The Rainbow Experiment

This could have been great if they had stuck to the actual storyline. Instead it became very convoluted and confusing, the timeline was all over the place. I just wanted to follow the kids and what happened to them. I don't really know how it ended, too.

There's a lot goin' on in the time-shifting mystery drama "The Rainbow Experiment". Too damn much, actually.

Not to imply that Writer/Director Christina Kallas isn't abundantly ambitious in presenting this tragic tale set in a New York City High School. But there are far too many ill-defined characters involved in a surfeit of underdeveloped or out and out inexplicable predicaments to make it wholly palatable.

Still kudos go to veteran actresses Laura Pruden as a no-b.s. police investigator with a soul and Francis Benhamou, a school counselor who believes she can rescue kids who sadly may have long since passed the point of saving.

"The Rainbow Experiment" is a deeply dimensional and immersive schoolhouse drama in which a chemistry class experiment goes horribly awry, leaving a student in a coma.

Students and adult leadership wallow in the aftermath as we learn the backstories of each through some wonderfully unconventional and clever storytelling constructs, including tour guide narration from the lingering spirit of the comatose teen - played by Connor Siemer - who breaks the fourth wall to introduce us to the players in this ensemble cast. Throughout, our suspicions of humanity are largely confirmed: When tragedy strikes near and around us, it's not the empathetic lens of the stricken we see through, but instead we're immersed in our own absorptions relative to the event.

This is a highly ambitious film in the layering of its dramatic and suspenseful story. In a day and age in which major studios admittedly streamline film plots with the presumption their distracted home viewing audiences will be simultaneously navigating their phones, "The Rainbow Experiment" demands that you put your handheld devices down for two hours, and promises a richly nuanced payout in return.

There are a lot of plots to follow. Maybe too many. But I enjoyed the gritty hand-held shots and plot twists.

The Rainbow Experiment is a gritty, unsettling dramatic film that will have your eyes glued to the screen from beginning to end. I highly reccomend this film.