🧠Synchronic and Its Summary
Set in a New Orleans that exudes a dark and foreboding atmosphere, the film Synchronic features the two longtime paramedic best friends, Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan). They are brought into the world of strange and horrific deaths which have a common link: a synthetic designer drug known as Synchronic.
Along with coping with a missing teenage daughter, Dennis struggles with a faltering marriage. On the other hand, Steve learns that he has an inoperable brain tumor. After receiving his diagnosis, Steve feels isolated and, coupled with the disturbing scenes he encounters during calls, he begins to investigate the drug independently.
What Steve uncovers is that Synchronic doesn’t simply alter perception; it has the horrific capability of allowing users to traverse through time, with frighteningly unpredictable outcomes. The effects are associated with a user’s age, their brain chemistry, and location.
Motivated by the need to rescue Dennis’s daughter, who vanished after taking the drug, Steve begins to use Synchronic to navigate through dangerous timelines, including Civil War battlefields and early 20th century lynchings, risking his life with each jump.
The movie reaches its climax as Steve risks everything to make an irrevocable time jump sacrifice to save the girl.
🎠Characters & Performances
👨 Steve Denube (Anthony Mackie)
Mackie gives Steve an outstanding performance, likely the best of his career. He encapsulates dry humor, existential dread, and moral courage. The film’s anchor is his transformaiton from apathetic bachelor to self-sacrificing hero which is emotionally raw.
👨‍👧 Dennis Dannelly (Jamie Dornan)
Subdued is the best way to describe Dornan’s performance as Dennis, the increasingly strained husband and fearing father. Dennis provides emotional grounding and texture to the film as he carries the more tangible burdens while Steve carries the film’s metaphysical weight.
🎥 Themes & Emotional Undertones
🧬 Time, Mortality, and Legacy
Rather than peering at time through its puzzling nature, the film examines death and the legacy one leaves behind through a more introspective lens. Steve traverses metaphysical and literal journeys confronting racism, war, and his own perceived irrelevance throughout history.
đź’Š Addiction and Escape
The drug Synchronic exemplifies both the escape and the entrapment. It reflects humanity’s attempts to cope with pain and trauma alongside the desire to erase the past as well as the fragility of control during the pursuit of liberation from the present.
🤝 Friendship and Sacrifice
The film revolves around the themes of brotherly love and sacrifice. Steve’s love is reflective of a deep, almost mythical love we often associate with the ancient world. It shows how much are we willing to sacrifice for others.
đź› Cinematic Style
Above the Shadows is directed by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead. The film is visually inventive, combining elements of handheld realism and surrealist VFX sequences.
Under the direction of Michael G. Kallio, the film employs clever visual transitions which blend the present-day New Orleans setting with various time periods, often using single-take effects.
The color palette of the film is weighted towards muted greys and blues, with glimpses of color during time jumps. This signifies dislocation and instability.
đź› Sound & Atmosphere
Jimmy LaValle (The Album Leaf) contributes an ambient, synth-heavy score that deepens the dreamlike atmosphere of the film.
As Steve navigates increasingly perilous pasts, sound design from each era builds tension and a sense of dread.
🌟 Reception
As the film still retains a cult following, the above sources feature ratings that diverge greatly from one another.
As cited by receiving users on Rotten Tomatoes, the film is marked with 79%.
With Metacritic, it is marked at a 66/100.
Those caught up in the films deeply rooted emotional aspects however, focused heavily of atmosphere, praise Mackie’s performance while the pacing somewhat raised criticisms.
âś… Final Verdict
Synchronic (2019) is an emotionally resonant time-travel film that prioritizes existential stakes over cinematic spectacle. Its meditation on mortality, love, and meaning is enriched by its vivid performances and reflective storytelling.
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