Brent Marchant

Can polished, entertaining sci-fi effectively be delivered on a shoestring budget and under a tight shooting schedule? If writer-director Zach Clark’s “The Becomers” is any indication, the answer is a resounding “yes.” Add to this ambitious mix a sharply written story and script, skillful film editing, an innate quirkiness, a wry satirical bent and inventive, impeccably timed humor, and viewers have got a top-notch, quasi-campy sci-fi comedy on their hands, one well worth the watch. The filmmaker’s latest tells the story of a pair of star-crossed alien lovers who manage to escape their dying planet and come to Earth but are now desperately trying to find one another once again. It can be a challenge given their unfamiliarity with the ways of their new home, as well as their inescapable need to regularly appropriate (albeit, somewhat surprisingly, seemingly innocently) the bodies of human hosts (think a far less menacing, more sentimental version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” with its inherently grim events supported, ironically, by a sweet, but unusual, and certainly undeniable love story). Eventually, however, the differences between the two worlds invariably catch up with the duo, with their frequent (and often-improvised and opportunistic) switches involving them in an array of diverse scenarios populated by such characters as a woman in the process of giving birth, a cult of radical (but politically and spiritually oriented reformist) terrorists, and a corrupt high-ranking politician and his largely dysfunctional family. In telling this tale, the film serves up a big platter of laughs (some guilty pleasure-level goofy, others supremely witty and genuinely inspired), accompanied by ample introspections into such topics as gender and racial identity, the undeserved clout of crooked government officials, the metaphysics behind the nature of “being,” and the complicated relationship between survival and remorse, not to mention a whole lot about love. And it’s all topped off by a fine, obviously tight-knit acting ensemble, many of whose members’ roles don’t necessarily require much from them, but all of whom play their parts in ways that elevate them to unexpected levels of excellence and eloquence, more than one might ordinarily expect from a movie in this genre. That’s quite a list of achievements for a low-cost indie production of any kind, let alone one with the more demanding budget requirements and constraints typically associated with science fiction releases. But that’s where this picture’s production crew has really risen to the occasion by devising simple yet innovative ways to dazzle without breaking the bank, a brilliant accomplishment. If I had any reservation about this film, it would probably be that it’s a little slow to get rolling, but that’s more than made up for by the overall quality of this offering. If you enjoy quality filmmaking made up of the foregoing elements, you owe it to yourself to catch this one (preferably on a big screen, if possible). Like me, you’ll probably come away from it pleasantly surprised for what it delivers – not to mention encouraged by impressively illustrating what the film industry can achieve when it earnestly puts its mind to it.