SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Coercion.

SPEAKER_03: 0:00

Coercion? Co cohesion? Coherence. Coherence. Coherence. Of course. I'm not I'm not very coherent. Coherent. No. This is imbibed cinema.

SPEAKER_01: 0:09

Where we become incoherent.

SPEAKER_02: 0:32

Greetings and our salutations, and welcome to Imbibe Cinema. The Imbibe Cinema podcast is brought to you by the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, otherwise known as Bwiff. I'm Jonathan C. Leggett, along with my co-host, Trisha Leggett. And our producer, Michael Nowens. And today we are joined by our special guest, Pete Geither. Woohoo! Woo!

unknown: 0:52

Yay!

SPEAKER_02: 0:53

Redbeard himself is one of our favorite uh festival judges for the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival. In fact, he is our judge chair. Uh, and uh he was around when we screened this uh back in 2014, when it was our blue carpet opening night film. So it was out of competition, wisely so, because it probably would have clean swept. Um but uh what a film it was. In this episode, we are going to be discussing the film Coherence. This is an absolutely amazing film. Uh, and uh we're going to be drinking a cocktail called The Comet.

SPEAKER_03: 1:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 1:28

The uh pictures and uh all that information can be found on the website. In addition to this podcast, we also offer a variety of short and feature-length independent films that you can enjoy for free. Uh but when you become an Imbibe Cinema member, you get access to monthly, limited releases. To learn more and begin your membership, visit imbibesinema.com or download the Imbibe Cinema mobile app available on the App Store and Googles of Play. Mobile. Mobile. Yes, I know. I say all sorts of weird things, especially after my first cocktail is actually already gone.

SPEAKER_04: 2:02

The Googles of Play.

SPEAKER_02: 2:03

The Googles of Play, yes. Yes. Depot of hominess. All right. Um so Pete, welcome to the welcome to the cast. Uh uh, we are so very happy to have you, especially for this particular film. We know it is one of your favorites when we were setting everything up. You mentioned that you you returned to this film uh multiple times since seeing it. What is it that continues to draw you back to it?

SPEAKER_03: 2:27

Yeah, after after I saw it, first of all, I told all my friends that they had to find a way to see it because it it really was such a great, mind-blowing film. And I'm drawn to a lot of the you know, time loop, time travel kinds of things that will really kind of throw you off and and make you try to question reality. And this falls into that in a way. And uh, I found myself every you know two, three years going, I gotta watch that again. So so I would. I've I've probably seen it five or six times, and and I I get into it every single time. I really love the idea of a film that can do so much yet be done on a shoestring uh with a just a great ensemble, uh character-driven, you know, uh, all of that that that really really hit hit home to me.

SPEAKER_02: 3:27

I love the the beautiful thesis statement that is essentially going to be the entire podcast wrapped into what was quite lovely.

SPEAKER_03: 3:38

Uh but but I will say that anybody who hasn't watched it yet really should turn off this podcast and go watch.

SPEAKER_02: 3:45

Yes, go watch it. Go watch it and then fix yourself a comet and then uh come back and listen to uh us wax poetics about it. This comet's pretty good. It was quite delicious. I uh I like the freshness of the grapefruit juice in it.

SPEAKER_03: 3:59

Yes and and just that little touch of ketamine. Right?

SPEAKER_01: 4:04

Just as long as it's just a little like a whisper.

SPEAKER_03: 4:09

I mean, you know, it's just it's a horse tranquilizer.

SPEAKER_02: 4:15

Well, well referenced. Well done. Yes again, for those of you who have not seen the movie, pause. Go see the movie. This we are this is comic gold here, people.

SPEAKER_01: 4:26

And it's yeah, it's it's one of those. I can't honestly can't think of any other movie off the top of my head. That the entire film for me comes down to one line of dialogue. And that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. And it's just over. Oh, which one do you think it is?

SPEAKER_03: 4:45

What if we're the dark version?

