A doctor at a mental facility gets obsessed with a mute woman with psychic abilities.
As experimental, retro, and colourful as only Panos Cosmatos knows how to make.
Before anything else, a warning: this is not for everyone. You have to love experimental cinema. You have to appreciate slow-burn storytelling. Most importantly, you have to be willing to surrender conventional narrative expectations and simply absorb the experience.
Writer/director Panos Cosmatos, a few years before giving us Mandy (2018): https://kaygazpro.com/mandy-2018-action-horror-thriller/ – another colourful and insanely trippy film, patiently unfolds a story that begins with a seemingly noble scientific pursuit: happiness. Yet as the narrative progresses, happiness becomes increasingly absent from the screen. What remains are loneliness, control, loss of identity, and the collapse of morality.
The doctor of this strange world is every bit as eccentric as the retro-futuristic facility he inhabits. Opposite him stands the patient, the victim, the individual who desperately seeks the happiness the institution promises but can never truly provide. Think about it, why is she there?
Visually, the film is mesmerising. Synth-heavy music, excessive colours, practical effects, elaborate costumes, and dreamlike imagery create a hypnotic atmosphere that feels suspended somewhere between science fiction and a hallucination. The influences are impossible to ignore. There are shades of Alphaville (1965), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Solaris (1972), while the eerie surrealism often ventures into unmistakably Lynchian territory and into Cronenberg-esque body-horror madness (the Canadian film school never fails).
Yet despite all those influences, the film remains uniquely Cosmatos. Watching it feels less like following a story and more like wandering through someone’s subconscious. Mainstream audiences will likely spend much of the runtime asking, “What on earth is going on?” And that reaction is understandable.
One sequence that particularly stood out to me is the shaft sequence, which carries a strange charisma and visual power [John Carpenter – Dark Star (1974) tribute]. Part of me wished the film spent even more time exploring that environment. There is something about its verticality and isolation that reminded me, in spirit at least, of the ideas later explored in The Platform (2019): https://kaygazpro.com/the-platform-2019-horror-sci-fi-thriller/ and The Platform 2 (2024): https://kaygazpro.com/the-platform-2-2024/.
As much as I enjoyed Beyond the Black Rainbow, it remains a niche experience.
If you are looking for a more accessible, action-oriented version of similar themes, Carrie (1976) or Firestarter (1984) may be better starting points. For everyone else, prepare for a bizarre, surreal, and unforgettable trip.
P.S. Ask yourselves this: What is the relationship between the 80s and sci-fi?
Thanks for reading!
Please, don’t forget to share. If you enjoy my work and dedication to film, please feel free to support me on https://www.patreon.com/kaygazpro. Any contribution is much appreciated and valued.
Solidarity for all the innocent lives that suffer the atrocities of war!
Stay safe!
