'I Origins' gives the trope of 'Don't play God' a fresh twist
"Thou shalt not play God" is one of the oldest tropes in drama. 鈥淚聽Origins鈥� gives it a fresh twist. Michael Pitt plays biologist Ian Gray, a聽PhD candidate in eye evolution whose passion is to photograph people鈥檚聽eyes. He hooks up with Sofi (Astrid Berg猫s-Frisbey), a mystery woman聽at a Halloween party wearing black leather and a face mask, and tracks聽her down after she disappears. Each has an obsession: She believes there聽is a God and he is out to prove, through his evolutionary research, that聽none exists.聽
Writer-director Mike Cahill, who can be a bit too fancy with聽the camera, delivers a lot of deep-dish philosophizing with a minimum聽of cant. The film takes a highly emotional turn when Ian travels to India聽in the film鈥檚 climax.
Brit Marling, who starred in and co-wrote Cahill鈥檚聽debut feature, 鈥�Another Earth,鈥� is very good as Ian鈥檚 lab assistant and聽eventual wife, and a young Indian girl named Kashish, a nonactress I聽would guess, is unforgettable. Grade:聽B+ (Rated R for some sexuality/nudity, and language.)
