Chimera

Ash Thorp's Chimera is not a narrative film. It's a collection of beautifully composed images stitched together without purpose, coherence, or emotional weight. If you go in expecting a narrative, or even the faintest sense of thematic cohesion, you'll be left grasping at air. Yes, some shots are striking-Thorp undeniably has an eye for design-but design alone doesn't make a film.

The issue isn't just the lack of a story; it's the absence of anything to engage with beyond surface-level aesthetics. There's no progression, no stakes, no sense that one moment connects to the next. It feels like a mood board brought to life, a series of polished, hyper-stylized vignettes that never add up to anything more than an empty exercise in visual indulgence.

Thorp is a designer first, and it shows. His obsession with detail and composition is evident, but directing is more than just assembling pretty frames. A director needs to communicate something beyond the frame-emotion, tension, subtext. Chimera has none of that. It's cold, distant, and ultimately forgettable like all of his directing work.

If you're looking for a visually stimulating screensaver, Chimera delivers. If you're looking for cinema, look elsewhere.

Its very obvious to me that the only other review on here is by Ash Thorp himself.

'A unique experience' is an understatement. All style no suhbtsance just like Ash's other work. 10 out of 10 from the other reviewer is utterly hilarious.

Pretentious is the word I would use to describe a lot of this type off work. Its not art. Its pretty pictures for sure but its not film making.

All the fanboys that follow Mr Thorps work will lap this rubbish up all day long.

Its vapid and empty.

Bad acting. Bad concept that disappears up its own backside just like,e Lost Boy.

Please Ash stop. Stick to UI design.

Chimera is a masterclass in cinematography, in how to release projects in 2023 to engage viewers over the various social media, in the importance of acting, music, and sounds, etc.

It is an amazing experience that engages you and that has you think and share with everyone.

Every time I watch, I notice or hear something I hadn't before and reading other theories enhance my experience when I watch again!

Make sure you watch on the biggest screen you can and with headphones on as this allows to enhance the experience.

Bravo Tyler Hynes & Ash Thorp and all your collaborators! I hope more "versions" are coming!