i see it as unbiased change and evolution. The people became one with nature, this is the ego death that things like shrooms can cause. Being afraid of change and losing self identity when we die is a common human fear, but the plants and animals seem to understand they are bigger than themselves and their dna changes without resistance. They became more beautiful and unique versions of themselves, splicing their biology with the nature around them. The shimmer may seem like the end of life as we know it, but in reality the only dangerous thing there was human ego. The nature was peaceful and evolving without boundaries, a very cool visual concept.
Lea was interested in finding the reasons for the evolution; until she realized at the root, everything would be touched by its changing nature. No one is spared in this evolution; and to people who are clinging to their egos and identities this makes the shimmer their apocalypse. In reality, it would be interesting to see what happens if the shimmer spreads on a small scale to the public; changing slight things in society. Or if the shimmer would alter humans in a positive way. Maybe sequels will explore this concept.
The visuals were a treat to see; amazing use of cgi and colors. Since the dna evolution is refracting everywhere, the shimmer looks like the inside of a diamond; shining and rainbow in color. The symbolism in the film paired well with the visuals, especially the flower evolutions and the mutant animals. I do think the speaking bear was over done and not scary after the first time, but over all i felt unsettled watching the extreme mutation in the film, and was properly scared of the clones, including Oscar Issacs clone in the ending. Doppelgangers are a creepy concept to us, losing our identities and being mirrored in the animal kingdom threaten the uncanny valley part of our brain. The fact that Lea embraced her 'husband' without fear, tells me she is not herself any longer. She did not share specifics with the doctors about the shimmer, almost like she was protecting the secret, to keep the nature of herself and her husband away from the public. In the beginning of the movie, she was a passionate scientist looking to understand and reveal the nature of what humanity was dealing with beyond the veil. When she began her transformation inside it, her curiosity was turned inwards, and as she saw a drop of her blood become this whole other entity. The thing began to mirror her, and when Lea became frightened of what another her would be capable of, she struck it and it fought back. Any violence was started by the human, the shimmer was nonviolently observing Lea, trying to replicate her like dna would. When she choice to destroy her newly born clone, it was sad, it tried crawling back to its nest in the ground, unknowingly burning the whole shimmer, after years of development and evolution. All of it destroyed in a fire, because one woman was so destructive and insistent on her own morals she imposed her beliefs on science, which is the one thing that should never be done.
I appreciate it when movies have an imperfect protagonist, Lea was a flawed selfish person, letting her team walk the dangerous path to find out the truth about the shimmer just to fuel her curiosity and self destructive path. This movie felt like taking slow steps into a pool to drown, all of the characters went on their final walk as humans, and came out the other side forever changed, and no longer themselves.
Overall really cool watch, properly unsettling and good visual effects. I enjoyed an all woman team, all of them cool and flawed like real people. Really nice to see a meditative film about self identity and humanities tendency to self implode when things are good. We could learn a thing or to from nature and adapt when things get hard.
Having the protagonist basically 'die' in the end might rub people the wrong way as a non positive ending, but i see it as unbiased change and evolution. The people became one with nature, this is the ego death that things like shrooms can cause. Being afraid of change and losing self identity when we die is a common human fear, but the plants and animals seem to understand they are bigger than themselves and their dna changes without resistance. They became more beautiful and unique versions of themselves, splicing their biology with the nature around them. The shimmer may seem like the end of life as we know it, but in reality the only dangerous thing there was human ego. The nature was peaceful and evolving without boundaries, a very cool visual concept.
Lea was interested in finding the reasons for the evolution; until she realized at the root, everything would be touched by its changing nature. No one is spared in this evolution; and to people who are clinging to their egos and identities this makes the shimmer their apocalypse. In reality, it would be interesting to see what happens if the shimmer spreads on a small scale to the public; changing slight things in society. Or if the shimmer would alter humans in a positive way. Maybe sequels will explore this concept.
The visuals were a treat to see; amazing use of cgi and colors. Since the dna evolution is refracting everywhere, the shimmer looks like the inside of a diamond; shining and rainbow in color. The symbolism in the film paired well with the visuals, especially the flower evolutions and the mutant animals. I do think the speaking bear was over done and not scary after the first time, but over all i felt unsettled watching the extreme mutation in the film, and was properly scared of the clones, including Oscar Issacs clone in the ending. Doppelgangers are a creepy concept to us, losing our identities and being mirrored in the animal kingdom threaten the uncanny valley part of our brain. The fact that Lea embraced her 'husband' without fear, tells me she is not herself any longer. She did not share specifics with the doctors about the shimmer, almost like she was protecting the secret, to keep the nature of herself and her husband away from the public. In the beginning of the movie, she was a passionate scientist looking to understand and reveal the nature of what humanity was dealing with beyond the veil. When she began her transformation inside it, her curiosity was turned inwards, and as she saw a drop of her blood become this whole other entity. The thing began to mirror her, and when Lea became frightened of what another her would be capable of, she struck it and it fought back. Any violence was started by the human, the shimmer was nonviolently observing Lea, trying to replicate her like dna would. When she choice to destroy her newly born clone, it was sad, it tried crawling back to its nest in the ground, unknowingly burning the whole shimmer, after years of development and evolution. All of it destroyed in a fire, because one woman was so destructive and insistent on her own morals she imposed her beliefs on science, which is the one thing that should never be done.
I appreciate it when movies have an imperfect protagonist, Lea was a flawed selfish person, letting her team walk the dangerous path to find out the truth about the shimmer just to fuel her curiosity and self destructive path. This movie felt like taking slow steps into a pool to drown, all of the characters went on their final walk as humans, and came out the other side forever changed, and no longer themselves.
Overall really cool watch, properly unsettling and good visual effects. I enjoyed an all woman team, all of them cool and flawed like real people. Really nice to see a meditative film about self identity and humanities tendency to self implode when things are good. We could learn a thing or to from nature and adapt when things get hard.