Free Radicals, 2003

Ostensibly titled after highly reactive (and consequently, short-lived) molecules that contain unpaired electrons in their outer shells, Barbara Albert’s Free Radicals presents a series of fractured (and often sexually gratuitous) tales of coincidence and synchronicity. The film unfolds in an organic structure that reflects the conventional proverb on the consequential, unforeseen, long-reaching effects of the flapping of butterfly wings. Presented from a point-of-view that human beings are invariably creatures of habit – a theme that is reflected in Lukas’s (Rupert M. Lehofer) fascination with the self-recreating patterns of fractal geometry – even after surviving a seemingly life-altering tragedy, the film is an occasionally engaging, but ultimately vacuous exposition on despair, missed encounters, and interconnectedness.

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