Synchronic (2019)

This is a sci-fi thriller with a very eerie feeling. The plot is a mind-bending exploration of the limits of human perception. What if time as we know it is a lie? A new designer drug is taking over the lives of people by altering the way in which the brain perceives time. The first scene starts with a couple trying a novel new drug that transforms their environment into their worst nightmare. The next scene jumps to first responders Steve and Dennis finding another couple with multiple stab wounds from what seems to be an ancient historical artifact.

The plot slows a bit until Steve, the main protagonist, is told he has an inoperable brain tumor. It is around the same time, Dennis learns his daughter is missing.

These two life shattering events test the strength of their friendship and the limits of what they are willing to believe. While they search forDennis’s daughter, clues lead them to believe she could still be alive on another plane of existence. How far would you go to help a friend in need? Can compassion help them bridge the gap between their two different realities?

Coincidently, Steve hears that this new designer drug interacts with the pineal gland which is the part of his brain where the tumor is growing, so he decides to experiment. He starts recording the effects of the drug on camera and also on a data log. The plot proposes that time itself is happening all at once, sort of like a hall of mirrors with several layers but the brain can only react to the present plane; A concept similar to the quantum physics theory that proposes that time is a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timmey wimmey stuff (Doctor Who). From a nonlinear progression standpoint past present and future are all intertwined and happening at the same time. So, in theory, the future can influence the past and vice versa.

Over time Steve becomes convinced he can rescue his friend’s daughter by using this drug, but he is fighting time and space itself as he learns the chemist who created the drug committed suicide and the substance is now in very limited quantities. During this journey both friends discover there are things far worse than death. The ending has a bitter sweet taste that takes the viewer through a rollercoaster of emotions.

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