This might end up being one of the toughest reviews I’ve had to write. Ultrasound is a film defined by the secrets it’s holding, and the best way to experience the movie is to go in knowing as little about it as possible. I went into the film completely blind, even avoiding reading the synopsis before pressing play. It’s worth mentioning that my notes are covered with the phrase “what the fuck?” The movie floored me, and I was glued to the screen trying to solve it. I’m not quite sure I ever did (not yet, anyway), but the journey has been a great one.
Ultrasound is about the relationship that develops between Glen (Vincent Kartheiser) and Cyndi (Chelsea Lopez) after an encounter at Cyndi’s home. When Glen’s car breaks down on his way home from a wedding, he knocks on the door of Cyndi and her husband Arthur (Bob Stephenson). After Glen and Arthur drink a bit, Glen ends up spending the night. To put it simply, the experiences from that night are very odd, and there are spiralling consequences that soon change their lives.
While these moments comprise just the first ten minutes of the film, they’re the only parts I feel I can openly describe, as everything that happens afterwards needs to be witnessed to be believed. That being said, it was those same ten minutes that captured my attention and held it for the entire runtime. Matthew Rudenberg’s cinematography is both breathtaking and ominous. The angles, the darkly lit rooms…there is always something happening that makes you question what secrets might be hiding still. And there are many such secrets.
The film feels like an exploration of gaslighting by way of a bureaucratic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Having the audience and the characters unaware of what’s happening makes every new piece of information feel like finding a puzzle piece you’ve been searching for for hours. The description from the festival’s program mentions the overused words “mystery box,” but it feels as if made for this film. As each piece is removed, you gradually get a chance to see the big picture the film is trying to tell.
The sound design in the movie is incredible. Ultrasound feels like a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen. The sound felt immersive even when listening to the film with earphones, so you can tell that the film was meant to be seen and heard from inside a theatre. The film uses a lot of different frequencies that if played inside a theater, would ring around the room, getting under our skin
Ultrasound is written by Conor Stechschulte, based on his own graphic novel Generous Bosom. I’m unfamiliar with the graphic novel, but I now have to track a copy down. I’m very curious to see how Conor adapted his work and to find out what happens in the original novel as well as the sequel novel. What director Rob Schroeder does with Stechschulte’s script is incredible — placing a bizarre sci-fi world in something tangible. Since the premiere, I’ve seen some compare some of the world-building to Shane Carruth’s Primer, in which we are given something on paper that sounds bizarre and futuristic, but as the film progresses, we understand the logistics of it all.
While I spent most of the runtime trying to solve the puzzle, there were many moments in which I was simply left in a trance, and I didn’t mind that I continuously wrote the same three-word phrase throughout my notes. Ultrasound is a remarkable debut feature from Schroeder, oozing with a sleek style that feels so defined. There’s a control of the camera, plus some of the shots felt as if they crawled out of a David Fincher film. If you’re lucky, it won’t make you question what is real in your life, like I did after the film had ended.
