The Discovery, a high-concept, sci-fi drama from director Charlie McDowell, is one of the most anticipated movies at this month’s Sundance Film Festival. The movie’s haunting first trailer leaves the plot deliberately vague, but what, at first, seems like a lovely romance between Jason Segel and Rooney Mara’s characters grows considerably more sinister as the clip progresses. (If the music cue doesn’t give it away, then the dude shooting himself in the head might.)
If you want to go in fresh when the movie premieres on Netflix on March 31, and are looking to avoid finding out what the story’s titular discovery is, then stop reading now. Basically, The Discovery is set in a world where the existence of the afterlife is proven, so people around the world begin killing themselves in order to get there. The movie also features what looks to be some equally disturbing and creepy performances from Robert Redford, Jesse Plemons, and Riley Keough. In fact, a movie dealing with this much self-inflicted death is bound to be deeply troubling, no matter what profound truths the central lovebirds discover along the way. McDowell’s first feature was 2014’s The One I Love, another seemingly earthbound romance that took a startling twist 20 minutes in and transformed the movie into something wholly unique. Expect the same from The Discovery.
