PROXIMITY
Directed by: Eric Demeusy
Starring: Ryan Masson, Highdee Kuan, Christian Prentice, Shaw Jones, Don Scribner
Isaac is a young scientist working for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Los Angeles. Shortly after discovering a new radio signal, Isaac finds himself being abducted by a UFO. At first obsessed with getting his story out to the public, Isaac meets some like-minded people and tries to get to the bottom of his experience, while a covert government organisation tries to track him down…
Proximity is a movie which will both surprise you and frustrate you. On the one hand, it is full of good special effect and locations, and on the other it is suffering from having too many ideas for one film and not knowing how to present all of them.
The film starts very promisingly as we see a man surrounded by lots of nobs and dials, barking orders over a radio and lots of military-style chatter, intercut with some lumberjacks being abducted by a classic-looking flying saucer.
Then we meet Isaac, a gifted scientist who recently suffered a loss in the family and has been encouraged by his therapist to make a video diary. Isaac takes an oversize video camera on a hiking trip to make a recording, and instead walks into the middle of a UFO sighting, complete with military and men-in-black style agents. Not only that but Isaac films one of the extraterrestrials shortly before being abducted himself.
Upon returning, Isaac initially tries to get people to believe him, uploading a clip from his camera footage onto the internet and getting interest from local tv and media. However he is treated somewhat as a crank (one of the classic moments is when someone he went to college with claims the pair faked the footage together). Instead, Isaac makes contact with Sara, a young woman who also claims to have been abducted and the pair try to find out what is really going on.
The issue I have with the media section of the film is that is doesn't add a whole lot to the story, except emphasize how cynical the general public is towards UFOs and abductions, which is a reality check the viewer just doesn't need. Its also unclear what Isaac's motives are for trying to go public.
The film takes an interesting left turn though when Isaac and Sara are picked up by the aforementioned shady government organization, being led by Agent Graves. Isaac and Sara are given a series of tests which imply that the men-in-black are trying to determine if their abductors have given them any special powers. We know that Isaac has….something (again, not very well communicated), but cannot conjure it up on command…yet.
What is bizarre is that the MIB clearly have obtained some alien technology and developed it for their own means, including laser firing weaponry and fully articulate androids, and it is never actually acknowledged - its not explained by the agents and neither Isaac or Sara seem particularly surprised by it.
The androids are one of many striking visual effects in the film, and the whole movie has very strong production values. This isn't surprising given the director, Eric Demeusy's background as a visual fx artist. The locations are great too, with a large part of the second half of the film taking place in Puerto Rica. However the film's score, and in particular the songs chosen for the soundtrack seem to be working against the mood of each scene they are meant to be enhancing.
THE VERDICT
Proximity does have a lot going for it but at the same time there are elements conspiring to take away its entertainment value. It is certainly one of the better looking alien abducting themed movies I've seen in a while which very strong production values and very well shot. However the whole impetus of the story threatens to stall as Isaac tries to get "the truth" out to the media (at one point we watch and watch as Isaac painstakingly makes copies or his tape and labels each media outlet, all on film). I was a bit startled by its Christian-heavy message at the end but by that point I'd warmed up to the film and its plucky characters.
6 Out of 10 (MikeOutWest)