SPEAKER_01: 4:47

Oh no, but that's good. That is good. No. Um, it's the last time the comet passed around, and I can't remember if it's Norway or Finland or wherever. But it was like the turn of the century, and the wife, uh, she's telling the story over dinner, and she's like, Well, there's the account that this wife had called the police and said, This man is not my husband the next day after the comet had passed. And the cops come and they're like, No, this is your husband. She goes, No, he's not my husband. I know because I killed my husband yesterday. And that's so creepy. That is so creepy. And for the rest, like, and that just that seed planted right there for the rest, like it just it marinates as everything else starts to unravel, and you're like, and it's a nice little foreshadowing in a way. I really love, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 5:38

Yeah, that when they talk about the fact that it the last time it passed, it was further away. Yes, now it's closer, and now it's closer and thus causing more mayhem and havoc. Uh, and and and I love just how the the the the puzzle box unfolds. So we kind of wanted to talk about mind-blowing films and and and the so to speak portion. But I love that the the fact that they talk about you know Schrdinger's cat and the fact that it's like you know, the cat is either dead or it is alive. There's a point where it's both, it's both there's a point where it's both, and so you immediately, as the story is unfolding, are are are drawn to believe that there's two parallel universes that they're dealing with. Yeah. And it just gets weirder every time. And the fact that they came back to the house the first time and now the the numbers are written in green. The And it's the little changes.

SPEAKER_01: 6:34

Like everybody's clothes are the same for the most part. Yep, nobody's hairstyle is too different or anything like that. Nothing that would be drawing your attention. The glow sticks are a great indicator.

SPEAKER_03: 6:45

Things like the cloth band-aid versus the plastic band-aid.

SPEAKER_02: 6:49

Yep. Slight little choices that you see throughout the entire course of this film.

SPEAKER_01: 6:55

Yeah, the more reality that you see in the vast sea of realities, the more you realize their lives could be much different. And how certain things don't always come to pass. Like there is the the group that never left the house, that never discovered, which we don't realize until the very end.

SPEAKER_03: 7:13

Yes. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 7:14

But maybe they're not the only one. Uh, and then I love the play with the box. The same people in the same room will come up with the same idea, but it'll vary just a little bit. So the ping pong table or ping pong table. Pong pong pong.

SPEAKER_02: 7:28

Really hard to put in a box.

SPEAKER_01: 7:30

Yes. Versus the napkin and the napkin, the coaster.

SPEAKER_03: 7:34

There's a little doll in one of them. Right. Uh there's just all sorts of things.

SPEAKER_01: 7:39

Small small things, but I love this is where I get super dorky. We mentioned Schroeder's Schrdinger's cat. We talk about how everything can be true when the box is closed. Right. And then we go and we see there's so many boxes.

SPEAKER_03: 7:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 7:53

And until it's opened, it could very well be the right house.

SPEAKER_03: 7:57

And when the comet is passing over, you are inside the box.

SPEAKER_01: 8:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_03: 8:03

Yep. With all its possibilities.

SPEAKER_01: 8:06

Yes. I love the layers of it. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_02: 8:09

Endless possibilities. I think the the the one that got me specifically that through this last watch was uh the realization that the uh two characters, Hugh and Amir, Amir uh, who had gone out to you know go investigate, and they actually returned with the box uh from one of the other houses. But it was at that point specifically, exactly, uh uh the fact that you didn't see their glow sticks when they returned. And it wasn't until the conversation started veering that they and you see the moment where like the two of them realize they're not in the same house that they left.

SPEAKER_03: 8:53

They didn't go back to their house, they went back to another house. Yeah, yeah, because coming in the house, there would have been no reason to be holding their clothes ticks, so they had stuck them in the pockets, they thought they were home, everybody thought they were home, everything was great and no problem. But then there were these just little things that were just a little off. And uh eventually they had that meeting in the side room where they showed each other their the red clothes.

