A genetically-engineered virus, meant for good, but never before tested on humans, has found a host. This is the story of four desperate people who, in their search for medical answers, were... Read allA genetically-engineered virus, meant for good, but never before tested on humans, has found a host. This is the story of four desperate people who, in their search for medical answers, were exposed to this created virus, called radiant, and the solitary lab assistant who becomes... Read allA genetically-engineered virus, meant for good, but never before tested on humans, has found a host. This is the story of four desperate people who, in their search for medical answers, were exposed to this created virus, called radiant, and the solitary lab assistant who becomes their only witness.
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This movie is about a group of people who are infected by a powerful man-made virus. They are pursued by government men into the desert.
The premise of the film is quite interesting but is hampered by the fact that the delivery is extremely boring. At no point does the film engage with the viewer on any level. Granted, the miniscule budget is a problem but is not the reason for the film's failure. Much more at fault is the very po-faced delivery. There is a great deal of narration but, unfortunately, the narrator has an annoyingly over-dramatic voice. Very little seems to happen to these people and well before the end you will be rooting for the government men - the sooner they kill the protagonists the sooner the movie will end. A much better title for this film would have been Four People Run About In The Desert With Some Stock Footage Of A Helicopter. Overall, very tedious.
The premise of the film is quite interesting but is hampered by the fact that the delivery is extremely boring. At no point does the film engage with the viewer on any level. Granted, the miniscule budget is a problem but is not the reason for the film's failure. Much more at fault is the very po-faced delivery. There is a great deal of narration but, unfortunately, the narrator has an annoyingly over-dramatic voice. Very little seems to happen to these people and well before the end you will be rooting for the government men - the sooner they kill the protagonists the sooner the movie will end. A much better title for this film would have been Four People Run About In The Desert With Some Stock Footage Of A Helicopter. Overall, very tedious.
After reading the other reviews on this site, I wonder if I saw the same movie as everyone else.
Radiant is about four people, three of which are accidentally infected with a man-made virus with the purpose of purging the body of all other viruses. However, all of the prototypes of the virus up to this point have behaved in unpredictable ways, so no one is exactly sure what it does. When the characters are suddenly forced to make a decision between spending the rest of their lives as government lab rats or fleeing they choose to escape into the desert and allow the disease to run its course without infecting others.
At this point I'd like to agree with everyone else who has posted on this film: Radiant is indeed slow, but not in a bad way. The film deliberately takes its time to breathe in order to extend to the viewer the unease and eeriness that the characters are experiencing (think Wim Wenders on digital video). As each of them are waiting in extreme tension to see what happens so is the audience.
But the film is more than merely waiting. As the story unfolds, we begin to know the characters on an extremely intimate level. For all that they know this disease is going to kill them and as they all prepare themselves for that possibility they bond with each other in an unique and powerful way which the audience experiences too. And when it comes down to it that is what Radiant is about--connection. It explores human relationships in an original and in depth manner that left me speechless.
Radiant is a patient, very cerebral, deeply human film that deserves to be watched with an open mind. Kudos to you Steve Mahone for a remarkable and moving first effort.
Radiant is about four people, three of which are accidentally infected with a man-made virus with the purpose of purging the body of all other viruses. However, all of the prototypes of the virus up to this point have behaved in unpredictable ways, so no one is exactly sure what it does. When the characters are suddenly forced to make a decision between spending the rest of their lives as government lab rats or fleeing they choose to escape into the desert and allow the disease to run its course without infecting others.
At this point I'd like to agree with everyone else who has posted on this film: Radiant is indeed slow, but not in a bad way. The film deliberately takes its time to breathe in order to extend to the viewer the unease and eeriness that the characters are experiencing (think Wim Wenders on digital video). As each of them are waiting in extreme tension to see what happens so is the audience.
But the film is more than merely waiting. As the story unfolds, we begin to know the characters on an extremely intimate level. For all that they know this disease is going to kill them and as they all prepare themselves for that possibility they bond with each other in an unique and powerful way which the audience experiences too. And when it comes down to it that is what Radiant is about--connection. It explores human relationships in an original and in depth manner that left me speechless.
Radiant is a patient, very cerebral, deeply human film that deserves to be watched with an open mind. Kudos to you Steve Mahone for a remarkable and moving first effort.
If you suffer from insomnia then Radiant would be the best way to send you into a 7-year coma. The film is so preposterously overwrought and mundane that it's hard to imagine that director Steve Mahone could overlook such obvious dullness.
The story has an exiled Doctor (who we never get to see) move out into the desert to create a vaccine that will cure all diseases by filling the hosts full of antibodies that can combat any infection (yes, just like that episode of Futurama). The vaccines don't work and the human guinea pigs become infected with a virus that kills within 48 hours.
Not wanting to be caught by the Government guys in masks the group head into the desert for cover, hoping that the sunshine will kill the virus. All of this is narrated by Michael, the only one of the quartet immune to the infection. And it's the most boring narration ever. They could have cast someone with an interesting voice but instead we get someone with less vocal personality than Clive Owen.
