A father and scientist desperate to save his son and daughter from a deadly genetic disease they have inherited from their mother. To do so, he uses his knowledge, intelligence, and a few questionable research techniques.
Writer/director Maurice Haeems explores themes of fatherly love, medical research, and ethical dilemmas in the work done by his lead character of Quint. Here, this is done by watching him grow more and more desperate to find a cure for his children before their genetic disease kills them. He does this as best he can, testing on what he can find with what he can get. This leads him down a dark path where one decision leads to another, one test or one attempt leads to many more. His devolution into an increasing, unethical territory is almost understandable from a parents’ point of view but it’s illogical on just about any other front. The way Haeems builds the story get the emotions and justifications the lead has to come across clearly and helps connect with the viewer. In a film deeply rooted in science, creating a type of science-fiction that looks and feels realistic with very human goals and stakes.
The lead character for Chimera is Quint, the genius and desperate scientist trying to save his children, and is interpreted by Henry Ian Cusack. Playing the kids are Raviv Haeems as Miles and Kaavya Jayaram as Flora, together with actress Karishma Ahluwalia as Jessie, they form a family unit with an interesting dynamic. His obsession takes over and Cusack shows this in a powerful, yet quiet way. His interpretation grounds the film in emotions and a manner that most parents should connect with. The kids are charming and Ahluwalia does the most of her few scenes here and there. Later into the film, actress Jenna Harrison comes into play as Charlie and she does good work connecting with the audience and with Quint. Her work brings a new perspective to the story that helps keep the story fresh and keep it moving forward toward its darker end.
The film’s cinematography by director of photography David Kruta looks stunning at times and is plagued by lens flares at others. It does create a look that is specific to the film, but the dichotomy of the styles put into one film and sometimes into one scene unfortunately kills the beauty of the images a few times when the lens flares get too invasive. This is something that does add to the film, it takes the attention away from the action and more onto the lighting causing the flares than anything else.
The film is sci-fi and deeply rooted in science, something that adds a lot to the story. Also very present are horror cinema aspects including some truly gory moments that are done beautifully by special makeup effects designer and supervisor Ben Bornstein. There is some serious medical work going down in this film and the fore is just about perfect. It’s gory as can be but it’s also very well done and it looks right medically when compared with other films with similar things. The visual effects in the film are done to add to the effects, simply and subtly used, these are under visual effects supervisor Anthony J. Rickert.
Chimera is a film that approaches controversial themes such as stem cell research and medical testing and shows that sometimes desperate times lead to desperate measure for some while others are just ready to do whatever it takes to achieve a goal. This all raises questions about what is ethical and what is going too far. The cast does great work with acting that is on point for most of the movie with a few scenes here and there that are a bit off, but not too distracting. The effects are great and the cinematography is good when the lens flares are not ruining it. The pace of the film is slow but the story keeps the attention throughout.