Skip to main content

Phoenix Film Festival 2018 - CHIMERA review

Image
By


2018
Directed and Written By: Maurice Haeems
Cinematographer: David Kruta
Starring: Henry Ian Cusick, Kathleen Quinlan, Jenna Harrison, Karishma Ahluwalia, and Erika Ervin

Films are often gateways to curiosity. Entry points for abstract concepts and a way for opaque theories to be presented in a palatable format. Science Fiction lives in the world of our collective imaginations and introduces us to the "what if's" we have yet to conceive. In CHIMERA director, Maurice Haeems has taken years of real-world research from labs and universities around the planet to contemplate the next major breakthrough in medical innovation, stem cell research. This contentious area of work presents one of the most controversial and potentially significant therapies introduced in generations.

Quint (Cusick), an equally ingenious and desperate scientist pushes (and crosses) the borders of ethical behavior in an attempt to save his children. The good doctor first experiments with transplanting animal organs and editing their genome, it’s an impetuous calculation motivated by fear of loss and frenzy. His children's health continues to deteriorate with each attempt and he pushes further and further away from the realm of principled behavior. Without any other recourse, he is self-indoctrinated to believe the key to immortality lies within a jellyfish. The film is a ticking time clock of one man's race to save the lives of those who matter most.

A small intimate setting underscores the films greatest strength, the performances. Cusick (as Quint) is saddled with the task of being the audience's entry into the story while spiraling further into a manic rage with each passing scene. Placed in the hands of a lesser actor the character could have been downright annoying. However, Cusick breathes humanity and pathos into every moment, creating a questionable but sympathetic individual that feels utterly real. Quinlan (as Masterson) chews up and steals every scene. Her character is the antithesis of Quint and the perfect adversary.
Much like PRIMER, CHIMERA is a pocket-sized science fiction thriller more concerned with the exploration of ideas than special effects.

Upcoming Festival Screenings:



Phoenix Film Festival

Theatre 4 - Harkins Scottsdale 101

7000 E Mayo Blvd Phoenix, AZ, USA

Friday, April 13 • 11:20am

Saturday, April 14 • 1:25pm

Sunday, April 15 • 2:10pm

All screenings will have a Q&A with writer-director Maurice Haeems

and actress Erika Ervin a.k.a. Amazon Eve.



Sci-Fi London Film Festival (Opening Night Film)

Stratford Picturehouse – East London

Salway Road, London E15 1BX, UK

Tuesday, May 1• 7:00 pm

Followed by a Q&A with writer-director Maurice Haeems and actress Jenna Harrison.



NYC Independent Film Festival

Producers Club – Theatre G

358 West 44th Street, New York, NY, USA

Wednesday, May 9 • 6:45pm

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Explaining the Ending of No Country for Old Men

By
No Country for Old Men is a tense, spare, and philosophical thriller that upends traditional narrative expectations. While it contains the elements of a crime drama—drug deals, hitmen, shootouts—it refuses to follow a conventional path. By the time the film ends, the central conflict seems unresolved, the villain walks away, and the protagonist we’ve been following disappears offscreen. To understand the film’s ending, one must look beyond plot and consider its themes: fate, violence, moral decay, and the erosion of order in the modern world. The Narrative Setup The story begins with Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a Vietnam veteran who discovers a drug deal gone wrong in the Texas desert and makes off with $2 million in cash. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a remorseless hitman, is sent to retrieve the money. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a weary and introspective lawman, tries to make sense of the violence unfolding around him. At first glance, the film appears to set up a c...
1 comment
Read More

Explaining the Ending of MULHOLLAND DRIVE

By
David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive remains one of the most haunting and enigmatic films ever made. It operates like a riddle that refuses to be solved, luring the viewer into a world where time, memory, and identity dissolve into one another. What begins as a mysterious, almost whimsical Hollywood fairy tale gradually transforms into a psychological nightmare. By the end, it’s clear that what we’ve been watching is not a mystery to be unraveled but an emotional landscape, the mind of a woman caught between fantasy and despair. The film tells the story of two women, Betty Elms and Rita, whose lives intertwine after Rita survives a car crash and loses her memory. Betty, a bright and optimistic aspiring actress freshly arrived in Los Angeles, takes her in. Together, they embark on an investigation into Rita’s identity, which unfolds like a noir detective story bathed in dreamlike light. Everything about this world feels heightened: Betty’s charm, the coincidence of events, and the ease with w...
1 comment
Read More

Explaining the Ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey

By
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a masterpiece of science fiction cinema, known for its ambitious themes, pioneering visual effects, and cryptic storytelling. The film culminates in one of the most enigmatic endings in cinematic history, as astronaut Dave Bowman undergoes a surreal journey through a cosmic gateway and is transformed into a new lifeform known as the "Star Child." To understand the ending, one must consider the film’s structure, symbolism, and philosophical inquiries into human evolution, technology, and transcendence. The Journey to the Infinite The final act begins after Dave Bowman disconnects HAL 9000, the malfunctioning AI that had killed his crew. Alone on the spaceship Discovery One , Bowman continues toward Jupiter, following a signal emitted from a monolith discovered on the Moon earlier in the film. These monoliths—rectangular, black, and featureless—are central to the film’s themes. Each appearance marks a leap in human evolution:...
Post a Comment
Read More