On top of this the editor insists on fade-cutting more than half the movie, giving it a weird dream-like feel and increasing the audiences desire to go to sleep. It's no surprise that half of the audience walked out of this, I was not one of them for some reason. But I bloody well should have.
The ending is supposed to be shocking and clever and foreboding. But it's plain and simply not. A relief yes, but not dramatic in the slightest.
The utter cheapness of this production and muffled sound that renders a lot of the dialogue unintelligible cripples what could have been an interesting sci-fi story if it had better actors, cooler locations and a sense of urgency. As it is, Radiant is a snoozefest.
The story has an exiled Doctor (who we never get to see) move out into the desert to create a vaccine that will cure all diseases by filling the hosts full of antibodies that can combat any infection (yes, just like that episode of Futurama). The vaccines don't work and the human guinea pigs become infected with a virus that kills within 48 hours.
Not wanting to be caught by the Government guys in masks the group head into the desert for cover, hoping that the sunshine will kill the virus. All of this is narrated by Michael, the only one of the quartet immune to the infection. And it's the most boring narration ever. They could have cast someone with an interesting voice but instead we get someone with less vocal personality than Clive Owen.
On top of this the editor insists on fade-cutting more than half the movie, giving it a weird dream-like feel and increasing the audiences desire to go to sleep. It's no surprise that half of the audience walked out of this, I was not one of them for some reason. But I bloody well should have.
The ending is supposed to be shocking and clever and foreboding. But it's plain and simply not. A relief yes, but not dramatic in the slightest.
The utter cheapness of this production and muffled sound that renders a lot of the dialogue unintelligible cripples what could have been an interesting sci-fi story if it had better actors, cooler locations and a sense of urgency. As it is, Radiant is a snoozefest.
The movie starts off promisingly enough, the use of imagery and simple short clips convey the bigger story, which would normally need a considerably higher budget than the one here. However it did start to worry me as it continued, combined with another overly husky Max Payne type voice over the movie was starting to look not so good. I hoped it was just the introduction to the story.
The story is what really caught me and took me to this movie. The idea that a research scientist has created a virus that actually protects the cells it infects from other infection was an interesting scientific idea. Then that subjects who had the most bizarre disorders sought out the scientist and offered to be his human experiments made me think this could be one very good small movie. Yet the introduction hadn't gone well.
There did seem to be a change of pace as the movie turned to recorded interviews with the four main characters in the movie, the test subjects. Although the acting wasn't superb, there seemed to be a lot of scope for character development throughout the movie, and the recordings were done quite well with a varied mix of characters. However these faded through the movie. They weren't used again after a few brief clips and I did feel that there was a missed opportunity to provide some great character development by reflecting back to them, however it wasn't to be.
The imagery becomes increasingly disconnected from the story, often repeating to represent something that is still happening. This disconnection and repetition is reflected in the annoying and distracting commentary. It began reciting words one after the other. Short, meaningless sentences and reciting none too relevant or interesting scientific ramblings. If there was something to be described, four or five words would be used, it was too long, repetitive, circular, looping,...you're getting the idea.
Now this could have been to reflect the confusion and of the character, slowly becoming caught up in his own thoughts, rambling due to lack of food and water. What it actually did was to cause me to totally switch off to the voice and by the closing stages of the movie I found that I hadn't been listening to some of the ramblings.
A number of times that an event occurs the camera shows all the characters one after the other for their reaction, which seems to be somewhere between confused and thoughtful. There are repeated fades from the same scene to the same scene, for instance a character sleeping fades to black, then fades back in on the character sleeping again. Look, we know the character is asleep, we know time has passed, please move on. Overall there are just too many atmospheric cuts and long, hanging shots to fill time.
The acting was not bad, and the characters were okay, but not exploited and developed. When they were interacting there were some truly cringeworthy moments. For example when one of them asks if they are hungry the camera looks to each of them and returns to a group shot, they pause, look to each other, turn back to camera and say slowly "No". It raised a snigger or two. Their dialogue was slow, glossy and either it was missing altogether or totally unnecessary, there seemed to be no middle ground where the dialogue hit spot on.
However, there were some good scenes, but they were really hard to find unless you viewed them in isolation, and this is what it almost looks like has happened with this movie. The film has been looked at as a series of scenes and not as a complete story.
Nowhere is this seen more than in the main storyline. The characters are infected with the virus that has been killing the animals, the one that was being engineered for them. We're told that it develops in stages to something dramatic, and so that is what we expect. What we get are the characters eating loads together, all throwing up once together, water pouring from their mouths in unconvincing streams, then they all fall asleep, these are the phases which all happen really early in the movie. Then, they all say "Good" together when asked how they are, and that's it. That's the virus done, nothing else happens.
