Twin brothers Matt and Kevin McManus have been making movies with their older sister, Michaela McManus, since their early teens. Now a pair of professional filmmakers, the McManus brothers have continued to cast their sister in their projects, with Michaela starring as the lead in their newest, and perhaps best, offering.
Redux Redux stars Michaela McManus as Irene Kelly, a mother who travels to parallel dimension after parallel dimension in search of a universe in which her daughter, Anna, has not been killed by a serial killer. Each trip proves futile, however, and in place of reconnecting with her daughter, Irene repeatedly acts out vengeance on the killer who took her life.
The movie slips us into this concept gradually, opening with the shot featured prominently on the poster of Irene burning alive her daughter’s killer, Neville (Jeremy Holm), while tied to a chair. We then cut to the two entangled in a confrontation that ends with Irene shooting Neville dead before cutting to a coffee shop where Irene watches as Neville works in the kitchen, then follows him home to start the process anew.
A deceptively simple but effective shot helps to illuminate the multiversal aspect of the film, as we return multiple times to the same shot of coffee being poured for Irene, with the color of the coffee cup changing each time.
We also see things go awry, and Irene reveals a whole system of contingencies that suggests we aren’t witnessing her first—nor her second or third—rodeo. The scenes work effortlessly together to suggest Irene has done this dance hundreds, if not thousands, of times before.
The first real hiccup in the plan that we see leads us to the first shot of the device that facilitates Irene’s ability to cross from universe to universe. The McManus brothers told ScreenAge Wasteland that they grew up with sci-fi movies of the ’80s, which inspired them to create a device that “looks like it has some miles on it,” and the effect is greatly achieved for the movie’s modest budget. The McManus brothers smartly waste no time bothering to explain the mechanics of multiversal travel, which would not serve the story’s simple core and would likely introduce any number of potholes and contradictions.
It is not until 20 minutes into this 107-minute film that we hit any real exposition, which is only slightly clunky as Irene opens up to Jonathan (Jim Cummings), her recurring one-night stand across universes, about her adventures.
The film develops when Irene experiences something she has not encountered before: a girl kidnapped by Neville. This girl, Mia (Stella Marcus), suddenly turns the movie into a two-hander as Irene reluctantly allows Mia to tag along on her quest, as Mia gives her little choice.
Casting the role of a 15-year-old girl in a small indie film was a sink-or-swim decision for this movie, and the McManus brothers struck gold with the casting of Marcus. The brothers told SAW that it was clear from the audition that Marcus was the right fit, and said “a switch flipped” on set when they told Marcus she could have fun with the role.
Although there are times when you can feel that it is Marcus’ feature film debut, it is greatly outweighed by a spark that Marcus provides that feels like a star in the making. The tension between Irene and Marcus gives new direction to the film, which takes one particularly wacky detour on its course toward the characters confronting their need for vengeance and how to move forward.
Redux Redux is not just a great new entry into the lo-fi sci-fi genre–think Coherence, Primer, Time Lapse, etc.—it is also one of the best movies I’ve seen this year and a testament to what is possible within genre storytelling when the focus is kept on compelling characters and their stories.
The film is the first to launch from the McManus brothers’ new Mothership Motion Pictures, and the brothers promise that if you enjoy Redux Redux, there are plenty more stories to come from the studio that will scratch that same itch.
Redux Redux is being distributed by Saban Films and XYZ Films and is expected to have a theatrical release later this year.
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