Omni Loop

17

Seems I’ve really dipped into the bargain bin at this point. Omni Loop apparently made $40,000 at the box office. I suppose, as far as sci-fi movies go, this probably didn’t cost very much, but I also imagine that return was below expectations. Especially for a movie starring one of the hot stars of The Bear, Ayo Edebiri, and the always-popular Mary-Louise Parker. And a plot involving time travel, of course. Seems like a recipe for success, though maybe small movies like these just get caught up in the wash of the Netflix algorithm onslaught. Whatever the case, these types of films are always up my alley. They’re basically small character studies in a science fiction framework. Which, as is typical, is way more fictional fiction than science. Unless we now think black holes can actually grow in peoples’ chests. Spoiler: it’s not science, it’s a metaphor!

But, yeah, there’s a black hole growing in the middle of Zoya Lowe’s (Parker) chest. She is given one week to live. Luckily, Zoya has a access to a time a bottle of ever-replenishing travel pills. Pills that will send her back exactly five days. And because the concept of the pill and the rules around it are completely not science-based, the additional rules of how the pills work make it so she can’t go back any more than five days in a single loop. It’s one of the yada-yada things that you just have to go with because the whole thing is not based in any kind of scientific theory, so they can just make up the rules as long as they stick to them. Which they generally do. But, yeah, Parker waits until that fifth day when the black hole’s power is set to envelop her, takes a pill and finds herself back in the hospital with the doctor and her upset family, who are just about to break the news that she has a week to live. The black hole in the chest thing and all. Another part of this is that she can apparently retain all of the built up knowledge she’s accumulated during her loops a la Groundhog Day. Which, again, is hard to question because it’s all questionable.

The issue she has is that she needs more than those five days to figure out a way to save herself from the black hole that is going to consume her. As luck would have it, she is quantum physics textbook author. Which is either a giant coincidence, or a function of her finding those pills as a child, using them and gaining an interest in the subject. But, as luck would also have it, she meets Paula Campos (Edeberi), who happens to be a research assistant studying “time” at the local community college. I wasn’t aware “time” was a major, or even a course at what seems to be a pretty second-rate school. Again, if I start to question this, I’d have to question everything. And then it all unravels. Because, again, this movie isn’t really about time travel or the science therein, but about being present. About appreciating all that you’ve been given. About passing along experience and love and knowledge to the next generation and loved ones. Because, truth be told, Zoya seems pretty sad and unsatisfied with her life. She was told as a twelve year old, back when she found the pills, that she would change the world. And, as we’re reminded by her kind of divorced attitude toward her impending death and her family’s heartfelt response to it, she feels like a failure on this front. Dissatisfied with where everything has led. But still determined to change her past in order to extend her time on Earth. Not to have more time with her family, but to fulfill that potential that was bestowed upon her. Whatever that means in terms of priority.

The thing is, with five days left — despite the fact she knows she can loop back five days — she spends her time avoiding her husband and daughter to hang out with Paula to research the time pills. Which is a microcosm of her attitude toward her life as a whole. Not appreciating her lot in life, but always looking back at what she didn’t accomplish. This is demonstrated by her search for her old colleague/boyfriend, who went on to bigger and better things in their quantum physics field. Because she chose a different life with her husband that removed her from that path. When she does finally track him down and confront what has become of him, she is surprised to see that his success was short-lived and, always chasing that early success, he lived a life that was ultimately way less fulfilling personally than hers and way less successful professionally than she would have expected. This, again, is told through a relatively heavy-handed sci-fi metaphor (that I won’t spoil), but I dug it anyway. Suffice it to say that it is a comment on the balance of work versus living life in the present and how getting pulled solely into work and its trappings can shrink you, make your relationships more distant until you completely disappear into your work and become a ghost. The mechanism of Zoya’s research and growing relationship with Paula is accomplished through the mechanism of this time loop. Every time they spend those five days together, Zoya learns more about Paula and becomes more attached and appreciative of her. Granted, Paula never remembers her, but the more Zoya knows about her personally the easier it is each time for her to convince her of the fact she’s coming from the future and needs her help.

I can’t say the plot makes 100% sense here. There are definitely some holes that they just gloss over. But, like a said, this isn’t what this movie is meant to be. It’s about the relationship between Zoya and Paula — which is really well done. Edeberi’s acting style is very distinct. If you’ve seen her in The Bear, you will recognize it. It’s this kind of disarming, naturalistic thing she does where she stammers a bit and haltingly delivers lines with a lot of hand movement and facial scrunching (for lack of a better term). It feels a lot like how an anxious person would speak, and it works really well here to contrast Parker’s more mature confidence. You can see Parker’s character warm to her over time and, by the end, they have a very realistic-feeling relationship that is born out of mutual respect and love. A relationship that ultimately reminds Zoya of the specialness of her relationship with her actual family. One that she finally realizes is the end goal. And that perhaps her changing the world is coming to this realization and passing on the torch to the person who may actually be able to do it. It’s a weirdly upbeat movie for one that involves a terminal character. And one that is emotionally affecting in its viewing, but is even more so after the credits roll and you get a chance to contemplate how this might apply to your life. Even if internal black holes and time travel pills aren’t a thing.