And even if there was no visible transition because each Kevin was static in a different way, Maury Sterling’s performances are nonetheless impressive. And that was true for everyone, but it was especially true for Kevin. And that’s because he was simply himself.īut other versions of him weren’t quite so familiar. If it wasn’t for the fact that one of the alternate-Hugh’s had a phone with an unbroken screen, they may have never realized that he was a “visitor” in the first place. In most cases, the difference from one character to another is small possibly even imperceptible. Baldoni sells it, and it’s a brilliant bit of acting.īut you have to give a lot of credit to the other actors, all of whom have to play other versions of themselves in one way or another.
She’d rather be that Em.Īnd she does what she has to do to become that Em. She’d rather have the Kevin she sees in that last window. She wouldn’t even necessarily want her Kevin, whose relationship to Laurie is sketchy at best. She would go into the darkness again and again, but it would never be to her world and her Kevin. She knew that there was no going back to her old life. But in that moment, I believed she would do it. She never presented herself as the kind of person who would do such a thing. When she attacks another version of herself, one that has the life she wishes she could lead, it kind of comes out of nowhere. Where other actors can have radical shifts in motivation because they’re not actually the same people that they were before, her dynamism must feel natural. And because of that, she has a singularly difficult part to play. But as we follow Em, we can never be completely lost. While the world changes around her, we lose our bearings as well. As the only character who we see consistently from start to finish, she is the most important character in the film, not just because she’s the protagonist but because she is the reality that the audience clings to. I loved Emily Baldoni’s performance as Em. And you can know that by the change in mannerisms from version to version. The universe doesn’t split up the way that the asteroid does (although that’s an interesting image), sending different characters down different paths. So why am I talking about Community? Because I wanted to point out a fundamental difference between that episode and what transpires in Coherence: Coherence‘s multiple timelines do not begin when Miller’s comet flies by. It won’t really teach you anything about parallel universes, but you’ll be glad you did.) (If you haven’t seen the episode, you can do so below. Some things don’t change much at all (Jeff will always hit his head on the fan), but other interactions may not happen at all depending on who gets the pizza. It was a brilliant episode, and it showed the way a simple change of events can have a massive impact on the future. If you watched Community, you probably remember the episode “Remedial Chaos Theory,” where six different timelines are created based on a dice roll. Release Date: June 20th, 2014 (Theatrical) So if you have any thoughts on this, please let me know. It’s also the first time we’ve ever done something like this. It is a companion after all, not a replacement. This will be focusing on different things.
But either way, I’m writing under the assumption that you have read (or at least skimmed) the full review. Once you’ve done that, come back here and read the rest of this, or read it now if you don’t care about spoilers. You can still enjoy Coherence after it’s been spoiled, but I wouldn’t want to put something in that position just because they wanted to know if it’s worth watching.Īnd you should see it before some less considerate critic ruins it for you. And it had to be that way, because any serious discussion of the plot will inevitably ruin the film’s central conceit, something that is best left as a surprise. We posted our official review of Coherence yesterday, but it’s a review that says a lot about the film while also saying nothing.