Cosmic Dawn – Movie Review
98 Minutes, Not Rated
Written and Directed by Jefferson Moneo
Synopsis:
After witnessing an alien abduction as a child (and subsequently being told she’s crazy for most of her life) Aurora, now a young woman, joins the UFO cult The Cosmic Dawn after discovering a book written by the group’s leader, Elyse. Aurora’s time at the cult’s remote island compound is marked by miraculous revelations, consciousness expanding flowers, and a burgeoning friendship with Tom, the resident cook. When a fellow cult member starts to display increasingly bizarre behavior, Aurora begins to question Elyse’s sanity (and her own) and starts looking for a way out.
Years later, after the dissolution of the cult, Aurora has moved on with her life. She leads a quiet and seemingly normal life. But when Elyse resurfaces in a mysterious video, Aurora is forced to confront her past. Together with Tom, she pursues the ultimate truth about The Cosmic Dawn. Does Elyse really have access to another dimension? Or do her prophesies truly point to mass suicide amongst the surviving cult members?
Cosmic Dawn is one of those rare indie sci-fi films that doesn’t overplay its hand. We get an extraterrestrial encounter to start the film (sans an actual alien–it’s lights in the sky), then a lot of UFO survivor interplay for the vast majority of the remaining runtime.
Perfect.
Have a good idea. Write a good script. Get some competent actors. Don’t overplay your hand.
Perfect, again.
The cast here admirably pulls of the otherwise-predictable “UFO-cult” tropes well. Our cult leader is personable, but not creepily so.
She’s clearly odd, but again, not creepily so.
The system they use is simple to follow (as all cults should be), so complexity isn’t a handicap to either the performers or the audience.
Nice.
Low-threat settings, not elaborate set-pieces, keep everything clean and easy to handle.
This is just one of those films that knows what it wants to be and doesn’t do more than it needs to in order to reach its conclusion.
And, speaking of that conclusion…
…I have thoughts, though your mileage may vary.
Check out Cosmic Dawn.
Cosmic Dawn is in select theaters and available On Demand now.
Cosmic Dawn stars Camille Rowe, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Antonia Zegers, Joshua Burge, and Phil Granger.
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