The great Mary-Louise Parker gets her own Groundhog Day, albeit with a Science Fiction slant in Bernardo Britto’s Omni Loop. Written by the director, this is a clever and heartfelt work full of interesting ideas, big emotion, and just the right dash of humor. 

There Is not a soul alive who doesn’t have thoughts of reliving certain moments from our past. Be it a fond memory, a mistake we wish we could change, or a path not taken, if given the opportunity, most would go back. The chance for a life do-over is one of the most relatable of all human desires. With poignancy and emotional depth, Omni Loop confronts the inevitably of death and celebrates the desire for life with an infectious passion. Britto immerses his story in the heavy truths of life and, through its lead character, examines one’s place in the universe. 

The always excellent Mary-Louise Parker is Zoya Lowe, a 55 year old wife, mother, and writer who is introduced in a hospital bed, where she has been admitted for observation. The doctor concludes she has a “black hole” growing inside her that will kill her within a week’s time. Her daughter Jayne (Hannah Pearl Utt) and husband Donald (Carlos Jaccot) inform her that the docs say she can come home; her chance at some form of peace, spending her final moments with her family. The catch is that Zoya already knows this, and all too well. She has pills (their origin will remain a mystery for a good deal of the film) that brings her back to that hospital bed on that very day over and over again, keeping her from dying. As the freshness of this ability to repeat the day is beginning to wear on her, Zoya seeks to change time travel and perhaps set all things right. 

Zoya meets a young woman named Paula (an equally good Ayo Edebiri), a student who has a copy of the science textbook her new friend once wrote. After hearing her bizarre tale, Paula (who works in a lab) agrees to help Zoya. The relationship between the two women is the screenplay’s greatest strength, as the circular path of Zoya’s timeline bonds them together; a friendship that will be a beating heart of everlasting life.

When she was young, Zoya became a theoretical physics student and her chance meeting with Paula (a woman with her own reasons for cracking time travel) gives the dying mother and wife hope. For Zoya, it isn’t about simply getting more time. She wants to fix parts of the life she lived and devour what it means to be alive. Being caught between death and life isn’t living.

Mary-Louise Parker’s character and performance are deeply moving. It is heartbreaking to watch Zoya fight for more life to stay close to her family, while she is forced to hide from them as she figures it all out. Although the character is almost constantly frustrated (a just a bit cranky) in her quest to change time, the actress finds the relatable warmth in Zoya’s desire to live; tethering the audience’s emotion to her plight. There are moments where Parker will make us laugh and others where she will put us on edge. Ultimately, her powerful work will break our hearts. 

Director Britto isn’t interested in using big FX laden set pieces when showing Zoya’s time travel. While there are a few small moments where the visual effects department gets a chance to shine, they don’t overtake the story. The screenplay’s emphasis is on character and the depths of connection to those who love us.

Beyond the film’s emotional pull, is its complex exploration of ideas such as quantum mechanics and the wave-particle duality theory. Like a wave in the ocean in our visible world, waves in the quantum world are in constant flux. In quantum mechanics, scientists talk about a particle’s “wave function.” This describes the probability that a particle exists at a certain location at a certain time with a certain momentum. In this theory, what is referred to as a “bound state” is one where the particles are trapped. These principles come into play for Zoya as she becomes both particles and waves, moving through time like a flash of light, yet trapped in her “loop”, moving only back and forward again.

This type of studied approach (one that blends principles of science and philosophy with something deeply profound) makes the film a unique and thought-provoking cinematic experience. It is a pleasure to discover a filmmaker so in tune with ideas and emotion. Like the characters he created, Britto is on a quest for knowledge and wants to explore the science behind humanity and our connection to time. Adding the powerful emotions of a wife and mother searching for the balance between family and career while existing in her own truth, the director has crafted an eloquent and impassioned picture. 

Bernardo Britto’s Omni Loop is a work of class and quality. The genre expectations of a film that deals with time travel give way to a tranquilly moving and tender story of one’s personal universe. The importance of taking in the time we are given and the nature of one’s existence are represented in an intoxicating tale of love and mortality. 

Omni Loop

Written & Directed by Bernardo Britto

Starring Mary-Louise Parker, Ayo Edebiri, Hannah Pearl Utt, Carlos Jaccot, Harris Yulin, Chris Witaske, Steven Maier, Eddie Cahill

NR, 110 Minutes, Magnolia Pictures, 2AM, Lou Filmproduction