Kris is a young, successful woman who seems to have her life on track.  On a night out she is attacked and made to swallow a strange bug. This bug makes her lose her self will, so that she will believe and carry out any action requested of her. She is slowly stripped of all her worldly goods by this unknown assailant. She empties her bank accounts while carrying out a number of menial tasks to occupying her. Later she wakes from this drug induced state to find she has lost her job and is now broke, but that the affects of the drugs have not entirely passed either.

This is one of those movies that will mystify you on first viewing. You leave the cinema with many questions, it is a struggle to put it all together, and even when you think you have it, there are still many more questions to be resolved. It’s a complex and obscure world that is created, and the narrative style is faint and oblique, meaning even while watching it, you’re not sure if this is what is really happening, or whether you’re viewing from the inside of someone’s drug induced mind.

It had a similar reaction to when I saw Mulholland Dirve or Synecdoche, New York in the Cinema, with a variety of sighs, moans and tuts coming from various bored and annoyed members of the audience. I’m not sure whether Shane Carruth has earned the right to make a movie this bizarre, and have the world take it seriously. David Lynch and Charlie Kauffman made their various difficult movies after many years of making other ones that were much easier to follow, and this is only Carruth’s second film. Yes, this is a film you have to work at, it doesn’t come easy! It is like an early Cronenberg script made by Terrence Malick.

The cinematography is quite beautiful and it often puts the camera right in the face/ body of the actors, as it slowly pans. Sometimes the camera leaves the thing of interest in the scene out of focus and instead focuses on some minor part of the shot. It all adds to the dream like state that is developed throughout, and we’re never quite sure where we are. I’m sure what I’ve said above has intrigued you enough to draw you in, or put you off altogether. Either way, it’s an interesting ride, and will keep you guessing until the end, at which point you’ll adjourn to the bar to discuss it and rant about it for the rest of the evening!

If you’ve seen it and still have all these questions, check out Salon’s explanation here.