SPEAKER_02: 9:25

They're like, Oh, that box isn't even opened, and oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 9:29

And that's this isn't our house, we need to steal everything and leave.

SPEAKER_02: 9:32

I love just the amount of layers that this manages to unpack.

SPEAKER_03: 9:36

My real moment was when M is sitting there with a pad of paper and is realizing that there are four different groups in the house at this moment.

SPEAKER_02: 9:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 9:52

The only ones who never left, uh Lee and Beth, yes, uh, were the only ones that really belonged in the house. That Hugh and Amir had left, they were from a different house. The four that had gone to go check it out on the second time, three of them were in another house because Mike also made a separate trip. So you had four different groups, and she's looking at the numbers and go, yeah, there's only two of these people who actually are supposed to be in this house. And that was mind-blowing right there, right? That that moment when you start to realize, yeah, nobody actually knows each other in this house.

SPEAKER_01: 10:37

Right, and yet nobody is thrown by anyone else. They immediately assume it takes looking into things or seeing something just a little off, like commenting on the vase because we already commented on the vase. And uh it has to be the right person in the room that had heard it before, those kind of things where it's like, okay, so the same kind of things are gonna happen with the same people over the course of the night with very little variation. But then at the same time, there are bigger alternates like Mike's drinking. I love how scary it is. He doesn't trust the other mics, he knows they are bad because he knows that right, and that's scary.

SPEAKER_02: 11:20

Some mics send a note that is a threatening message of blackmail, and some mics burst in and punch other mics.

unknown: 11:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 11:28

And in what in one house there are two mics tied up in chairs, I think. Was it two mics that were tied up in chairs? I think it was, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 11:37

Trisha said the same thing. I thought the one looked like the Kevin. No, I think, but it might have been two mics.

SPEAKER_03: 11:42

I think it was supposed to be both both mics, so yeah. Okay, which is which would make sense because a house would go, Why are there two of you? We're gonna tie you up into a who is the right one.

SPEAKER_02: 11:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 11:54

Uh the probably neither. And one of the things that I was sort of as I'm trying to look at the mechanics of this actual existence under the comet, is that there would be an infinite number of realities, but the bleed over would more likely take you to realities that are very close to your own. So that's why they were all so almost identical in in who they were, in what they did, in what they had done, with very minor differences. Because probably if you went further afield, there was a reality where Amir didn't bring Lori, he brought somebody else. You know, and that that would be further along in in the path, but it would be logical that in this kind of a breach, that it would be the closest realities, uh, where there had been just a minor difference in that uh uh divergence, you know, that makes sense that were that were being seen.

SPEAKER_01: 13:03

Well, and what I remembered of the first viewing was that at the end she's looking of knowing that she doesn't belong anywhere, she's just gonna find a place that she'd want to be. Yeah. Right. And what I remembered was that she was a dancer and that it she her indecision, her hesitation had cost her her own project. She had lost it.

SPEAKER_05: 13:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 13:28

Um, and and this explained over dinner prior to all the shenanigans. And that she was starting to hesitate uh in making decisions with this relationship that she is very invested in. She chose that reality because she is the Prima Ballerina in that reality. And then I watched it this time and I went, no, she chose it because she's happy with him. And it just turned out to be a bonus that she got the reality in which her career is better.

SPEAKER_03: 13:56

I think I think she was also looking for a house that was calm and peaceful. There was a little bit of that because it was the only house that she found where they weren't trying to kill each other. Yeah, they clearly had none of them in that house had ever left the house.

SPEAKER_05: 14:14

Right. Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 14:16

So that was safe. But I think it was also because she saw herself, you know, so to speak, with uh Kevin and in a very loving kind of situation. And at one point, she did over here uh is Catherine Maris gonna be uh become your life, which yeah, you're under study for life, which also shows that she in this reality had not made the poor choices, yeah. Um, but it did uh tend to emphasize that what if we're the um the dark version and it and in many ways they were. And yes, and particularly with her, I mean, early on in the movie, to me, she was the good person. Yep, she is the hero. She was the calm one. Yeah, she was the calm one, she was the smart one figuring things out. She had some rough things that happened with her dance career and everything else. You know, it had been a long story on that. But she was a decent human being. And then you go, oh.

