by Everett Jensen

Created on: June 17, 2009

Knowing
directed by Alex Proyas
written by Ryne Douglas Pearson, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White
starring Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Rose Byrne, D.G. Maloney, Lara Robinson, Nadia Townsend, Alan Hopgood

Rarely do films possess the ability to haunt me in any fashion whatsoever. Once I leave the theater under most conditions I am no longer possessed by whatever cinematic techniques are employed to convey the film in question. This film, however, truly made an indelible impression upon me that I will not be able to shake for some time. Creating an astounding atmosphere through music, editing, set design, and cinematography this proves to be a complete experience cinematic or otherwise. The mood is establish immediately as this is a poetic investigation into the natures of existence and the cold, hard hand of death.

The cinematography by Simon Duggan is economical and it captures a sense of place with a seemingly simple style that creates a mood that is carried forth throughout the film.

John Koestler (Cage) is a professor of Astrophysics at MIT. He's a skeptic who perhaps once had faith but who as the film opens does not believe that there is some master architect behind the construction of the multiverse. His position is reduced to the popular statement Shit happens. He leans towards the randomness theory that postulates that life is the product of a long chain of accidents and there is ultimately no discernible purpose to life. Naturally, this position is tested as John is confronted with truths that defy his expectations regarding how life functions and how and why it exists.

John has suffered tremendous loss as his wife and the mother of his son Caleb (Canterbury) was killed in a hotel fire a year or so back. Her death has left John shattered and he spends much of his free time in a drunken haze trying desperately to forget his grief but finding it exacerbated by his particular form of therapy.

The story kicks off fifty years after a group of students and teachers at an elementary school decide to create a time capsule filled with student's visions of the future. Fifty years later the capsule is brought forth and each student given an envelope containing an earlier student's prediction. John's son Caleb receives a piece of paper covered in numbers that John initially dismisses as pure randomness. However, he is led into the web after discovering that the numbers predicted 9/11. After a night of drunken activity he discovers that the numbers predict

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