One of the great things I like about the science fiction genre is its ability to examine, using the simple yet brilliant idea of “What if….?” It was this that got me started reading the stuff in the first place. This movie, produced by Netflix, reminded me of the movies of my youth that also did this – The Andromeda Strain, The Legend of Hell House, Colossus: The Forbin Project and Brainstorm, amongst others.
The ‘discovery’ of the title is a fascinating, if rather unoriginal idea – scientists in the near future have finally scientifically proved that there is an afterlife, though what the afterlife actually is is unknown. We’re back to the old 1970’s idea of ‘outer space’ being replaced by ‘inner space’.
The movie then shows us the consequences of that discovery two years after the announcement on – amongst other things, 4 million mass suicides, of people trying to ‘get there’. Scientist Thomas Harbor, played by Robert Redford, who announced the discovery, has locked himself away on a remote island to continue his experiments in trying to definitively determine what happens after we die.
His son, Will, who left his family after the suicide of his mother, is now returning to them on the island at the request of his younger brother, Toby, because their father has found out ‘something interesting’. On the way over to the island he meets Isla, who is later found attempting suicide and saved by Will. She joins the small community on the island, though she is a cynical voice amongst the cooperative group. She becomes Will’s confidante and sounding board as they discover things there.
This is clearly a project of love more than money. Unusually from a mega-company like Netflix, it all seems rather independent and worthy.** It’s a small cast, clearly on a limited budget, where big global events are more mentioned than seen. The general tone of The Discovery is that it is all very low-key, often in darkness, with the worn-down grimness of a series more like The Affair or The Kettering Incident. This is not all flash-science and hi-tech gleam, though this can work as a strength in allowing the plot ideas to shine through. Everything has meaning.
There’s not a lot of humour there, but it’s actually quite nice to see Jason Siegel playing against type in a serious role, spouting lengthy lines of dialogue like something out of Dawson’s Creek. Equally his acting partner, Rooney Mara, plays Isla, a very sombre and aloof foil to Segel’s confused lead. Redford earns his money through brief but important appearances throughout. His understated yet telling acting is thoroughly appropriate and important as the voice of scientific plausibility. Also of note is Jesse Plemons as Toby, Will/Segel’s younger brother, the slacker sibling who stayed to work for his father whilst Will was away.
There’s a few twists and turns along the way, which would be wrong for me to describe here, but they keep the watcher interested as they play out. All of our characters have backstories that explain why they are here in this story and fill out an otherwise slight tale. The movie also suggests that it is lots of things that are not all explained at the end – as well as the main concept of the plot it is also part romance, part SF obsession, and part examination of a cult society. There are many ideas given here that are not fully explained along the way.
But, in short, The Discovery is a rather welcome, if at times glacial, tale of science fiction, but one told with good intentions and an attempt to tell a good story rather than fill the screen with dazzling effects and action scenes. It’s not perfect, but it’s good to see a story with deeper than usual characters, where you don’t know what the ending will be, or entirely what it means. Kudos to Netflix for taking the risk.
* Her partner happens to be the director, Charlie McDowell, who is the son of actors Mary Steenburgen (also briefly in the movie) and Malcolm McDowell.
**I have later found out, after typing the above review, that the movie was at Redford’s Sundance Festival in January, which seems appropriate. Perhaps surprisingly for an SF movie, it would seem to fit in there.
The Discovery (2017)
Netflix, March 2017
1 hour 40 minutes
Director Charlie McDowell
Writers Justin Lader, Charlie McDowell
Stars , Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, Robert Redford, Riley Keough, Jesse Plemons, Mary Steenburgen
