I Origins Dvd

I Origins is a 2014 American science fiction romantic drama film written and directed by Mike Cahill. The independent production premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. It is distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, and opened in limited release on July 18, 2014. It won the Best Feature Length Film Award at the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya on October 11, 2014.

Plot

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A Ph.D. student, Ian Gray, is researching the evolution of human eyes with Karen, his first-year lab assistant, and Kenny. He has a particular hostility to superstition, religion and “intelligent design”, which he hopes to discredit by filling in the steps of the evolution of the eye. At a Halloween party he has an encounter with Sofi, who is wearing a black face mask, where only her magnetic hazel-speckled, ash-blue eyes are visible. Fascinated, he photographs her eyes and then up at the warehouse party she later leads him into the washroom to have sex. However, soon after, she abruptly leaves without saying goodbye.

Ian cannot stop thinking about her. One day, synchronicities around the number eleven, amongst others, seem to mysteriously guide him to a billboard displaying what he recognizes to be Sofi’s eyes. Eventually he sees her on a train and approaches her, letting her listen to the music on his earphones. They begin a relationship, although his rationalism often clashes with her fey spirituality. One day they spontaneously agree to marry. They are told they need to wait a day for a license, and as they disappointedly walk out of the registry office, Ian gets a call from Karen at the lab. There has been an exciting breakthrough in their research. She has found a blind worm—Eisenia fetida—with the DNA necessary to develop an eye, just what they had been looking for. Ian takes Sofi to the lab with him, though she is less pleased that he is willing to do so on their supposed “wedding day”. He attempts to appease her by exchanging their wedding rings, to which she is reluctant as its possibly bad luck. He states he does not believe in such things, then places her ring on her finger anyway, whispering that he has loved her forever.

Back at the lab, Sofi is upset by the research they are doing and an uncomfortable Karen leaves. After a short argument, Sofi kisses Ian and Ian knocks over a bottle of formaldehyde, accidentally splashing his eyes. They call Karen, who helps him to the eyewash station and bandages his eyes, and Sofi takes him home. On the way up, the elevator in Sofi’s apartment building stops between floors. Ian tries to hoist Sofi out through the prized-open doors, but she refuses. Frustrated by her childish fears, he rips off his bandages and attempts to climb out himself. As he is pulling Sofi through, the elevator suddenly starts to move again. With blurry eyes, Ian thinks he had pulled her out in time, but it was too late – Sofi’s bottom half being chopped off, she dies instantly in his arms. Ian goes into a deep depression, and Karen continues their research. One night, Karen brings him a meal at his home. He begins to cry, and she comforts him. They begin to kiss.

The film flashes forward seven years. Ian has written a book on the evolution of the eye that he claims further debunks creationism. Ian and Karen are now married, and Karen is pregnant. One evening, Karen finds Ian viewing videos of Sofi on his computer. When she questions him, he says that he was never going to stay with Sofi as she was too childish in her ways, but he never got the closure he needed because of her sudden death. When their baby is born, the hospital takes an iris scan of baby Tobias’ eyes. The results are entered in the database and the program identifies the baby as a certain Paul Edgar Dairy. The nurse re-enters the results, thinking it is a glitch, and the problem disappears.

A few months later, a Dr. Simmons calls, claiming that a test of the baby’s urine may indicate an elevated risk of autism and recommending a further test, involving seemingly random photographs. But Ian and Karen become suspicious during this unconventional test and decide to investigate Doctor Simmons. Ian tracks some pictures from this test to Idaho where he stumbles on the family of Paul Edgar Dairy, who apparently died just before their baby was conceived.

The private company of Ian’s former research partner, Kenny, is the creator of the iris scan database used to store Tobias’ scan, and Kenny reveals that Dr. Simmons is in fact one of only five people with full access to the database. As a test, he helps Ian and Karen run some photos of deceased family members, plus various other people’s eyes through the database to see if there are any other recent matches. They get a hit for Sofi, whose iris scan matches one made in India just three months prior, years after Sofi’s death.

Ian goes to India to find the subject of this scan. There he finds Priya, the head of the community center where the iris scan was made. Priya recognizes Sofi’s eyes as those of a girl she knows, named Salomina, and agrees to help. Ian and Priya begin searching for Salomina, who is an orphan and seems to have disappeared into the crowds of the city. Ian tries putting up a billboard showing Sofi’s eyes and offering a cash reward. He is besieged with calls, but none are credible. Weeks later he comes across a little girl staring at the billboard. It is Salomina. He takes her back to his hotel and contacts Karen over Skype. The two of them conduct a simple test designed to reveal if Salomina might be somehow linked with Sofi’s memories. At first Salomina is uncannily accurate, but in the end her results are within the probable range of random chance. Karen asks him how he feels about this and he says he feels rather foolish. Feeling somewhat disheartened, Ian then leaves the hotel room with Salomina to take her to Priya but when they reach the elevator, the moment the doors open Salomina panics and throws herself into his arms, too frightened to enter. Staring into each other’s eyes with a certain recognition, they then cling to each other, tears streaming down both their faces. He picks her up and takes her down the stairs instead, with Salomina tightly gripping his neck, till they walk from the dark interior and step out into the light. Each now has the closure they needed.

A post-credits scene shows Dr. Simmons scanning the irises of famous and infamous deceased figures to compare with the iris scan database, apparently finding many such matches.

Cast

Michael Pitt as Ian Gray
Brit Marling as Karen
Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as Sofi Elizondo
Steven Yeun as Kenny
Archie Panjabi as Priya Varma
Cara Seymour as Dr. Jane Simmons
Venida Evans as Margaret Dairy
William Mapother as Darryl Mackenzie
Kashish as Salomina