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[GK86]

One year after the existence of the afterlife is scientifically verified, millions around the world have ended their own lives in order to “get there”. A man and woman fall in love while coming to terms with their own tragic pasts and the true nature of the afterlife.

Links:

• Netflix page.
• Official trailer.

Reviews:

• Vox:
  
  

  The less I say from here, the better, since The Discovery’s greatest strength is its element of surprise. The film’s opening scene is one of the strongest sci-fi world-building scenes I’ve ever seen, and there are moments throughout where characters say or do something that makes perfect sense given the Discovery, but that are shocking nonetheless. It’s enough to keep the film gripping.
  
  That’s good, because the screenplay itself is baggy and unevenly paced, with loads of clunky expositional dialogue. People do a lot of sitting around and contemplating the universe — which, in fairness, one might be tempted to do in a post-Discovery world. And knowing that this life isn’t all there is leads these discussions in some rather existentialist directions. But at some points, all the talking seems like cover for some limitations in characterization: There’s plenty that we’re simply told about characters, rather than getting to see it for ourselves, and ultimately that makes it harder to sympathize with them, especially in their biggest emotional moments. (One huge reveal near the end is clearly meant to be shocking, but feels curiously cold.)

  
  The Hollywood Reporter:
  
  

  The Discovery has a most arresting opening, one in which an eminent scientist announces the existence of “a new plane of existence” or, more traditionally put, an afterlife. Choosing to believe his conviction, far too many people begin committing suicide to hasten their voyage to this other realm. Now what should the world do?
  
  Unfortunately, after its fine start, this brainy slice of provocative speculative fiction slowly but surely loosens its grip on audience involvement rather than increases it. A fine cast and a promotable premise that brings metaphysics to the masses will help Netflix launch this on big and small screens beginning March 31, but a growing number of perplexities will afflict viewers through the second half, resulting in a decidedly mixed report card.

  
  Variety:
  
  

  Following up their delightfully original debut “The One I Love” with a less playful piece of speculative fiction, writer-director Charlie McDowell and co-scenarist Justin Lader suggest the unexpected, even disastrous consequences that might arise if mankind were to receive definitive proof that there is an afterlife. Though “The Discovery” starts out with a great premise, its mystery dissipates over a somewhat tepid course as the concept ultimately heads in a direction we’ve seen many times before, and depends overmuch on chemistry that fails to materialize between stars Jason Segel and Rooney Mara. Netflix is releasing the film both to theaters and streaming on March 31; response is likely to be muted.
  
  ...
  
  The result is watchable enough, but never half as suspenseful or emotionally involving as it hopes to be. Stylistically it also falls a little short, with competence but not much character to Norwegian DP (“Rams”) Sturla Brandth Grovien’s widescreen lensing or the other visual design contributions. Like “The Discovery” as a whole, the original score credited to Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans seems like a collection of variably interesting ideas that don’t quite hang together.

  
  AV Club:
  
  

  A more recent strain of Sundance film, if we can stretch that definition for a moment, is the indie sci-fi brainteaser—a subgenre one might reasonably nickname The Brit Marling Movie. This year’s addition to the trend is The Discovery (Grade: B), an ambitious, convoluted genre tightrope act that kept me thoroughly engrossed, even if I’m not entirely sure it works on the level it wants to. The film opens with bangs both literal and figurative, neatly establishing its outlandish premise. Sundance founder Robert Redford plays Thomas Harbor, a scientist who’s uncovered irrefutable evidence of an afterlife—a bombshell that’s created an enormous uptick in global suicides, what with fear of oblivion no longer outweighing desire for escape. Having laid that intriguing foundation, The Discovery adjusts its information flow to a slow drip, as Will (Jason Segel), the scientist’s son, travels to a remote island where his disgraced dad has continued his work in secret, several years after his revelation rocked the planet. What’s Thomas up to? And why has the prodigal son come home?

Cast:

Jason Segel as Will, Rooney Mara as Isla, Robert Redford as Thomas

Jesse Plemons as Toby, Riley Keough as Lacey, Ron Canada as Cooper

Promo photos:

 

[Palmer_v1]

I'll check it out. Can't be worse than the interpretive dance show.

 

[obin_gam]

a would have never thunk a pro-suicide series would emerge.

 

[SpaceWolf]

a would have never thunk a pro-suicide series would emerge.

I'm not entirely sure that's what this is...

 

[GK86]

It's up.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

This movie is throwing me off. Rooney Mara is trying to look exactly like Brit Marling. I love Another earth and I, Origin. I also love this directors last film, the one I love. I'm not sure how I feel about this, yet.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Watched the first 5 minutes last night was very interested in this. Neat concept/gimmick.

 

[Draconian]

I enjoyed this, but I never really connected with Segel's character like I felt I was meant to. His portrayal is too distant and removed for my liking. Still though, I had a good time, though the second half is a little predictable.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Whoa took quite a dive at the end but really enjoyed it overall.

 

[Just_myles]

This is exactly like another popular Netflix series. Predictable.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

This is exactly like another popular Netflix series. Predictable.

It's also very eternal sunshine.

Quite a decent watch, I think I preferred ARQ.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Actually really liked it. Interesting ideas. Everyone did a fairly good job.

 

[Lan Dong Mik]

Man this movie was pretty bad imo. Really cool start but shit goes downhill fast. I couldn't suspend belief on some of the shit that happens in this "post discovery" world. Bad characters and my god it seems like Robert Redford completely forgot how to act. He was terrible in this. Was let down big time. Wanted to love this movie.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

pretty disappointing I suppose. The way they handle the ending discovery could have been done better.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I didn't care for this at all. The opening with Redford was my favorite part. I couldn't emotionally connect to any of the characters. Just felt like a paint by numbers indie drama with a premise that exceeded its ability to do anything interesting with it. This movie just spends so much time dealing with the specifics of a mystery that aren't really that important.

Ending was okay. It had me on the reel again for the last few minutes...but then it's over.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Just watched this now. I like it ten times more after thinking about it for ten minutes then I did right after watching it because it's stealthily incredibly depressing, while wearing the mask of being exactly the opposite.

Spoiler

For a movie that is ostensibly about hope it might actually be one of the most depressing interpretations of the afterlife imaginable. Consider that the entire premise is based on fixing your biggest mistake/regret. Sounds great who wouldn't love to fix your biggest mistake. Here's the thing as demonstrated it can takes hundreds and hundreds of lives (which you never fully remember your previous one so you're basically dying for real each time anyway) to fix it but say you do fix it, and because of infinite possibilities you eventually will, congratulations are in order but the next time you die you'll just have a new biggest regret to fix and it will probably be another hundreds plus years for you to fix that mistake. Even then that's assuming you don't, in the process of trying to fix this new mistake, make some decision that you end up regretting even more than the previous one you've been trying to fix. Who is to say Micheal's arrival on that boat wasn't the result of his previous life's attempt to fix something else that Isla suicide then superseded. This concept reduces our lives to being about one moment in time, everything else we do doesn't matter because of one moment, one event, one action. We become defined by one day, one hour, one second of time. Furthermore, in the end when we die the only thing that matters is the thing we regret most, you could live the life of a literal saint and the only thing that will factor in in your next life is the one thing you regret and then when you fix that you'll just regret something new. The pursuit of happiness is then basically an unattainable and eternal one. We live, we regret, we die, we live, we regret, we die, we live, we regret...