Coherence | Blu-ray

For the most part, Sci-fi does its best work when the world-building is elaborate, the special effects are stunning, and the settings are unique. All of which makes it so much more special when a film can come along and make something original and fascinating without any of that.

With a cast of just eight actors, a single house, and only the barest outline for a screenplay, James Ward Byrkit created one of the most thoughtful Sci-fi films in recent memory. A group of friends gather for a dinner party on the night of a rare comet passing the Earth's orbit, unlocking a series of parallel universes where an infinite series of dinner parties are taking place.

 With actors receiving only daily notes, and Byrkit keeping larger plot points and narrative twists close to his vest, the performances in the film are entirely improvisational. The result is an intensely natural and un-contrived feeling unfolding of events where the viewer knows more about what's happening on screen than seemingly anyone else.