This is a really "different" story and in the DVD extras we find the writer-director was inspired by a suicide in his own extended family. Not knowing anything else one might expect an environment of glass and white walls, images of beings dressed in long flowing robes, observing people via some form of advanced technology unknown to the real world.
Instead we see a person, once alive and named Will, in what seems to be an old house in the salt flats of Utah and observing people on 15 or 20 color TV sets from the 1980s. He takes notes and by the number of days in the notations some are approaching 30 years of age. Some lives are recorded on VHS tapes. Then something tragic happens and he must interview a number of souls to pick one to become a human on Earth. For those who are rejected it is the end of the line, they will never get another chance. The process will take nine days.
I'm not sure how to think of this story, perhaps best as an allegory of our own lives. How we go about our lives, how we make decisions, including decisions of morals. There is no question the movie makes one think and my wife and I enjoyed the almost 2 hours of viewing. However in reality is will be quickly forgotten.
At home on DVD from our public library.
Instead we see a person, once alive and named Will, in what seems to be an old house in the salt flats of Utah and observing people on 15 or 20 color TV sets from the 1980s. He takes notes and by the number of days in the notations some are approaching 30 years of age. Some lives are recorded on VHS tapes. Then something tragic happens and he must interview a number of souls to pick one to become a human on Earth. For those who are rejected it is the end of the line, they will never get another chance. The process will take nine days.
I'm not sure how to think of this story, perhaps best as an allegory of our own lives. How we go about our lives, how we make decisions, including decisions of morals. There is no question the movie makes one think and my wife and I enjoyed the almost 2 hours of viewing. However in reality is will be quickly forgotten.
At home on DVD from our public library.