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I suppose a man whose parents met making one of the greatest time-travel movies ever is bound to make some trippy films himself — but the melancholy science-fiction drama "The Discovery," which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, is pretty out there, in a good way.
Director Charlie McDowell — the son of actors Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, who met making 1979's "Time After Time" — and his co-screenwriter, Justin Lader, propose a near future where a scientist, Thomas Harper (Robert Redford), has scientifically proven the existence of an afterlife. The news has upended the world, and within two years more than 4 million people have committed suicide to "get there."
Harper has gone into seclusion in a New England estate, with a group of jumpsuit-clad disciples who resemble a cult. That's what his son, Will (Jason Segel), finds when he visits, along with signs that his dad and younger brother Toby (Jesse Plemons) are working on another invention, to figure out what the afterlife actually is.
On the ferry to his dad's island sanctuary, Will meets Isla (Rooney Mara), a morose young woman whom he rescues from deliberately drowning in the ocean. Isla joins Harper's little community, and she and Will grow closer as they talk about the moral ramifications of Harper's discovery.
McDowell, whose previous movie was the "Twilight Zone"-like romance "The One I Love," builds "The Discovery" into a meditation of sorts on death and grief and the regrets that pile up in a person's life. His gentle treatment is aided by dreamy cinematography by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen.
In the final reel, though, McDowell and Lader pull off an audacious switch, an "Inception"-like twist that will make audiences either exasperated or enthralled. Me, I'm impressed that McDowell could muster the confidence to upend the preconceptions he had so carefully planted.
Twitter: @moviecricket —
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'The Discovery'
A scientist discovers proof of the afterlife in a sober drama that considers the human reaction to such a find.
Where • Streaming on Netflix.
When • Debuts Friday, March 31.
Rating • Not rated, but probably PG-13 for sensuality, language and themes of death.
Running time • 110 minutes.