There could have been so much more done with this movie, so much more developed with the virus and it protecting them from all manner of harm. It could have explored a serious change of these characters as it infected and took over them, it could have developed these characters, shown them making decisions and doing things that connect back to their character shown in flashbacks to the interviews.
The ending isn't even confusing, intriguing or thought provoking. It just shows something that happens and that's it, although in the long, drawn out style with the irritating voice over above it. I really struggled with this movie and watched a number of Press members walk out (including one famous TV critic leaving within the first twenty minutes), I stayed, but regretted the lost time.
The story is what really caught me and took me to this movie. The idea that a research scientist has created a virus that actually protects the cells it infects from other infection was an interesting scientific idea. Then that subjects who had the most bizarre disorders sought out the scientist and offered to be his human experiments made me think this could be one very good small movie. Yet the introduction hadn't gone well.
There did seem to be a change of pace as the movie turned to recorded interviews with the four main characters in the movie, the test subjects. Although the acting wasn't superb, there seemed to be a lot of scope for character development throughout the movie, and the recordings were done quite well with a varied mix of characters. However these faded through the movie. They weren't used again after a few brief clips and I did feel that there was a missed opportunity to provide some great character development by reflecting back to them, however it wasn't to be.
The imagery becomes increasingly disconnected from the story, often repeating to represent something that is still happening. This disconnection and repetition is reflected in the annoying and distracting commentary. It began reciting words one after the other. Short, meaningless sentences and reciting none too relevant or interesting scientific ramblings. If there was something to be described, four or five words would be used, it was too long, repetitive, circular, looping,...you're getting the idea.
Now this could have been to reflect the confusion and of the character, slowly becoming caught up in his own thoughts, rambling due to lack of food and water. What it actually did was to cause me to totally switch off to the voice and by the closing stages of the movie I found that I hadn't been listening to some of the ramblings.
A number of times that an event occurs the camera shows all the characters one after the other for their reaction, which seems to be somewhere between confused and thoughtful. There are repeated fades from the same scene to the same scene, for instance a character sleeping fades to black, then fades back in on the character sleeping again. Look, we know the character is asleep, we know time has passed, please move on. Overall there are just too many atmospheric cuts and long, hanging shots to fill time.
The acting was not bad, and the characters were okay, but not exploited and developed. When they were interacting there were some truly cringeworthy moments. For example when one of them asks if they are hungry the camera looks to each of them and returns to a group shot, they pause, look to each other, turn back to camera and say slowly "No". It raised a snigger or two. Their dialogue was slow, glossy and either it was missing altogether or totally unnecessary, there seemed to be no middle ground where the dialogue hit spot on.
However, there were some good scenes, but they were really hard to find unless you viewed them in isolation, and this is what it almost looks like has happened with this movie. The film has been looked at as a series of scenes and not as a complete story.
Nowhere is this seen more than in the main storyline. The characters are infected with the virus that has been killing the animals, the one that was being engineered for them. We're told that it develops in stages to something dramatic, and so that is what we expect. What we get are the characters eating loads together, all throwing up once together, water pouring from their mouths in unconvincing streams, then they all fall asleep, these are the phases which all happen really early in the movie. Then, they all say "Good" together when asked how they are, and that's it. That's the virus done, nothing else happens.
There could have been so much more done with this movie, so much more developed with the virus and it protecting them from all manner of harm. It could have explored a serious change of these characters as it infected and took over them, it could have developed these characters, shown them making decisions and doing things that connect back to their character shown in flashbacks to the interviews.
The ending isn't even confusing, intriguing or thought provoking. It just shows something that happens and that's it, although in the long, drawn out style with the irritating voice over above it. I really struggled with this movie and watched a number of Press members walk out (including one famous TV critic leaving within the first twenty minutes), I stayed, but regretted the lost time.
Imagine the Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky were making 'Stalker' today on DV and had an 'El Mariachi' like budget to do it on. That's what Radiant made me think of. Particularly the way it uses water. Like Tarkovsky, this movie is in love with the use of water in different ways to connect the viewer with a since of reality and nature. The image of filling up a hazmat suit with water for storage in the desert is amazing. I had to laugh when I read one reviewer here complain that the water pouring out of the characters mouths was a bad special effect. It's my favorite moment in the movie. It's clearly supposed to be stylized and not "Realistic". It's like complaining that the violence in Kill Bill is bad because it's not natural. It's very Japanese and it's the thing that makes the climax of the original Japanese 'Ring' so much more exciting that the American version. Because when the girl comes out of the TV she REALLY comes out of the fringing' TV! I've read some positive reviews for this movie and some negative ones and I have to say that if you see Sci-Fi in the description and you're expecting mainstream, X-files like science fiction you've probably got the wrong movie and will be disappointed. But DV is clearly the edge of American cinema now and if you get your kicks from seeing movies pushing the edge with ideas or enjoy the influence of Japanese and Russian filmmakers on American movies then I would recommend this movie.
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $50,000 (estimated)
- Runtime
- 1h 40m(100 min)
- Color
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