I Origins

I Origins is the kind of sci-fi that skimps on the ‘sci’ and delivers heavily on the ‘fi’. The plot sounds barmy on paper: nerdy grad student Ian (Michael Pitt) is researching the evolution of the human eye; he hooks up with Sofi (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), a French coquette with alluring eyes; unable to forget her, he tracks her down by means of a cosmetics ad featuring her peepers. But anyone who saw writer-director Mike Cahill’s debut Another Earth, a lo-fi but handsomely made sci-fi flick about a twin planet in the sky, knows that he’s a deft stylist and strong on suspense. Kudos for drawing Pitt away from Boardwalk Empire and back to the silver screen – we know from The Dreamers and Funny Games that he can do obsessive and creepy. As long as you can stand lines like “Maybe the eye really is some kind of window to the soul”, this should be fun.