Serenity

USA, 2019. dir. Steven Knight, 106 mins.

Distributor: Elevation Pictures

Dates and Venues Opens January 25, 2019 Various Select Cinemas

Reviewer Ed Farolan

There is this new reality we call virtual reality, and in this film, the director-writer wants to combine this illusional reality with the film noir reality. We start suspecting a programmed reality when Patrick (Rafael Sayegh), the son of Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is in his room working on a programming project on his computer.

The film starts off like a noir film, when Dill's ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) tracks him down with a desperate plea for help. A strange character always shows up, and he is a salesman, Reid Miller (Jeremy Strong) who claims to be sent by "the creator". And this is where the other kind of reality creeps in.

One might regard this juxtaposition valid, since, in today's filmmaking, there are fusions and a mix of all kinds of genres just to provide a unique kind of entertainment in the movie business. I'm half-hearted about it. I'd rather stick to one genre and not do a mix-up. Anyway, the film kept you in suspense, and at the end, when a new programme is created, a happy ending ensues.

© 2019 Ed Farolan