SPEAKER_02: 15:25

That was a choice.

SPEAKER_03: 15:26

Yep, that was that was in fact a choice. I mean, Mike, we we knew was gonna be dark in any uh yes, in any realm.

SPEAKER_01: 15:35

Yeah, but then also what would you do if you realize you don't belong in this reality and you just keep looking for one? At what point do you give up looking for home and you just look for any safe harbor? And what are you willing to do to ensure that you end up with your own life again or a version of it?

SPEAKER_03: 15:55

That's tough to try to kill yourself though.

SPEAKER_01: 15:58

Right, and that's where the real violence is. It's uh against themselves. Like it the only real violence we see, unless I could be wrong. My god. My god mic.

SPEAKER_03: 16:09

M on M.

SPEAKER_01: 16:10

And M is violent, yeah. Also very durable because she keeps coming back.

SPEAKER_02: 16:19

Yeah, she bounces. She's she's the villain in uh just about anything, just keeps coming back.

SPEAKER_03: 16:24

Well, I don't think M really was able to finish the job.

SPEAKER_02: 16:30

No. Probably both morally and just timing.

SPEAKER_03: 16:35

Yeah, it was a combination.

SPEAKER_02: 16:38

I think a lot of it was timing. I'm just gonna stuff you in this shower and finish you l oh, I fainted.

SPEAKER_03: 16:45

And then then you collapse and you go back and wait, she's not there. Right? Yeah, but then you can't take away.

SPEAKER_01: 16:50

Somebody just took a shower, there's no far away from the house because then you'll lose the house. And then neither of you go back. Because it was like, oh, well, you could get her closer to that dark vortex and then go back to the house.

SPEAKER_02: 17:03

No, no, stick her in a car and then roll it. Put it on neutral and roll it through the veil.

SPEAKER_03: 17:08

It it was it was already gone. The car was no the comet broke up.

SPEAKER_01: 17:14

Oh, the comet was already gone.

SPEAKER_03: 17:16

Oh, was it? Because when she came in the house from the car, they went back out and they saw the comet and it was breaking up.

SPEAKER_04: 17:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_03: 17:26

That was the end of the uh veil. That's right. So she was stuck there no matter what at that point.

SPEAKER_02: 17:37

Yeah, the look, the look on her face. Oh, you're calling me. So about last night.

SPEAKER_03: 17:45

Uh uh, I wrote down another line um that I got a kick out of. And of course, Mike was just such a just such a horrible person. If there are a million different realities, I have slept with your wife in all of them.

SPEAKER_02: 18:01

All of them. Oh, I know. Yeah. Not not a good person to say that.

SPEAKER_01: 18:08

And the evidence does back his play. So as far as we know.

SPEAKER_04: 18:13

What a great line.

SPEAKER_02: 18:14

Yeah. This film, especially on a such a small micro uh budget, but also the fact that it was very loosely scripted. I I think that there were certain sentences or or or phrases that they knew they had to somehow pepper into a particular scene, but for the most part, people were given the counteracting uh uh you know directions. One was told you want to, you know, head out, and you want to keep this person here, and you know, let the scene ensue. And and and so, you know, or this door goes to nowhere.

SPEAKER_01: 18:48

It's bad vibes, bad juju here.

