SYNCHRONIC SPEC D: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead. U.S. 101 min. Sep 9, 5 pm, Scotiabank 12 Sep 13, 6 pm, Ryerson. Rating: NNN
The new film from Benson & Moorhead – the gleeful genre-benders behind Resolution, Spring and The Endless – splices their trippy DNA into a crime procedural, following two paramedics (Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan) who keep getting called to bizarre death scenes, all of which appear to involve the eponymous designer drug. That’s how it starts, anyway.
Where Synchronic ends up is somewhere very different, and how it gets there is a wildly unpredictable path, and I’m pretty sure Benson (who also writes) and Moorhead (who also shoots) don’t want me to divulge any of its twists and shifts. (It’s also likely to be their most divisive film to date, mainly because a mainstream audience won’t know how to take the thing it becomes in its second half.)
I gave myself over to the ride, trusting the filmmakers and actors to find a coherent through-line, and I’m pretty sure it worked out for the best.