8 February 2014 | Arit

9 | Beautiful and poignant film that provokes some thoughts about genealogy

Ian (Michael Pitt) is a young doctor mesmerized by the beauty and mystique of the human eye. Together with his collaborator, Karen (Brit Marling), he spends most of his time in his lab. We know little about their back story other than they are work-obsessed researchers who like to keep it in the close circle of a few scientists.



At a costume party, Ian meets Sofi (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), a model in masquerade with only her eyes exposed. Normally you might not find someone in disguise very charming until you see her face in its entirety. For Ian, however, the intricate details of her eyes are all it takes to fall for her. Her accent, along with her constant need to get her point across in the language and culture that are foreign to hers, works as the catalyst for their romantic relationship.



I Origins takes advantage of Sofi's exotic Argentine-French background, Ian's another coworker of East Asian descent, an Idaho farmer family with African American ancestry, and a story arc in India to lend a sense of universality. The film's story is somewhat predictable, but a bold assumption it makes on human iris patterns helps advance the film steadily and allows for it to resonate with us on a personal level. Regardless how much faith we have in science or fate, this film successfully brings our attention to the complexity of our body which we seldom acknowledge.