I don't really know what to say by and large about this movie's plot. It is a very quiet, slow, methodical film, framed in such a way that its supernatural synopsis almost feels like a bait and switch of sorts.
The setup is some photojournalist guy, Jake, in 1989 is going up to Alaska for some reason to a heavily secluded area with just one another guy called "Sparky". Jake takes random photos and when he develops them finds that they contain imagery that wasn't in the scene when he photographed them. Later on he finds that the imagery in the photo ends up appearing on the objects he shot. As in, he seems to be taking photos from the future.
But this plot element is played down so heavily that it could have been completely removed and the film would've been almost exactly the same. It's done so lethargically and without any impact on the story as a whole that it's almost entirely possible that it's not even happening, that he's somehow hallucinating that these photos are from the future somehow. Considering all the flashbacks showing him rolling around flailing in seemingly drug-fueled stupors, he may just be hallucinating as a result of long-term drug abuse.
Ultimately, this gimmick plays no role in what the film is really about, and that which he himself monologues at one point in the film; something's gone wrong with his life and he's essentially taken himself and all his worldly possessions to live and work in a completely abandoned part of Alaska, and we, the audience, and to some degree even he doesn't entirely know why. Or does he?
All of this would be much more compelling indie-movie type fare if the character weren't so insufferably obnoxious, brooding, and seemingly prone to violent outbursts for no clear reason. Instead of being an intense character study of an intense character, it becomes almost the living embodiment of the meme "God has allowed me to live another day and I'm about to make it everyone's problem"
The setup is some photojournalist guy, Jake, in 1989 is going up to Alaska for some reason to a heavily secluded area with just one another guy called "Sparky". Jake takes random photos and when he develops them finds that they contain imagery that wasn't in the scene when he photographed them. Later on he finds that the imagery in the photo ends up appearing on the objects he shot. As in, he seems to be taking photos from the future.
But this plot element is played down so heavily that it could have been completely removed and the film would've been almost exactly the same. It's done so lethargically and without any impact on the story as a whole that it's almost entirely possible that it's not even happening, that he's somehow hallucinating that these photos are from the future somehow. Considering all the flashbacks showing him rolling around flailing in seemingly drug-fueled stupors, he may just be hallucinating as a result of long-term drug abuse.
Ultimately, this gimmick plays no role in what the film is really about, and that which he himself monologues at one point in the film; something's gone wrong with his life and he's essentially taken himself and all his worldly possessions to live and work in a completely abandoned part of Alaska, and we, the audience, and to some degree even he doesn't entirely know why. Or does he?
All of this would be much more compelling indie-movie type fare if the character weren't so insufferably obnoxious, brooding, and seemingly prone to violent outbursts for no clear reason. Instead of being an intense character study of an intense character, it becomes almost the living embodiment of the meme "God has allowed me to live another day and I'm about to make it everyone's problem"