Bokeh is a 2017 science fiction drama about a couple who travel to Iceland for a romantic getaway, only to wake one morning to discover everyone on the planet has disappeared.
Today’s Netflix Pick is a disturbing piece of sci-fi that’s a real head-scratcher, a film that is not so easy to understand but is nonetheless a great cinema experience if for anything the sheer ballsy approach. Starring Maika Monroe and Matt O’Leary, this is a twist bit surreal drama that is for those looking to challenge themselves in searching for answers in all that is happening, which not in any way even remotely stop you from watching. It’s Bokeh and it’s what you’re watching tonight.
THE STORY: While enjoying the scenic beauty of the Icelandic seaside, Americans Jenai (Monroe) and Riley (O’Leary) take tours and pictures of the sites, Riley one who rejects modern photography for old fashioned film. The two are truly enraptured by the experience and arrive back at their hotel exhausted but happy. Before sleeping, Jenai witnesses an unusual aurora borealis event and then, in the morning, the two discover that the city is empty, the people seemingly vanished. Exploring, they find it is everywhere, cars stopped in drive on the streets, the internet down, television stations no longer broadcasting, and no one, anywhere in the world … here. They are entirely alone. And while it is curious and frightening at first, they come to accept and then struggle to understand what has happened.
WHY YOU NEED TO WATCH: Co-written and co-directed by Geoffrey Orthwein and Andrew Sullivan, Bokeh is an uneasy film that features a lot of time with the two actors simply walking and talking, trying to figure out what’s happened to them, and honestly, while some of it pads the runtime, it’s pretty compelling. There is a palpable sense of hopelessness and it’s impossible not to ask yourself what you would do in the same situation. Conflicts arise as the two share different visions around their isolated future and the film does a great job in building suspense around that. This all leads to an unnerving third act and a wonderfully curious and ambiguous end that should have you putting your thinking caps on. A real treat for fans of experimental film, this is streaming on Netflix right now. Read our full review here.