In Bright Axiom

A baffling, entirely uninvolving documentary, In Bright Axiom details the rise and fall of a secret society that promises to open its members’ eyes to the world around them. It’s clear immediately, though, that filmmaker Spencer McCall isn’t interested in exploring or answering even the most basic questions related to said secret society, as In Bright Axiom operates on the assumption that the viewer is either already familiar with it or simply doesn’t care about its mechanics (ie how did it get started? who’s paying for all this? what are its organizers hoping to achieve and accomplish? etc, etc). McCall instead delivers a seemingly endless series of sequences in which the society’s various members discuss their experiences in exceedingly, frustratingly vague terms and statements (“it’s a layer on top of the world around you,” whatever that’s supposed to mean), with the movie’s almost total lack of context effectively preventing the viewer from working up an ounce of interest in the subject matter. (Or, as one of the participants so astutely wonders, “what’s the point of all of this?”) The interminable atmosphere certainly isn’t helped by McCall’s penchant for blending documentary footage with laughable, ludicrous reenactments, including a mind-bogglingly silly bit wherein one of the society’s leaders converses with a sentient blue flame, and it’s impossible, ultimately, to label In Bright Axiom as anything less than a colossal failure that just doesn’t work or satisfy on any real level.

no stars out of ****