It is a rare movie that attempts to do something different, but this one tries, it really does. The execution is a bit muddled sadly, the script really needed to be tightened up, and while I got the gist of it, it got a bit too convoluted for it's own good by the end. I can understand why some hated this movie, though I don't feel hate is at all justified because outside of the convoluted somewhat muddled script, it is a good sci-fi endeavor. I would call it a solid B sci-fi movie, which I do not use B movie as a pejorative as a some do, I think there is a place for low-budget and/or B movies.
I also felt the script spent too much time trying to hide the main thrust of the film, there are some twist, but the main thrust of the story is given away in the title, so I don't understand why they spend so much time attempting to conceal it. This is why the script gets a bit convoluted and muddled, because of it's attempted concealment of the main thread of the story. The movie is set in the late 1990's, but it never really uses that setting, one of the character's glasses would NEVER have been worn in the 1990's, I know because I grew up then. This style came back into fashion much later. The clothes also do not look like 1990's clothes, nor do the hair styles. The cars seem to mostly because from that era or earlier, but it just doesn't do a good job of looking like the late 1990's.
On the positive side, most of the acting is good(outside of the opening seen where the acting was pretty bad), the characters are decent, it takes time to build them up a bit and flesh them out, I really enjoyed that aspect, and it was interesting to see what happened to each character. Even though the female lead is basically an Antifa-like rioter(she throws Molotov cocktails, that crosses the into into rioting, and even says "say his name" late in the movie), and isn't the nicest person, I still liked her, crazy I know, as real-life Antifa rioters are some pretty vile nasty people. This movie is truly a tragedy, there is no happy ending, and the movie is filled with misery at every turn. From dead parents, to abusive parents, to rape, this movie is really about cycles of abuse and hatred. I have watched several movies with this theme, another, significantly less well-made film about a similar topic was "It Knows", and I would rank this much higher, "One and the Same" is a good movie, with a good concept, but because of it's attempts to conceal it's main plot point for so long, it will confuse a lot of people, and needlessly so.
