I Origins 2014 ***

As well as featuring the most dramatic use of an elevator since Damien; Omen II, writer/director Mike Cahill’s science-fiction based drama sports an original idea of some potential.  Ian (Michael Pitt) falls for model Sofi (Astrid Berges Frisbey), but their relationship ends in a violent and unexpected death.  Lab assistant Karen (Brit Marling provides some solace, but Ian’s fascination with eyes as not only the gateway to the soul but a genetic fingerprint that supports notions of re-incarnation, and leads to a fascinating resolution in which Ian’s ideas of science and religion are repeatedly subverted. I Origins plays like a low-fi Twilight Zone episode with intellectual pretensions, and despite occasional gore, is a decidedly adult sci-fi thriller about belief