Overview
Frequencies (aka OXV: THE MANUAL) is being billed as the world's first Scientific-Philosophical romance. Boy meets girl in a not-quite-here, not-quite-now world where one simple discovery has forever changed all human interaction. The film could perhaps best be described as a combination of 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', '(500) Days of Summer' and 'Primer'.
This interesting indie movie is set in a world where it has been discovered that people resonate at individual frequencies. It turns out that a person’s frequency is an absolute determinant of ‘good fortune’; the higher the frequency, the more good luck the individual will experience throughout their life, and the lower their frequency the more bad luck they will experience. Also, the higher a person’s frequency, the less they feel or experience emotions.
The story itself centres around a love story between opposites in this world, and builds up quite nicely. We see how the main characters learn about their frequencies and their consequences in early childhood, and see them experiment with these consequences as they grow older. The movie is also quite consistent that one should not confuse low frequency with low intelligence or lack of charm or charisma, which makes the interactions more interesting and credible.
But as the story progresses and more and more of ‘how frequencies work’ gets exposed, the concepts start to get a bit too ‘grand’ for my liking. The movie is very decent and at its strongest in the smaller interactions with a big idea neatly alternating from being in the background to being front and centre. But as the big ideas start to expand they unfortunately overtake the story for me.
Worth a watch if you enjoy indie sci-fi based on concepts rather than CGI action.