SPEAKER_02: 18:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 18:50

Yeah, I don't want to sit next to the door to nowhere. I think that's one of the great ensemble aspects of this film, yes, is that it was pretty much all ad lib dialogue. Uh I mean you you go into it right off the bat and you know that there wasn't a script up front because uh M is played by Emily Baldoni. Ali is played by Laureen, you know, Beth is played by Elizabeth, Hugh is played by Hugo. So you can get the sense that they took a lot of the character names from the actors' names, yes, and just adapted them into a character name that way. So, I mean, that tells you there wasn't a script to begin with, you know. And then you do read about the fact that it was mostly ad-libbed, that they would be given a paragraph of what their motivations were in a particular shoot, and then they just had a dinner party, yep, you know, and they would react to things. And uh I'm sure they were surprised by loud noises and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01: 19:53

And so yeah, um, I also love how like the thing that scares you really is you know fear itself, and that that. That's the big scare. There's no monster. There's no like the darkness, maybe the unknown, maybe. Um each other. Yeah. And I love the way it was cut. I love how it would go black and then come back. And so you're like, okay, we missed a gap of time, or did we jump a house? Like what happened? But it made the viewer a little uncertain. And I I like the way that was put together. I really enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_03: 20:28

Enough little things to make you wonder what was going on. The breaking of the phones. Yeah. Uh the breaking of the glass on the table. Um just various random things that would happen that would make you just sort of it would add a little bit to the tension early on of what's what's going on. There's something and and how intense that first blackout was. It wasn't just a blackout, it was a loud sound blackout. Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 21:06

And yet one house never lost its power or immediately had its backup generator kick on, or within uh an hour, but it just we didn't see it at that time. In fact, actually, the the only thing that I'm now surprised about is that nobody, including Mike, said, I'm going to go over to that next house and take out their energy. Like, because that I mean, let's be honest, that could easily the the whole power outage could have been sabotaged to a degree by somebody, considering the loud noise of it.

SPEAKER_03: 21:43

But all the neighborhood except for one house.

SPEAKER_02: 21:47

Does the neighborhood actually exist? I think it is just that one house separated by the infinite void of two blocks away. Yeah, they they're they're guessing a distance.

SPEAKER_03: 22:01

Yeah, but I think that they are aware that there are other neighbors. Yes. Although they never try to go to any other neighbors.

SPEAKER_02: 22:09

Any of the other neighborhoods, right?

SPEAKER_03: 22:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 22:11

I think it's just that house. I think it's a neighborhood of that house.

SPEAKER_03: 22:14

Well, at that moment after the blackout, I think that is true. I think that their house and all of the alternate universe houses are the only houses in this reality, this set of realities, in this Schrdinger's box. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 22:32

Right. I like the way she describes the dark place in between. Yeah. She calls it going to the middle of a roulette wheel, and then you just don't know where you're going to shoot out.

SPEAKER_05: 22:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_03: 22:41

And and that that fits in with so many alternate reality kinds of stories. And now it is interesting that that they did actually reference another movie within the movie to say that our movie is like this movie. Did you catch that? I missed that. Wow. Sliding Doors.

SPEAKER_01: 23:01

Oh, that's right. Yes. I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_03: 23:05

Yeah. It's the Gwyneth Peltrow movie. Yeah. Uh where she in one reality misses the subway and the other one she catches it and it makes all the difference. It's that one little change that changes the reality all the way through. And they're talking about how in this situation that each one of these realities, because of the Schrdinger's box thing, could have been just one slightly different decision that then took them in a new direction. It's a very interesting film. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 23:40

I don't know if I've actually seen that one, to be perfectly honest.

SPEAKER_01: 23:43

It's kind of like a butterfly effect for your own life.

SPEAKER_03: 23:46

Yeah, yeah. There's a little bit of that. For me, I I think of uh movies like it's not anywhere near the same, but it's the same kind of mind-blowing thing. Uh Predestination is one that I think of. Which is which is a film. I oh I love that.

SPEAKER_04: 24:03

It is I've heard only good things.

SPEAKER_03: 24:05

Yeah, it is, it is so good. Uh that and that's Ethan Hawk, right? Yes, yes. It's an incredibly good uh time travel art film that really makes you think and takes you directions that you aren't aware of and is grounded in character and story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:26

All things I love. I was about to say, Oh my goodness. Yes, all the buttons.

