OXV: The Manual

If it is true that the position of sub atomic particles can be accurately predicted (and it seems to be), and if it is true that we are made of atoms (and we are) then is stands to reason that we can be predicted as well. And if that is true, then all history - into the future - is waiting for us already. This is one part of the movie. But before that, there is another great science fiction story. And true to the good science fiction that it is, it takes a real observable "fact" of our lives (in this case that some people seem to be luckier in most aspects of life than others, being at the right place at the right time etc) and builds it out into a logical conclusion, a little bit beyond "the ordinary" that life usually gives us. And it is well told. The movie starts off a bit slow, but it is used to settle the premise of the story in one's mind, so bear with it. It soon tuns into an intelligent movie that leaves one well satisfied. If you like science fiction (not the bang whiz special effects sort, but the sort rooted in ideas and good story telling)watch this one.

I was skeptical about the ratings on IMDb but I decided to see this because I was looking for something different. I love the way it was told in parts, and how they all fit together. The movie was very smart and the actors and actresses all did an amazing job.

It kind of reminds me of the SciFi show Eureka, but with a more darker twist; I liked it. They did a good job with the music and the way they used the sound effects. Very clever camera work when viewing the situation from a certain persons perspective, bland colors vs. good saturation.

The movie had a slow build but the wait and the wonder was completely worth it in the end and it kept me thoroughly intrigued throughout. Great flick, I recommend it.. just bring your thinking caps, this one is for talking about.

This truly could have been an amazing film deserving of much more than a tepid-warm 7/10.

At first you get the feeling that you're going to watch a love story unravel... but this slowly shifts between romance, science fiction and thriller at points. I barely noticed the transition myself... much in the way that District 9 morphs from a documentary into a science fiction tale seamlessly. They balanced each with precision so you don't know quite what you're watching at any given moment.

This film tries to convey many different concepts and fringe concepts ranging from physics to philosophy... but does not appropriate them convincingly or with clarity. I fully understood what it was trying to do and say... but it had tried to make the web of intrigue too intricate. It had many holes and unexplained loose ends which towards the middle made it unbelievable and pretentious. You know what they say - the more complex something is... the more chance there is of something going wrong. That applies with anything from technology to relationships (or storytelling in this case).

The merit of this film mainly lies in it's simpler plot points, the acting and direction.

If you're one of those people who doesn't believe that even fiction has to be believable (to some extent) to be enjoyable or you simply just don't understand what the concept of OXV is... then this is your film.

A very original idea that kept me thinking throughout the movie. The movie reminded me of Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek director of The Lobster and Dogtooth, very dystopian. A very well made low budget sci-fi that managed to hit far above it's weight. A big thumbs up.

It has some interesting ideas, but their delivery lacks cohesion and step-by-step development, which in my view loses exactly the viewer it's meant to attract - the thinking, curious type. This is what we read in Wikipedia: "Zak discovers with Theo that sound waves, when combined with gibberish two-syllable words, are able to temporarily raise one's frequency. They create a cell phone device which, based on the environment, is able to determine which words can raise one's frequency." This is not what we see on the screen. We can just about figure out that the combination of sound waves and meaningless words can cause a fluctuation (we're still left to guess that the fluctuation means Zak's frequency is raised), but the creation of the cell phone device is left completely outside the narrative. We are expected to do the guess work every step of the way, but there's simply not enough material to arrive at determinant conclusions. And this is coming from a director who decided to resurrect the idea of scientific determinism, which had been buried at the turn of the 20th century. It totally makes sense that every human being should have a frequency, since every particle is also a wave (in itself not a deterministic concept), but the question what to make of it has not been answered with this effort.