Student Life | Issue 41

ENTERTAINMENT
CO-EDITOR FRAN MULVEY
Coherence (2012)
BY CAMERON LUSTY
RATED
Coherence (2012) is a surreal,
science-fiction thriller film, directed
by James Ward Byrkit, and made
with only £50,000, with no script and
no crew. The story goes that he set
himself a challenge to make a film
with none of the regular conventions
(script, crew, etc.). He used his own
house, choosing science fiction to
make a small setting feel bigger. The
cast were most adept to no script.
The most notable actor is Nicholas
Brendon (Xander in Buffy the
Vampire Slayer).
The film is unique, even for an
independent film, in its construction.
But what makes it spectacular, what
will really hook you - like it hooked
me - is the story. It focuses on a
group of adult friends at a regular,
normal dinner party, filled with
all the classic ingredients: passive
aggressiveness and secrets from the
past being exposed.
The party gets eerie when a
comet passes overhead and then,
mysteriously, there’s a huge power
cut. Every house, for as far as their
eyes can see, is pitch black.
Except for one.
One of the characters is determined
to use the phone to talk to his
meteorologist brother, who asked
him to contact him if anything
strange happened (also eerie!). Two
characters go to the house while
the rest wait. The camera work in
this scene combines shaky, titled
close-ups with jagged movement to
switch between whoever is talking, to
create an eerie, disorientating effect
that you can only assume is what
the character’s feeling. The sound is
heightened, and you can hear their
nervous, bated breath - then a jolt of
fear! - Someone knocks on the door.
They all hesitate, panicking slightly
7 7 •• ENTERTAINMENT MARCH 2019 •• STUDENT LIFE LIFE