‘Coherence’ Offers Master Class in Cinematic Brain Teasers

James Ward Byrkit’s “Coherence” (2013) begins with Em (Emily Foxler) on her cell phone, which suddenly cracks for no apparent reason.

Em arrives at a dinner party with an eclectic group of friends, many of whom are fascinated by reports that a comet is about to pass by. As the evening continues and friendly, casual chat ensues, members of the dinner party come and go, sometimes not returning.

More unsettling is, that despite appearances, the ones who return don’t always seem to be the same ones who left. Someone protests, “We just have to make it through the night.”

Is that really the solution?

While made on a low budget, the filmmaking, acting and cinematography are polished and naturalistic. There are few films shot digitally in the early aughts, even ones with substantial budgets, that look this good.

None of the actors appears as if they’re acting. Everyone in the small ensemble evokes a group of old friends who know each other well.

“Coherence” has built a small cult following over the years, standing out for being a title film buffs carry around. That’s despite it never getting much more beyond a tiny theatrical window and frequently popping up on streaming sites.

This is a truly eerie story about discovering a potential doppelganger, a double that one can either work with or distrust entirely. Byrkit and his actors sustain tension and present a delicious mystery, resulting in one of those rare occasions in a film that gets better every time you see it.

Annnd… day 5, the entire cast and crew of COHERENCE… before it devolved into madness pic.twitter.com/1YTNW9zOUD

— James Ward Byrkit (@JamesWardByrkit) April 15, 2021

Because the actors aren’t giving mannered turns, and the twists come fast, it never seems like a filmed play or a self-indulgent actor’s stunt. In fact, doing some casual research and learning that Byrkit allowed his actors to improvise and find the story as they went along doesn’t seem possible or plausible.

This is such a tight, well-shaped work, that it never comes across as something found in the filming process.

Byrkit made this in five days with a cast of eight actors, and it is currently the only film he’s made (he wrote and directed the 2023 Apple TV+ series “Shatter Belt”). I mean this as a compliment – imagine giving Christopher Nolan complete creative control and very little money to make a sci-fi drama that takes place in one setting, and you’d have this movie.

The actors are so good, in fact, that we sense the change of mood, even at the most subtle level, that could indicate someone is not who they say they are. I guess you could say it’s kind of like “The Thing” (1982) crossed with “My Dinner with Andre” (1981), except that’s a crass summation (plus, “Coherence” has no visual effects like the former and isn’t a patience tester like the latter).

WARNING: Story spoilers featured in this video essay

“Coherence” offers playful verbal references to “Sliding Doors” (1997), Schrodinger’s Cat and it is quite similar to the classic 1961 episode of “The Twilight Zone” titled, “Will the Real Martian Please Stand up?”

With the conversation sometimes leaning toward multiple realities existing at once, Byrkit questions the notion of an additional self, the “other” that may or may not be trustworthy. Perhaps “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022) is the last word on this kind of sci-fi puzzle, though Byrkit got there first – if anything, they would make an ideal double feature.

Byrkit’s film, in addition to being a feature-length puzzle, is also quite funny, as the humor comes easily. Someone reasonably questions whether the events of the dinner party can be explained by a drug-induced hallucination. Someone else makes the announcement that suddenly has multiple meanings: “We can’t trust ourselves.”

My suggestion to figuring out the core mystery is to keep an eye on the glowsticks and who is holding them.

In addition to the aforementioned, Best Picture-winning “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” Byrkit’s film is also favorably comparable to Shane Caruth’s fantastic “Primer” (2004), Mike Cahill’s underestimated “Another Earth” (2011) and Denis Villeneuve’s early, phenomenal “Enemy” (2013).

“Coherence” is inventive with the ideas it presents (especially in the disturbing final stretch) and manages to be clever without seeming pretentious. We are invited to partake in the same game of observing and identifying the possible doubles, on screen and in our lives.

After all, how well do we really know our closest friends, and ourselves? Would you want to meet your double, let alone befriend it? Byrkit is also reflecting on how far good manners go. To put it another way, everyone is polite until we’re stuck on the elevator together.

In addition to being a standout example of low-fi sci-fi, “Coherence” is seriously creepy. It may inspire you to turn down the next dinner party you’re invited to and not regret it.

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