Independent filmmaking doesn’t have to be small-scale, or low in ambition. Just look at the work of directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead – a duo whose high-concept genre fare has earned them a growing reputation as some of the most interesting filmmakers around. And after the break-out of 2017’s time-looping cult hit The Endless, they’re back with Synchronic – another mind-blowing odyssey that brings big ideas to the forefront. The film stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan as cops on the trail of a time-altering drug sweeping the streets of New Orleans, sending Mackie’s character down a decidedly non-linear rabbit hole.
“Apparently, physicists are pretty well decided that time is not linear in any particular way,” Moorhead tells Empire in the newWandaVisionissue, on sale Thursday 26 November. “It’s just that that’s how we perceive it. Justin threw this idea at me: if time is not linear, what if there were a way to actually see it that way? Now, this is our pop understanding of it. Of course, we are mere indie filmmakers. But we found that interesting. And also absolutely terrifying.” Cue some unsettling visuals as past meets present. “The word is definitely ‘trippy’,” says Moorhead. “But our visual-effects artists were able to design the effects [in a way that’s] very organic. The past should be the most awful tactical sensation. One of our notes to our costume designer was: ‘More dirt!’
Read Empire’s full story, speaking to Moorhead and Benson, in the January 2021 issue – coming to shelves this Thursday, and available to order online here. Synchronic comes to UK cinemas and digital download on 29 January.