Vanishing Waves

Some scientists start working on an experiment to see if they can transfer some, any brain activity from a comatose patient, to a healthy subject. Lukas is the recipient, some scientist who's married. The experiment works. While under, he rescues a girl from the water and saves her life. In additional sessions, they establish a passionate relationship. Lukas looks forward to the sessions. It puts a strain on his relationship. More importantly, he isn't at all forthcoming about what he experiences. He just tells the team that he senses a presence. Things start getting weird and eventually go downhill for the relationship. Another man shows up in in this other-world. He represents a threat to Lukas and the girl. Eventually Lukas confronts him but that will also prove the undoing of his relationship with the girl. At some point he actually visits the comatose girl in real life and learns that she and a man were involved in a car accident but the man didn't make it. When the researchers decide to put an end to the experiment because for a moment, Lukas died during a session and had to revive him, Lukas comes clean about what has happened. And he demands one last session. He thinks he can save/cure the girl.

Vanishing Waves is interesting, stylish, and erotic. But it's long, slow, and tedious. It's one of those movies where very little is said, where characters establish romantic relationships without talking to each other. Instead we get lots of annoying high-pitched sounds. The movie is directed with confidence and style but given that most scenes last about 4 times as long as they should, the style ends up getting in the way of the movie. Acting is brutally stiff, I don't know if it has to do with the language--Lithaunian--maybe it's a cold and stiff language and hence the people are too. I started forwarding during a couple of scenes that wouldn't end. There's a ridiculous scene of the guy running naked after the girl but has a hard time catching her. The scene lasts maybe 10 minutes. At some point with the appearance of the other man, I started getting interested in the story and the turns which it might take, but didn't. The concept is good, not original, but surely something more could have been done here. But I enjoyed the ending. I give the movie 4 stars for Jurga Jutaite's stunning body and one more star for the concept and style. This movie could have been much stronger had the director shown a bit more moderation and had they written some more dialogue.

I've seen today this VANISHING WAVES from the promising Lithuanian director Kristina Buozyte at "Fantasporto" (film festival from Oporto, my hometown) and I was amazed with it! I already knew it had won some important prizes, including one Melies D'Or, as the best European fantastic feature film, but even so I wasn't expecting such remarkable movie.

It combines many genres and sub-genres of cinema (from sci-fi to mystery thriller, romance to surrealism, among others) but it ends being a unique experience with an excellent directing work. At parts it made me remind some surrealistic movies of the 70's and their weird and abstract cinematography! I don't know if it was intended or not but I think it resembles to them in so many scenes!

The plot is not so ambiguous and twisted like those 70's surreal movies but at parts it's also a bit unclear and puzzling. However, at the end I think the message is quite clear and strong! But in a film like this the plot is what matters the less anyway. The beauty of this movie is in its colors, its intensity, the weird scenarios and the surreal ambiences! The camera work is also excellent showing some twisted angles and some little details that provide an amazing visual effect.

I was perfectly astonished with this film and from now on I'm expecting a lot from this director, Kristina Buozyte (which besides a good director seems to be a sympathetic person; she was also there at Fantasporto, presenting the movie!:)

A sci-fi film from Lithuania that was fascinating in itself for me, who had never seen a film from Lithuanian cinema before. The film is a combination of the director's influences from Tarkovsky, Lynch and Kubrick.

Creating a parallel world and communicating with someone who is in a coma is not a new topic, but in this film the focus is on the physical aspects and the body is especially important in this film. The weakness of the script and the problem of the story are quite evident and watching the movie until the end was boring and predictable for me. Weakness in the characterization of Lucas's character can also be seen.

The movie itself is a weird mix of many things and it is not for everybody. It's a head thing (pun intended) and might strike you the wrong way. But if you are into the idea of the fantastic and have no issues with a bit of skin, then you might be positively surprised by this science fiction/fantasy entry.

The acting might seem wooden at times and the main character might be sliding into the territory of "don't do that"-yell from the audience, but overall the switch between worlds and the interaction feels real (which is funny if you think about it). The movie itself is not made as a comedy though, it is more structured like a drama/thriller. If you want to see something different, go ahead

If you like stark art-house sci-fi, this film has aged well imho, 10 years down the line. A cross between Dreamscape and maybe Darren Aronofsky's Pi. I only stumbled across it as Vespers is available now, and this film sounded compelling and strange.

The pacing is slow, and a lot rides on the main male actor (there is a nice device where he has to shave his head to connect via a neural net). There are waves a plenty, he submerges in a sort of isolation tank (viva "Altered States") and then quite literally floats into the mind of a comatose patient.

There's a sort of mystery to her, and he becomes both watcher and participant, as he dives into her memories. A lot of sense indulgence, including an orgy where I think some subtle body/image morphing went on. Food, sex, near-drowning experiences. Is it just me, or will Existentialists defeat the attack of AI ;>

Some of the research lab camaraderie fell a bit flat, but the polyglot world of different languages was a nice touch. The role of the watchful psychiatrist came with a lot of tension, in how the camera pitted him vs the lead. But I found that relationship a little unsatisfactory by the end.

That and I could have sworn the first scene played a trick on us, but maybe was a flash forward burst of cinematic consciousness?

Overall the set decor and low-budget high-idea meld worked for me. Really the pace was no problem, maybe at the end there is chase that goes on too long, but I think it was some footage/lighting that the director was happy with.

I am referencing the Pink Floyd song with my review title, as it has a weird accidental synchronicity with the film, or so I can convince myself.

There were a lot of neuro-scientists credited in the closing titles, I am curious to maybe read up on them in terms of this film, or better yet their own research. The idea from this film perhaps crossed with "The Diving Bell and the Buttefly" (a great film with a mild parallel here) - that might make a fascinating new movie, or better yet documentary on some breakthrough in neuroscience.

Something about thinking about thinking, and the mind unfolded from the brain's fissures....that can be uncomfortably numbing.

This film is a simple step towards more complicated matters, so bumping it up to an 8.