Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Synchronicity Blu-ray Movie Review

A Sleep Trance, a Dream Dance, a Shared Romance

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 10, 2016

Writer/director Jacob Gentry proudly wears his cinematic influences on his sleeve in Synchroncity, and not just with the Blade Runner-esque lighting, Vangelis-style synth score and Gattaca-reminiscent locations. When various taverns in a film are named after famous directors—John Boorman (Excalibur) and John McTiernan (Die Hard)—you're dealing with an imagination so steeped in cinematic culture that the film references pile up in layers. Lest any doubt remain, the director's commentary on this Blu-ray notes dozens of instances of reference, creative theft and homage.

Gentry wrote Synchronicity as a deliberate departure from The Signal, his previous excursion into low-budget genre cinema. Where The Signal dealt in classic horror tropes, Synchronicity arrives in the guise of a sci-fi thriller, but it gradually morphs into something else. Exactly what that "something else" may be, I leave for the viewer to decide.

In a parallel world in the near future, physicist Jim Beale (Chad McKnight) is completing his machine to open a wormhole in the space/time continuum, thereby enabling time travel. The project has been funded by a venture capitalist, Klaus Meisner (Michael Ironside), whose company is the sole manufacturer of a radioactive substance called "MRD", the essential power source for Beale's invention. Much of the preparation by Beale and his colleagues, Chuck (AJ Bowen) and Matty (Scott Poythress), involves drills to ensure the safe handling of this toxic fuel.

Events take a mysterious turn after Beale's first effort to open a portal. He glimpses a figure running through the bright light streaming from the device. A rare flower (so exotic that it bears a license number) appears in the lab, possibly a message from the future. Beale begins to experience fits and blackouts, hears voices that aren't there, and randomly generates interference in nearby electronics. He finds himself entangled with Abby Ross (Brianne Davis), a writer with hair styled like Aeon Flux and an attitude to match, who seems already to know him and who may or may not be aiding and abetting Meisner's efforts to seize control of Beale's invention. Even Beale's colleagues, Chuck and Matty, behave oddly, as if they are keeping secrets from their project leader. The physicist quickly finds himself thrust into the role of private detective, following people and peering through windows as Beale attempts to unravel a mystery for which he himself is at least partly responsible.

Synchronicity vacillates between time travel mystery and film noir, and the two strands co-exist uneasily, like alternate versions of the same story being told simultaneously. While Gentry's layering of cinematic references doesn't quite add up to a coherent story, he sustains interest with inventive visuals and a creeping sense of paranoia that only grows as the film gradually reveals its secrets. Synchronicity was obviously designed for multiple viewings, but even a viewer who has meticulously cataloged Gentry's overlapping realities and replays of the same scene from alternate perspectives may find the film's ending a puzzlement.

Synchronicity Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Synchronicity was shot digitally with anamorphic lenses by cinematographer Eric Maddison (30 Days of Night: Dark Days). Smoke generators were used in every scene to create diffusion, and Maddison consciously imitated Blade Runner's style of lighting interiors from sources originating outside and shining through windows and other apertures. He also photographed the City of Atlanta to look like an extension of Ridley Scott's futuristic L.A. (minus the billowing flames). Post-production was completed on a digital intermediate, from which Magnolia Home Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced by a direct digital path. Although the image has plenty of detail, it lacks the sharpness typically associated with digital origination. The combination of anamorphic lenses and smoke has softened the visual texture, presumably as an aid to emulating the look of film noir with its expressive use of darkness and shadows.

The film's palette has been desaturated to the point where it is almost monochromatic, with tiny accents of bright colors from such objects as red and yellow lights from the control panels on Beale's machine, or the purples, reds and pinks of the rare flower that appears after the machine's first test. Quick inserts suggesting Jim's visions, after the experiment affects his mind, are also bright and intensely colored (usually yellow). Cityscapes feature deliberately blown-out highlights and colors that are saturated to the point of blurring. As with the softer image, all of these effects are deliberate, and the Blu-ray accurately reproduces the intended look of the film.

Magnolia has encoded Synchronicity at an average bitrate of 21.99 Mbps, which is on the low side for their releases, but the encoding is capable and has not produced visible artifacts.

Synchronicity Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The most aggressive sound effects on Synchronicity's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack involve Jim Beale's wormhole-generating machine, which hums and roars when it's fired up, and the soundtrack surrounds the listener with electrical arcing and rattling lab contents. A few loud effects accompany Jim's momentary fits, as the machine's impact begins to manifest itself. Generally, though, Synchronicity's soundtrack is dominated by the electronic score composed by Ben Lovett (The Signal) and primarily performed by Lovett on Moog synthesizers, the modern-day equivalents of the devices used by Vangelis, Tangerine Dream and Wendy Carlos to create the soundtracks that Lovett is deliberately invoking. Lovett's contribution to the film's moodiness is substantial, and the Blu-ray's soundtrack reproduces his work with impressive presence, clarity and dynamic range. The film's dialogue is clearly rendered.

Synchronicity Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Writer/Director Jacob Gentry: Gentry talks continuously, focusing primarily on technical detail about locations, lighting and production logistics. He also cites an enormous array of cinematic influences from which he borrowed shots, lighting and camera moves. Shortchanged in his presentation is a thorough examination of Synchronicity's plot or story logic, which is unfortunate, because Gentry, as writer, director and editor, may be the only one who can fully decipher some of the film's obscure plot points.



• Interview with Actor Chad McKnight (1080i; 1.78:1; 6:21): McKnight discusses the challenges of playing a character who, to put it mildly, isn't always himself.



• Interview with Actress Brianne Davis (1080i; 1.78:1; 2:50): Davis describes why she enjoyed playing Abby.



• Interview with Writer/Director Jacob Gentry (1080i; 1.78:1; 4:36): The topics of this brief interview are covered more thoroughly and in greater depth in Gentry's commentary.



• Synchronicity Music Video—Time Travel (1080p; 2.39:1; 2:57): The video consists entirely of clips from the film set to Ben Lovett's score.



• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2.39:1; 1:55).



• Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment: The disc includes trailers for The Wave, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon and The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun, as well as promos for the Chideo web service and AXS TV.



• BD-Live: As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live produces the message "Check back later for updates".

Synchronicity Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Synchronicity can be a frustrating experience, because Gentry can't resist piling up riddles almost as thickly as film references. Just when you think you can discern the shape of the time travel paradoxes assembled so far, he throws in some development that points in a new direction. Still, Gentry's creation is never dull, and its visual style—both futuristic and self-consciously retro—doesn't look anything like your typical sci-fi CGI-fest. Definitely worth seeing; worth owning if you want to decipher the plot.