Vanishing Waves Pushes Less Plot, More Sex

For those who found Inception too plotty and sexless, Lithuanian director Kristina Buozyte’s sleek sci-fi reverie is hereby advised. One day, a mild-mannered young brain researcher (Marius Jampolskis) reclines in a laboratory coffin-bathtub thing, plugging his mind into that of an unknown coma patient (Jurga Jutaite). Soon floating in some infinite dream-ocean, he finds her lying unconscious in water and administers mouth-to-mouth, whereupon she wakes into a hungry kiss. Science! “It was all very abstract,” he then lies to his lab-mates. “Maybe the details will come back to me later.” Clearly he wants back in that tub, and in dream girl’s arms. You would too: She’s gorgeous, available, perpetually horny, and moody only in the most intriguing ways. Later, in the shared subconscious, he verges ominously ever closer to her original incapacitating trauma; in real life, he tries to track her down and wake her up. Well, these are ways of asking for trouble. Buozyte and her co-writer and “visual style author” Bruno Samper make the most of pricey-looking production design, cocooning their leads in soft white light, prowling dolly shots, and shimmering special effects. Helped along by ambient soundscapes, sensuality takes priority over a sometimes spread-thin story, complete with the occasional “huh?” moments that are the birthright of Euro-earnest head trips. Fine performances, particularly from Jutaite, give the film its uneasy charge. As the Smiths song asks, “Do you really think she’ll pull through?”