SPEAKER_03: 24:30

Very, very much, very much.

SPEAKER_02: 24:33

We're gonna take a few moments to fill our glasses and get ready to imbibe more.

SPEAKER_03: 24:37

I am doing that right now.

SPEAKER_01: 24:39

Oh how'd you manage to fill another glass? He has them lined up. That's a smart man. I didn't know we'd have a break, so I wanted to chay.

SPEAKER_02: 24:51

The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival exhibits short and feature-length motion pictures that utilize story elements in a new and exciting way. Our official selections are a carefully assembled blend of imaginative, sophisticated, and full-bodied stories. This is what our name represents. With audiences expect to experience character-driven, independent cinema that is fueled by the filmmakers' passion for the art of visual storytelling. Filmmakers can expect an intimate festival experience where their personal story is valued as much as the one projected on the big screen.

SPEAKER_01: 25:48

He said it's like it's the coolest thing in his mind. And he goes, I wonder why nobody made a movie about it. And then he goes, But oh wait, nope, that's because nobody understands.

SPEAKER_04: 25:58

And I've read The Definition of Imaginary Time by Stephen Hawking, and I don't understand what it means.

SPEAKER_03: 26:05

And I I think that's one of the cool things about all of this is that it's something that we are still trying to grasp.

SPEAKER_04: 26:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 26:15

Which is why all of these time travel films, I think, connect. Is it's I mean, how can you understand how time works?

SPEAKER_05: 26:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 26:27

I mean, even for those of us who aren't dealing with time travel, how do you how do you deal with time and how it flows?

SPEAKER_01: 26:34

Right. Um, I one of the things I love is how time affects you differently depending on the point in life you are in. Like when you're a kid, the summer lasts for years, a day lasts forever. And when you're you know you're waiting for the bell to ring, and oh my god, it will never come. Friday will never come. And as an adult, you blink and it's January. And what happened last year?

SPEAKER_03: 26:54

And then when you're told that if you're in orbit, time is actually different. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 27:01

Oh, like interstellar and all that that the idea of gra how gravity impacts time, how your feet age slower than your head.

SPEAKER_03: 27:10

I love interstellar. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:12

That is a great that concept is so cool.

SPEAKER_03: 27:17

Um of course that has both time travel and paradox.

SPEAKER_04: 27:20

So you gotta throw it all in. With the goal of interstellar It's gotta be at least theoretical. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:27

Right. The framework has to have like a basis basis in science.

SPEAKER_02: 27:32

In fact, apparently no.

SPEAKER_03: 27:33

That's where good science fiction always bases. You know, Isaac Asimov was a scientist who wrote science fiction. So his fiction had a basis in science. It's like, okay, let's take this one thing and posit it, but then everything else has to work within the scientific framework that we know.

SPEAKER_02: 27:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 27:55

That we know but one thing that we don't know, and we'll say that it goes this way.

unknown: 28:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 28:02

And then we could we can write a story or a movie based on that.

SPEAKER_02: 28:05

I would love to if, you know, okay.

SPEAKER_01: 28:07

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 28:08

Or not.

SPEAKER_01: 28:09

No. I love I love light year. Here we have a we have a Disney movie about time dilation and and and the theory of relativity. That was brilliant. And I love showing it to my kids and being like, hey guys, let's talk about time dilation afterwards.

SPEAKER_03: 28:23

Did we lose Jonathan? Oh, there he is. Yeah, we lost him.

SPEAKER_02: 28:26

I'm I'm just laughing so hard right now. Yep, but this is my marriage.

SPEAKER_01: 28:31

You need to get a mister and then just spritz me every day.

