When a movie has lead performances from Oscar nominated and reliably talented actors such as Maria Bakalova and David Strathairn and has a fascinating and theoretically relatable premise, but still manages to be a one-note, emotionless snoozefest, you have “O Horizon” (2025), writer and director Madeleine Rotzler’s second scripted feature. Even without seeing her documentaries or her first feature, she should stick to whatever her day job is because this film was dead on arrival. A thirty-year-old neuroscientist, Abigail Albright, nicknamed Abby (Bakalova), is understandably stuck in a funk after the death of her father (Strathairn). She decides to use a new service that downloads all available information about her father then creates a cyber version of him that she can call. Is this app the key to Abby living again or another crutch that stands in the way of it? Skip this movie and watch “Silent Friend” (2025) and “Daniela Forever” (2025) as a double feature. Rotzler contributes to my assertion that Americans make the worst movies about grief and death. Bah! I was so excited for this film too.
A peak behind the curtain about my review process: I read the press release and solicitation email but try not to expose myself to any other media about the film. If I’m on the fence about choosing the film, then I watch the trailer. I did not need to watch the trailer for “O Horizon” before watching the movie. Sci-fi, death, grief, a second chance for a connection to a dead person, but it is not the person are like catnip. Also, Bakalova is an underrated actor and is often the best supporting actor in the films that she appears in: “Electra” (2024), “The Apprentice” (2024), and “Fairyland” (2025). A chance to see Bakalova in the lead is a no brainer, but clearly Rotzler’s direction was notable for likely being the first director to confuse grief with drain everything innately interesting about your character as a disastrous instruction that the actors had no choice but to carry out. Everyone has bills.
As her proud papa describes her, Abby is young, accomplished and bisexual. She is a neurologist on the brink of a big breakthrough with Dorey (Kate and Alley), an adorable capuchin monkey stuck inside the laboratory with a noninvasive cap that has sensors attached to her head while they map her brain activity and plan to download new experiences directly into her mind. Abby’s ex, Evan (Maggie Grace), works with her and tries to reconnect, but Abby is stuck in her grief. Even her mother (the Paulina Porizkova) and brother (Nicholas Podany) are ready to move on and refuse Abby’s request for the driest acknowledgment that their onscreen gathering is the first one since their father’s death. So far, Rotzler sets up an intriguing premise: Abby is as emotionally stunted as her family and is brave for tackling her grief head on thus breaking the social norms of her world, but is a simulacrum the right way to do it?
Abby’s journey is shallow, two dimensional and emotionally superficial. Instead of feeling the emotion so Abby can pass through it and emerge through the other side, everything is intellectualized, which is completely hypocritical of me to critique. The characters seem to exist to read what Rotzler mistakenly believes is profound dialogue but feels academic and bloodless. The whole affair feels muted, which is a stark contrast to how visually vivid, lush and vibrant Rotzler’s impressionistic, Matisse meets James Turrell-esque interpretation of New York and all of Abby’s homes are. Everything is so spacious, including the unobstructed floor to ceiling windows and effortlessly verdant surroundings. Dad was a sculptor, and his darling daughter is a glorified student. How is this their world? Realism does not know Rotzler on any level, which would be fine if the fantasy felt alive.
When Abby and her dad speak, it is Hallmark levels of connection, but Bakalova and Strathairn are so committed that movie goers may question why they are not moved. This pair is not phoning it in, but your eyes will remain dry though your eyelids may droop uncontrollably as you fight sleep. It seems profoundly sad to discover after watching “O Horizon,” that Rotzler’s father’s death inspired this story, yet that emotion is never unearthed and conveyed within the story. Perhaps the real story is how even with the best efforts to escape the family’s desire to remain above emotion, there is not a real escape, and how do you find a life when all you have been groomed for is a numb existence.
Instead Rotzler tries to use science and simulacrum as a metaphor for loss, but it does not work and remains a concept, not felt on a bone deep level. Abby’s boss, Dr. Sandra Williams (Alysia Reiner), only appears on television during a CNN interview then a brief appearance in the lab to deliver a brief message of encouragement, but when Abby has an emotional breakthrough, she appears in the office in person. Abby has no friends except for the conversational, upbeat tone of her version of Siri. Also, her experiment is failing because once Dorey realizes that an experience is not real, she becomes furious and violent towards Abby. “O Horizon” also uses botany as a metaphor for how death and loss still makes life possible in a couple of scenes: a home video when her father describes how apple trees continue growing even when the branch lands on the ground and a cameo explains the title at the 1 hour 17-minute mark.
What makes “O Horizon” fall flat? Too late in the film, a flashback in the form of a dream explains why Evan is no longer a viable partner. It shifts the entire emotional course of Abby’s psychological profile. She is not a workaholic using her career to avoid personal connection. She is valid in rejecting a romantic partner incapable of wading into the deep end. Setting aside the actual statistics about the health and success of relationships based on different configurations of sexual orientation, Evan deserves the cold shoulder. Rotzler pulls a “Kissing Jessica Stein” (2001) and uses heterosexuality as the elixir of life, which would be fine if the relationship did not feel as if Abby’s other half, the thirty-five-year-old aspiring social worker, Douglas (Avi Nash), did not feel like a NPC or emote less than Abby’s Siri, which may not be Nash’s fault since literal potential Academy Award winners get drained of their life and magnetism. Rotzler also does not read the room, i.e. prevailing cinematic norms, and decides that Abby’s journey to life includes letting a capuchin monkey free roam! After attacking her! Nothing happens, but it is so spectacularly distracting that it is impossible to focus on anything else until the cameo appears and completely breaks any suspension of disbelief. David E. Kelley called, and he wants his “Ally McBeal” vibes back. If I had tomatoes, my desktop would be in danger.
Sometimes it feels as if the people who make the trailers should make the movies. The trailer for “O Horizon” strikes an entirely different tone that balances lighthearted comedy and grief while emphasizing the sci-fi aspect without seeming monotonous or too heavy-handed. There is a good movie in the footage, but Rotzler, even with the aid of editor Pablo Barbieri Carrera, could not excavate and package it for the rest of the audience to enjoy. Rotzler needs more time to get in touch with her emotions and understand what makes a good story before she decides to make another movie otherwise it will just be a waste of money, time and resources.
It was not until after I watched the movie that I discovered where the money and resources came from. Until Rotzler is ready to embrace the complete truth of her personal experiences in the public, which she is not obligated to do, there is no point in making a movie. Movies are part art and part business, but art is all ruthless commitment to unearthing authentic emotion from the rawness and pain of your experience. Rotzler may come from a long line of successful businesspeople, but collecting art is not the same as being an artist. Rotzler has an eye but needs to learn how to be spiritually naked and unashamed. Go intern with Spanish filmmakers or do not make another film until you can stop being coy about your life!
