If you could change anything about your life, what would it be? Like the many time-loop stories before it, Bernardo Britto’s Omni Loop (2024) explores this question quite literally. Omni Loop poignantly captures life and all its mundanity. Unfortunately, the story is weighed down by its popular time-bending premise.
The science fiction melodrama follows Zoya Lowe (Mary-Louise Parker), a scientist given one week to live. We briefly witness this ever-mundane last week of her life, filled with meaningless conversations and routine actions. Zoya’s family (Carlos Jacott and Hannah Pearl Utt) aren’t sure what to say, but that silence is preferable to those who assure Zoya she’ll pull through. These moments are painfully awkward, but what is life if not pointless small talk and polite smiles?
The film puts you out of your misery by having Zoya reveal she has lived this week countless times before. As someone who typically despises time-loop stories, I was pleasantly surprised the film does not force its main character to go through a big realization that they’re reliving the same day over and over again. It’s as if the film is somewhat aware that the time loop is the least interesting part of the plot and beckons it out of the way to make room for the main conflict in the film– dealing with the enormity of existence.
Zoya is in possession of a magical pill that, when taken on the brink of death, sends her back to the beginning of her last week of life. The lackluster extra days she continuously relives are better than the alternative. The redundancy is torture but dying is an even more difficult pill for Zola to swallow.
Paula (Ayo Edebiri) is a welcome intrusion to Zoya’s life–and our screens–as she interrupts the repetitive cycle and reinvigorates Zoya to break the time loop. Edebiri and Parker have an undeniable chemistry together. The tension is palpable as Parker gazes at Edebiri with a familiar fondness convincing you that they really have lived a whole lifetime together. Unfortunately, it seems the film isn’t sure what to do with Paula. She is occasionally elevated to co-lead as we witness her backstory and shift to Paula’s point of view, only to switch back to Zoya and force Paula back into obscurity.
With Paula’s help, Zoya aims to solve time travel by reconstructing the pills to send her further back in time. She’ll reinvent her life and make different decisions, convinced she can actually do something meaningful and change the world.
However, the repetitive cycle continues and the pair fail again and again. Zoya once again finds her actions meaningless. While it is crucial to understand how Zoya must feel as hope drains out of her, it does not seem necessary for the film to repeat sequences to the extent it does.
Most of the film’s second act is as meaningless as Zoya feels. It becomes excruciatingly boring, so much so that I almost wondered if it was a deliberate choice. Perhaps this was the film’s way of proving how dull life can be and how stuck Zoya must feel.
The more plausible theory is that the film underestimates the audience’s ability to understand the thematic elements it wants us to engage with. Instead, the film wastes time communicating exactly how it wants the audience to feel at every turn.
The film peaks when it pulls away from the time-loop depiction and focuses on the human connections at the heart of the story. In the film’s final act, Zoya abandons her family once again in a final attempt for a cure. The plan fails and as death lurks over her, she listens to the voicemails her family has left. It is as if Zoya is hearing her own obituary as her family cries for her to return to them and bid farewell to their life together.
The regret Zoya once felt for a life she didn’t live now transforms into regret for not appreciating the life she had. We relive the opening scenes in a new light as Zoya begins one final cycle in the time loop. Nothing monumental has changed beyond Zoya’s perspective. The moments are quiet but poignant. As Zoya finds beauty in the mundane and wonder in the ordinary, it is impossible not to feel moved by this moment.
Omni Loop’s examination of life, death, and all the small moments in between may remind viewers of films like After Yang (2021) or A Ghost Story (2017) which both explore existentialism through science-fantasy elements. Unfortunately for Omni Loop, its use of science fiction through the time-loop device requires repeat moments that the film struggles to master. The repetition causes the story to drag and hinder the emotional momentum that flows throughout the film. Nonetheless, if you can ignore the pacing inconsistencies, audiences will be treated with a beautifully composed final act to mull over as tears roll down their cheeks.
If the audience is able to persevere through the dull moments–as one must do in a time-loop– Omni Loop will reward them with a new outlook on existence and encourage them to live life to the fullest.
Review Courtesy of Kamryn Ryan
Feature Image Credit to Magnolia Pictures via SXSW