This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

HHHhj

'The Discovery'

Premieres; 102 minutes.

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" is pretty out there, in a good way.

Director Charlie McDowell — the son of Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, who met making 1979's "Time After Time" — and his co-screenwriter Justin Lader propose a near future where one scientist, Thomas Harper (played by 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 Harper's 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 this trip, Will also meets Isla (Rooney Mara), a morose young woman whom Will 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.

The movie becomes a meditation of sorts on death and grief, and the regrets that pile up in a person's life. McDowell's 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 either make audiences exasperated or enthralled. Me, I'm impressed that McDowell could muster the confidence to upend the preconceptions he had so carefully planted.

– Sean P. Means —

Also showing:

"The Discovery" screens again at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival at the following times and venues:

• Saturday, Jan: 21, 8:30 a.m., The MARC, Park City

• Saturday, Jan: 21, 9 p.m., Sundance Mountain Resort Screening Room

• Sunday, Jan: 22, 3:15 p.m., The Grand Theatre, Salt Lake City

• Saturday, Jan: 28, 8:30 p.m., The MARC, Park City