Brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (18 March 2006)

Some people didn't like this film, and I can't understand why. It was panned by the critics when it was released, but it's such an original film I can't understand why. It's violent - and it covers some very difficult and uncomfortable subjects such as paedophilia and incest, child porn and homosexual rape - but the way it looks at the indeterminate nature of reality is exceptional. The actual sci fi element of the story was, to me, secondary to the idea that each event that happens to us is so often defined by pure chance; and that any one of us is as much a product of chance events as anything.
For example in the movie all the characters' lives hinge on one event that - had one person not made one brief, momentary decision - been completely different. As an allegory for the effects of our own belief systems affecting our entire lives, it's a far more powerful vehicle than even "It's a wonderful Life" ever was.
Watch this film, and watch the alternate ending versions. You have to be pretty dim to not see what an excellent film this is.