Scientists examine the sudden appearance of a giant alien creature in LA, and conflicting theories on why it’s there, what its motivations are, and why it seems to ignore all attempts at human interaction.

Falling down the path of a sudden and unexpected alien arrival like some of our favorite science fiction films, The Narrow World takes the raw documentary style of District 9 and blends it with the tenderness of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival [watch Denis Villeneuve’s short film Next Floor]. Director Brent Bonacorso certainly breaks sci-fi conventions by taking an intimate documentary-style approach with unexpected insights. It examines the sudden appearance of a giant alien creature in LA, and conflicting theories on why it’s there, what its motivations are, and why it seems to ignore all human attempts at interaction.

I was very intrigued by the idea of subverting the typical alien invasion story and instead having a creature with completely opaque motivations, something that simply ignored the tiny humans around it. How would we react? What would it mean? The creature would become a blank canvas of interpretation. Everyone would come up with a different explanation, a different message. Obviously, many people would take it as an insult, as we’ve grown accustomed to being the most important thing around. These interpretations people would come up with, these beliefs, would be more revealing for the people themselves than for the alien creature.

Beyond the beautiful science fiction visual effects, the film relies heavily on simple, yet thoroughly thought out cinematography. While the music and previous sci-fi indulgence lead us to have explosive expectations, the ending leaves us rather left floating in our thoughts, which may be frustrating at first, but quite soothing when your mind gets at ease with it. M83’s Outro certainly helps the easing out (my favorite song ever by the way), but we were wondrous about the use of it, due to its sincere overuse in film and trailers (cause it’s so damn good), but we can say that it fits quite well with the tone of the film, as well as with the rest of the fabulous soundtrack. Fitting with the film’s universal themes, bringing it to life was a collaborative global effort. Brent wrote the film and completed principal photography in LA, enlisting artists in Poland, France, Luxembourg, and Australia to help with production, post, and music.