I Origins: A Review.

As a fourteen year old, I Origins mesmerised me. I hadn’t seen anything like it. Since then, I have grown to realise exactly how underrated this movie is. As an independent direction by Mike Cahill, the movie didn’t make much. The curious thing about this film is that you wouldn’t know what genre to put it in. Primarily falling under science fiction, the story hovers around romance and drama, making the audience laugh, cry and gasp in wonder.

Ian (Michael Pitt) was a PhD student researching the evolution of the eye. He came across Sofi (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey), who had ash-blue eyes speckled with amber. Ian was instantly drawn to her eyes but after a brief encounter, she gives him the slip, quite mysteriously. He finds her again, from a billboard and they fall for each other in spite of their differences. Sofi’s free spiritedness keeps clashing with Ian’s rationality. She sees the world as a mystical place, full of romance and unpredictability while Ian’s curious PhD-student-perspective was research and logic oriented. They impulsively decided to get married but disaster befell instead. Sofie died in a gruesome elevator accident as Ian was trying to pull her up through an elevator vent.

Seven years later, we see Ian married to a pregnant Karen who was formerly his lab assistant. Ian and Karen’s research led them to find links between people through their eyes. Their newborn’s iris was scanned and they found a match with a man who had just died before their son was conceived. Ian found a match with Sofi’s eyes that came from somewhere in India. In order to prove that eyes connected people’s characters and memories, he travels to India and finds Salomina, a child living in a Delhi slum. Salomina’s eyes had matched Sofi’s. After a series of tests, leading to inconclusive results, Ian gives up and comes out with Salomina. While the elevator door opens, Salomina instantly cries out in fear and refuses to step into it. 

The realisation that Salomina’s memories could be linked to Sofi’s because of the match in the patterns of their iris, enthralls the audience. The cinematography is simple yet significant. The imagery of dandelions and angels have been used to portray the free spirited Sofi and a series of synchronicities is shown to lead Ian to Sofi. The film ends with Ian walking out holding Salomina’s hands, into the light. And we are instantly reminded of  Sofi’s promise to Ian “We will meet again” and Ian’s “My atoms have always known your atoms”.

There are many unusual elements in the movie including Ian’s relationship with Karen, the solace he found in her and their marriage. The music somehow will make you feel more strongly about the film, especially The Do’s “Dust it off”. The film explores human relationships in an extremely intricate yet realistic manner. Ian’s guilt, Karen’s support, Sofi’s death have been interwoven and the element of surprise has been used for catharsis.Sofi’s death seems like just a tragedy unless you realise that is what holds the story together.

The film, heavy with symbolism, ends with Ian and Salomina walking out into the light. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience something different!

~ Diyasha
BA Hons English, second year