SPEAKER_02: 28:35

This is this is the other reason why I love this podcast. I guess one of the questions that I have for the the group uh is whether you believe that the other groups, the other uh parallel dimensions essentially that are that are happening, are they happening at the exact same time? That's an important thing. Is there a delay or uh you know, like is somebody ahead of because there's points where it just seems like certain groups are either behind or ahead of uh the group that that we're dealing with.

SPEAKER_03: 29:08

A combination, because I think in some cases decisions happen later. Yes, because there are differences, but I also believe that there is actually a different time sense happening between the various realities. Okay, yeah, that the effect of the comet did not hit them all simultaneously.

SPEAKER_02: 29:36

Oh, okay, right, because the comet is a moving yes, some are further into their evening or some are shorter into their evening than the only thing that makes sense for the other house to be that far along that they would already have a box.

SPEAKER_03: 29:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 29:54

Right. But then also you how much time is lost when you go to that house and back, like a mic says, I've been gone five minutes, and it's like, no, you've been gone 45 minutes or the other way around.

SPEAKER_03: 30:05

Time is also a casualty, yeah. Which is so cool.

SPEAKER_02: 30:10

Yeah, there's uh like that was the one that kept getting me is the fact that they keep seeing people outside or you know, people breaking into uh the car. All of this is happening, and and all of these foreshadowed uh as you know, object uh like things that Mike would do. Mike is gonna go, you know, drop this note off. Mike is gonna go beat up another mic. Like all these are things that like he posits throughout the course of the evening, and then not they start beat up another mic, but kill yes, yeah, yeah. Mike is Mike is pretty dark.

SPEAKER_01: 30:43

Mike has some yeah, issues.

SPEAKER_02: 30:46

Sorry.

SPEAKER_01: 30:46

You are different people in the course of your life. Throughout time, you are different versions of yourself, right?

SPEAKER_02: 30:52

Watching certain movies, listening to certain songs, you react differently to them because of where you are.

SPEAKER_01: 30:58

Right. And I think part of that is showcased in this film where you see how um there are different versions of them. There are especially the I think the most dramatic would be M, because there's a reality in which she obviously doesn't hesitate that she knows what she's doing. She seems very happy. But then there are people who, you know, like Mike, where it's just seems like it's a it's a it's a buffet. He does seem and yet he has a wonderful, very understanding wife who's just like, I love you. That's great. She got and she got that wonderful plant at the thrift store. There'll be this point where it's like, oh my god, this like we've realized that all this is happening and it's so big and it's so crazy, and it's so let's all have a drink. Like our minds are just blown by how scary the world has become. We should probably hit the bar.

SPEAKER_03: 31:52

Yeah, yeah. I can care. Just don't put ketamine in my food. Yeah, I I I just again right there.

SPEAKER_02: 32:01

Yeah, when they they're all accusing her of drugging them all.

SPEAKER_03: 32:05

Yeah. Which is the only thing that makes sense at that point.

SPEAKER_02: 32:09

At that point, yes.

SPEAKER_03: 32:10

At that point, the notion that they are all on some kind of hallucinogen is better than what is actually happening.

SPEAKER_02: 32:20

Yes. Right. And and somebody having to sobriety say that like the the the chances of a group hallucination that like all of us would be on the exact same page.

SPEAKER_03: 32:32

But they'd rather have that be the reality than what is the reality. Yeah. How do you accept an invitation to a group dinner when you used to be the girlfriend of one of the people who was there who was with somebody else?

SPEAKER_01: 32:48

And yet we've been to that dinner party.

SPEAKER_02: 32:54

A number of times.

SPEAKER_01: 32:55

It's an interesting, it's an interesting experience. But also, like, yeah, it's funny that you say how do you expect that because we just we just did invitation, the invitation, which is all about how do you accept an invitation with your ex who's with somebody else now to a dinner party.

SPEAKER_03: 33:14

No, I have not. It okay.

