I am a huge Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead fan. I saw and loved Resolution, The Endless and Spring, and if we were not in a pandemic, I would have been delighted to finally have an opportunity to pay to see one of the films in the theater, Synchronic. For years, I’ve been bemoaning the fact that they were not more famous because they are two of the leading American directors, but be careful what you wish for because while my view of their talent has not cooled, more money definitely means more problems as they can afford a higher budget, which includes higher profile actors. Famous faces does not equal better quality. While visually, the product is even more mesmerizing with more money, Benson and Moorehead’s earlier movies featuring performances with lesser known actors, including the directors, are more emotionally credible.

Synchronic stars Anthony “make daddy a sandwich” Mackie and Jamie Dornan, who wishes that he was best known for A Private War or even Once Upon A Time, but is probably recognized for playing Mr. Grey in the Fifty Shades franchise, which I am fortunately not even slightly tempted to see. They play Steve and Dennis respectively, childhood friends and fellow EMTs with none of the chemistry or charm. They keep getting called to baffling scenes with inexplicable injuries related to a new designer drug with unexpected side effects until disaster strikes closer to home. Will Steve get to the bottom of this mystery in time?

Synchronic is probably my least favorite Benson and Moorehead film because while they will always be better at depicting the concept of time than Christopher Nolan, in comparison to their past work, I figured out the sci fi mystery pretty early, which drained the film of any true narrative tension; however I watch a lot of movies so maybe it is not as obvious as I think it is, and you will be blown away. Their stories are strong because of the sci fi and human elements, but the latter is lacking too. Their movies are usually centered around two close people navigating a rough patch in their relationship, but in this film, the momentum is more conventionally contrived than the psychological dynamic among brothers, friends or lovers.

I never bought that Steve and Dennis were that close. Why didn’t they go to medical school as they originally planned? To me, Dennis’ daughter seemed way too old for college. Synchronic tangentially tries to tackle marriage, aging and death, which normally I would love, but the deliberate pacing and cast did not elevate the timeless themes of human nature in this film. I usually get excited when a black person stars in a movie, but I am not a Mackie fan, and his performance in this movie did nothing to change my mind though I appreciate the humor that he frequently injected in the serious subject matter. If I could raise a single eyebrow, I would for this movie’s audacity at trying to make me believe in the eleventh hour that this EMT also was a physics lover. I would like to add that the dog in the movie agrees with me because he did not like his costar.

Synchronic is the first time that I recall Benson and Moorehead trying to tackle race in one of their movies, specifically the treatment of black people in the US and by setting the film in Louisiana, they briefly can expand that examination from national boundaries to international levels. They definitely get more right than wrong, but they definitely have some blindspots. In the end, I deeply resented the cause of a brief division between the “friends.” By the end of the movie, Steve has reached epic levels of magical negro friendship, which Dennis is aware of and confesses to his wife. I definitely think that Benson and Moorehead are communicating the effect that the innate inequities of race in a white supremacist country has on a friendship while perpetuating it and not necessarily questioning it in the way that they depict Steve. Does Steve really have zero black friends and family? It is possible, but he literally lives for Dennis’ happiness and the levels of self-sacrifice throughout the film would be easier to stomach if I sensed any real warmth between the actors.

Visually Synchronic is stunning, which is not a surprise if you have watched Benson and Moorehead’s work before. Each movie is better than the prior. It does take too long, around fifty-one minutes into a one hour forty-two minute run time, for the film to really hit its stride, and Mackie is better solitarily exploring the mystery of this drug. Comparing and contrasting even the dissolute Steve with the worst consistent aspects of human nature retroactively adds a beauty to the earlier scenes. In one scene where he encounters a large group of people who want to “protect” him, I was unclear who they were, and to me, absent context, it gave me the vibe of false equivalence to soften the blow of universal human nature instead of restricting it to one group.

You should not watch Synchronic if you love animals. I was in a good mood when I started this film. I do believe that if a movie can make you feel something, it has succeeded, but triggering childhood trauma and plunging me into inconsolable tears and sadness was not what I signed up for when I decided to watch this film. Is the dog ok? Did it get lynched? Either way it is sad in exile in an unfriendly place which may not recognize that this dog has known nothing but love and comfort and will now be forced to deal with harsh conditions and people. The worst part is that this story is true for so many animals displaced and separated from its human for a variety of reasons. A lot of people do not think that animals are capable of emotions, but their lives are precious and short. Regardless of whether or not the dog lived a long and happy life, it was not the life that it had lived and wanted. I am absolutely gutted. Congratulations, you successfully emotionally manipulated me, but unlike Spielberg, it totally took me out of the movie. I did not care about the people, but wanted to stay with the dog.

Synchronic shows that Benson and Moorehead are still strong in terms of concept and visuals, but I wish that they had a little less money for casting when they made this film and restricted themselves into examining the scope of the relationship dynamic between two people. Their depiction of a single man and the expansion of his love for his friend to include his friend’s family was ultimately never grounded in an authentic sense of emotion throughout the cast. I wanted the scene where two men commune wordlessly over a fire in the cold to go on forever. Now that felt like a genuine connection.

If you want to watch a Benson and Moorehead film, I would heartily recommend their others before this one. For me, the good did not outweigh the bad, and I regret seeing it because I do not need any more traumatic experiences.