VIFF 2014: The Incident is a nightmarish thinker

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      The Incident (Mexico)  

      In contrast to a book that’s prominently and knowingly referenced in the film, Philip K. Dick’s Time Out of Joint—one of the author’s least satisfying novels—you’ll be stroking your chin over Isaac Ezban’s debut feature long after it’s finished. In two possibly related stories, a cop and two fugitives find themselves trapped in an endlessly looping stairwell, while, 30 years earlier, a family becomes stuck on a rural highway apparently designed by an assholish version of Escher. The scenarios are nightmarishly executed and unfold in ways that allow Ezban to pile on the surreal visual detail. But this crisp little mind-fucker takes a big risk—and succeeds—when everything is explained in a bravura end sequence.

      Cinematheque, October 8 (2:30 p.m.); Rio, October 10 (11:30 p.m.)  

      Follow Adrian Mack on Twitter at @adrianmacked.

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