SPEAKER_02: 33:16

I I especially considering coherence, because we actually mentioned coherence during the invitation. Because it reminded us there is a there is a certain aspect of it that we were like, oh, check that out now. Yeah. So the invitation, highly recommend. It's also on the podcast. I know we we we briefly discussed uh the the ending uh of the film, but uh I know that that was one that like I did not recall.

SPEAKER_03: 33:40

She picks the house, she picks the house she wants to be part of because she sees how beautiful it is compared to all of the others that she checks. I mean, it's that moment when she just walks out of her house that she now realizes isn't hers. It is not hers, yes, and decides I'm just gonna wander until I find a house that I want to be in, because there's no way that I can ever find my way back to my original house. Correct.

SPEAKER_05: 34:10

Right. So and then just look at everyone.

SPEAKER_02: 34:11

And she would look in every window, yeah, and she would say, Oh, that's horrible. And and one of the I guess the questions, because you know, for the most part, she and Kevin do remain together until the point where she goes off to her car. That is the first time that they have deviated from their their car.

SPEAKER_01: 34:33

And she runs into a different Kevin.

SPEAKER_02: 34:35

She runs into a different Kevin, yes.

SPEAKER_03: 34:37

And then they both realize, oh, you're not, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 34:41

And so my question, at least when it, you know, it comes to her rejoining the house that that you know she's with, was that the original Kevin that she was with that she does end up leaving? Or it was that it was you feel that it was?

SPEAKER_03: 34:57

It was absolutely she and Kevin had not separated through the veil.

SPEAKER_02: 35:04

And Lori, though.

SPEAKER_03: 35:05

Right. Yes. Uh those three had been together the entire time. But remember that the Kevin that she was with had said, if you don't say yes, it becomes no. When he had to come up with a story, he came up with Lori's story. He came up with a Lori story.

unknown: 35:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 35:29

Okay, and that's not good in a relationship. That that that as Kevin is coming up with a story, he doesn't have a story with M.

SPEAKER_02: 35:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 35:43

That says they don't really have it there. And so that's that combined with knowing that her house isn't her house, that's where she finally decides, I'm just gonna walk out of this house and I'm gonna find someplace else.

SPEAKER_00: 36:00

Right.

SPEAKER_03: 36:00

Yeah at that moment when she just walks out the door, where are you going, Em? And she just walks out. She walked out the door without her coat on, without her shawl, and decided I don't want to have any part of this. I'm gonna go find um a new reality for me. Yeah, craving.

SPEAKER_01: 36:22

I like where it ends. I like I think that ending um is enough for me. I don't want to know what happens after that. Correct.

SPEAKER_03: 36:31

I mean, there's a lot of a lot you can speculate in terms of what happens after that call.

SPEAKER_05: 36:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 36:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 36:39

But it is it does to the wife. It ties back to the wife who's like, no, this can't be my husband. I killed my husband. Yesterday.

SPEAKER_00: 36:50

Yeah. That has to be so awful. Like it's bad. Penny keeps turning back up.

SPEAKER_03: 36:56

I just I just feel for the reality when the the comet breaks up and they've got the two mics tied up in a chair.

SPEAKER_01: 37:04

Right. Yeah, but you end up with more mics than you left. That's a lot.

SPEAKER_02: 37:09

Too many mics. Hashtag too many mics.

SPEAKER_03: 37:13

Too many mics.

SPEAKER_01: 37:15

Well, and the realities were the versions of them just disappeared because they went to a different reality.

SPEAKER_02: 37:20

Yeah, right. Absolutely. Right. Hashtag one less mic. Rapture. Hashtag rapture. Rapture of mice. At least somebody finally got raptured. Oh, too soon.

SPEAKER_03: 37:34

This is a really good drink. I didn't think I was gonna like it, and uh it turns out I do. It's very tasty.

SPEAKER_02: 37:41

Well, we greatly appreciate all of our listeners for choosing this podcast, supporting Independent Films and the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival. I'm Jonathan Sealeg and thanks again for imbibing with us. Cheers.