"Synchronic" another smart, thoughtful, even moving sci-fi trip from Moorhead & Benson

Synchronic (2020)

In the same cerebral sci-fi school of fellow indie filmmakers Brit Marling and Shane Carruth, co-directing team Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (2015’s “Spring”)—you can call them Moorhead & Benson—can always be counted on to swing big and challenge genre expectations. With their 2018 cosmic mind-bender “The Endless,” Benson and Moorhead directed themselves to play two brothers revisiting the UFO death cult from which they escaped a decade ago. “Synchronic,” the filmmakers’ fourth feature, heads closer into the mainstream, with more high-profile stars and a bigger budget, but never betrays their filmmaking instincts to be resourceful with limited means.

Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan) are lifelong friends and paramedics in New Orleans. Steve is a hard-drinking bachelor who can't settle down and always brings home a different girl, while Dennis is married to Tara (Katie Aselton) with an 18-year-old daughter, Brianna (Ally Ioannides), and a new baby. Recently, during their late nights at work, they come to discover a trend in fatal overdoses involving a synthetic drug called “Synchronic.” At the same time, Steve gets some tests done to find out he has a lethal brain tumor in his pineal gland, only to keep the news private. When Brianna goes missing after taking “Synchronic,” Steve tracks down a smoke shop that sells the drug and buys them all out to keep it off the street. The remaining pills come in handy when Steve decides that, with what little time he has left, he will experiment with them, but the drug has the ability to transport him through time. Will be able to find his best friend’s daughter through time, and if he does, can they even return back to the present-day?

Smart and enthralling, “Synchronic” feels like a more accessible evolution into the thoughtful and ambitious minds of Justin Benson (who always writes the script) and Aaron Moorhead (who always shoots), telling a micro human story on a macro cinematic level. Next to “The Endless,” this is less of a knotty head-scratcher than it is a small procedural drama writ large when a window through time and space is opened by swallowing “fake ayahuasca.” Turning in strong, quiet work as Steve and Dennis, Anthony Mackie (2018’s “The Hate U Give”) and Jamie Dornan (2019’s “Endings, Beginnings”) both have an easy buddy chemistry that feels lived-in. Mackie does get the more compelling character arc to play as Steve—and he does receive more screen time than Dornan’s Dennis—but as co-leads, both actors are given more of an opportunity to open up a range that felt mostly untapped in the “Captain America” and “Fifty Shades” films.

From the moment the film begins in a hotel room that slowly melts away into an Amazonian rain forest for its first couple of synchronic users, the viewer is immersed into a locational trip. What is so frightening about the drug-induced travelogue that a walk towards an imagery river could actually be a plunge to your death in an elevator shaft. “Synchronic” can be a mesmerizing visual trip when characters are on the designer drug, but the filmmakers also have a dynamic and intimate way with their camera that never feels like showing off; a single tracking shot in an apartment, where Steve and Dennis must resuscitate an overdosed addict, keeps one glued. 

More so than most of Moorhead & Benson’s other films in their still-growing filmography, “Synchronic” is an emotionally rewarding experience. It all starts with Justin Benson’s tight script that efficiently draws its lead characters and their nuanced relationship. When the film opens the door more into science fiction, we are already on the ride and care enough about the people involved. Seeing Steve and Dennis’ journeys through to the moving and uncompromising conclusion is actually handled with beautifully genuine pathos, sneaking up on us with a surprisingly lovely punch. (It should also be noted that a scene involving Steve’s loyal dog Hawking devastates, and the emotions feel earned.) If one wasn’t already paying attention to Moorhead & Benson, “Synchronic” should be the ticket to make one notice. 

Grade: B +

Well Go USA Entertainment is releasing “Synchronic” (103 min.) in select theaters and drive-ins October 23, 2020.