Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: DIVINITY [Fantastic Fest 2023 - Austin, Texas]

The notion of perfection is a lie that has been traded by snake oil peddlers for many years trying to find the context of what will create immortality. "Divinity" takes a stab at the concept of what a big question like that might involve. It has a few key ideas that are quite broad but places them in almost a Tempest like setting bathed in saturated black and white to make its point. However beyond a baseline formulation it really deoesn't push it beyond the concept of what pleasure versus love is in the bigger sense. The reveal in many ways makes sense but the dread that should behind it is not explored as much as it should be. Stephen Dorff, as he has done before, knows how to play men who have a sense of purpose but is derailed by his need to be more. Scott Bakula plays his father Sterling but there is not true representation of what happened and what propelled this man's approach to science. The movie almost solely plays out in a desert mansion oasis bathed in darkness that doesn't necessarily feel very specific beyond wanting to be that San Simeon prison. It is the basis where much of the crux of the basis of the film happens.The initial analog futuristic approach sets up something of an expectation but one scene in the beginning seemingly negates it by returning it to something more baseline when it could have been much more dynamic. Bella Thorne has talent but she also knows to balance it with her sexuality which she has become known for in many ways. However, is sort of wasted and misused here. The latter part of her role is not really given explanation enough to give it reasoning or where it lies in the pantheon of the story...and the introduction is well...cliche.

Two brothers also become involved in the story and they are the plot device that is supposed motivating their specific story, though their background and reason for concern again coming into this situation is unfounded really, beyond some lofty words. They become in a way enraptured in their human form of emotions especially with a certain houseguest. Again though the reasoning for not continuing what they set out to do or why they do it is unclear. There are nightmarish qualities to the imagery in the film but it never quite gets to the point of revelation. Even the final showdown (as much as it tries to be epic) suffers from the medium it is using. It is well storyboarded in certain ways but that sequence very much takes you out even to the last shot. "Divinity" is trying to be inherently metaphorical and inventive but it feels like it is trying too hard to be more than what it might think it is. Writer/Director Eddie Alcazar has the support of Steven Soderbergh who presented this film and one can see what he saw: there is a little bit of Darren Aronoksky's "Pi" and maybe a smidgon of David Lynch's "Eraserhead" (and some of the ideas that connect them both) but this film never quite makes the leap. C+

By Tim Wassberg