Featuring director interview! This is a strange little sci-fi romantic dramedy that might make you scratch your head all while warming up to the idea of all creatures need to find a soulmate.
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Review: It’s been quite the experience lately to be a part-time freelance critic especially as I gear up to edit my own movie. After diving into the world of experimental film and docufiction, I came to the conclusion that movies really can go in any number of directions. Sometimes to the point of wondering if they’re even a movie. They certainly are “art,” in their own way but when you think of something like Andy Warhol’s Empire, it’s considered a movie of course but I would classify sitting down to watch something like that as more akin to having an experience.
I say all this having just revisited The Becomers, a movie to me that felt like an otherworldly experience that is hard to categorize. But those often end up becoming some of my favorite movies. That’s not to say the latest from Zach Clark isn’t without imperfections but sometimes I’m able to look past them when the originality is strong, or moments stand out to make me forgive any wrongdoing or story hiccups.
I sought out The Becomers because it looked like an interesting indie take on two premises from the past that I truly adore, going all the way back to my teen years discovering both sci-fi and horror. We have the many iterations of Body Snatchers to cite as well as little touch of The Hidden (which involves body hopping sortaspeak). The premise of The Becomers is rather straightforward – it’s 2020, the pandemic has just taken hold right as an alien arrives on Earth and searches for their lost love by hopping from person to person. Things certainly happen to everyone in a way that is unexpected.
The lost alien lovers eventually reunite (since they missed each other’s “orifices”) and the two must try to blend in as a human couple to remain together. A run-in with a cult leader and a political target forces the two aliens to separate once again, and they must start over in their search for one another. The Becomers quickly becomes a wild ride into the unknown while adopting tropes of favorite sci-fi themes of the past. Never in a way that calls attention to itself, thankfully. The real spin this time is including a lot of mask-wearing courtesy of when we were knee deep in Covid.
The core of this ultimately transforms into an engaging intergalactic love story – blending body horror with comedy and romance. It’s entertaining just as it is bizarre. My only major quibble is that it mostly coasts on vibes than character development. Even if this isn’t a story that calls for it, that’s what I’m often drawn to the most in any film. So, the fact that these creatures aren’t entirely fleshed out for us to identity with isn’t so much a critique, rather than a preference. Outside of the fact that yes, we all want to be loved.
Filmmaker Zach Clark’s other laid-back, mumblecore-like films are often about optimistic but isolated dreamers skeptically in search of themselves. This time it just happens to be about aliens and well, let’s face it, Covid made us all a bit alienated at the time. Why not experience a movie about lovers attempting to reconnect only this time, have it been strange, unusual and downright, head-scratching in terms of behavior. But there was never a dull moment nor a time when I wasn’t smiling or taken aback.
The ensemble cast remains committed to the rather sentimental weirdness of what entails to where it’s definitely worth a look for the adventurous and curious. At times, it reminded me of what Hal Hartley tried to achieve when he dipped into various genres, with lesser results. Zach Clark’s gifts remain at the forefront even if it doesn’t entirely work on an emotional level to strongly resonate. I prefer his film before this, Little Sister, just a tad more, personally.
The Becomers is just a unique experience to spend time with these “people,” whether they’re trying to navigate their way through a Motel 6 transaction or rekindle through sexual contact in a way that you won’t surely forget any time soon. If that isn’t enough to pique your interest to seek it out at the Music Box Theatre (or on VOD soon), I don’t know what will.
Interview: Let’s hear what filmmaker Zach Clark had to say when I reached out to him with some questions about his latest film, The Becomers!
1. Zach, congratulations on making one of the most original films I've seen in quite a while. Actually, affected my dreams which is always a good thing (even if the dreams themselves are a bit freaky). What was the impetus or starting point when sitting down to tell this particular story? It feels like a mashup but a cohesive one with a clear vision.
Joe Swanberg and Eddie Linker reached out to me in early 2021 and asked if I wanted to make a microbudget genre movie in Chicago in the next few months. I came up with this idea to fit that model. We weren't even a year into the pandemic and my goal was to make a movie that felt like 2020. The Becomers throws all the anxieties, fears, hopes, and surprises of that year into a blender. I had just watched all of the original Star Trek series and fell in love with it, and that guided a lot of my approach to the genre elements.
2. I believe this film was made during the pandemic; it feels and looks otherworldly for obvious reasons, almost like the invasion of this alien species is an extension of a type of virus invading humankind. Did the Covid lockdown shape this story in some way for you?
Yep, for me, this is a movie about COVID and what that time felt like.
3. Talk a bit about where you did some of the filming since I reside in Chicago and recognized some locations. I kept wondering about Motel 6 in the beginning since I was thinking it could be in Palatine or Rolling Meadows. Did you seek out specific local locations that you were familiar with or were they scouted out by the crew?
I'm not from Chicago, so all the locations were scouted and locked by our producers. None of the spaces we filmed in were familiar to me ahead of time. We did do some shooting in both Palantine and Rolling Meadows! A lot of the other locations are in Deerfield.
4. I loved your previous film, Little Sister so much. The ensemble in that film is incredibly strong and it seems like you are drawn towards telling stories about the female experience and how it can be a struggle and a challenge to some degree. Is that something you're drawn to in terms of storytelling and character creation?
Yes, that's definitely something I'm drawn to.
5. You certainly created one memorable sex scene that almost takes a comic spin on Cronenberg but managed to make it sweet at the same time. How do you balance the tone of everything taking place; since it all feels seamless and connected even if it takes some tonal shifts.
Usually, the trick is to always play everything as sincerely as possible. In this scene that applied to everything -- the performances, the lighting, the score. Staying true to the emotional heart of the story will usually see you through the tonal explorations. Honestly, a lot of this is just instinct, it either feels right or it doesn't.
6. Some of the effects are really well-done here; I do have a visceral reaction to creepy eye imagery (probably stemming back to when I saw Superman III as a kid and the woman scientist turns into a robot with white eyes!). And of course, the baby! What was the process like in creating all the memorable special effects?
It took a village on this one! The adult aliens are designed by Brian Spears and Pete Gerner, who did the sfx make-up for Little Sister. The alien baby is by Ben Gojer, who did the effects for All Jacked Up and Full of Worms. The orifices are by Catherine Woods. The glowing eyes and space stuff are by Joshua Johnson. Along with the script, I had a drawing of what I thought all the effects would look like that we used as reference, but everyone brought their own ideas and talent to the table as well. The Becomers is a B-movie in the truest sense, and I wanted the effects to live in that tradition as well.
7. Thematically, you seem to be drawn to ideas about conflicting factions and belief systems going awry. What do you hope audiences take away overall from the film since I found it more than just a riff on Body Snatchers but something more about how we each experience a certain longing for connection.
Honestly, I'll take engaged and entertained!
Thank you so much Zach for answering my questions and to Kaila for setting up the interview. Here’s where everyone can catch The Becomers in Chicago this week until it’s available everywhere and it hits VOD!
https://musicboxtheatre.com/films-and-events/the-becomers
