Some movies require you to take the "reviewers rule book" and toss it.
This is one of them.
The writer/director Darren Paul Fisher appears to be one of those rare auteurs who releases a work every four or five years and then disappears or hibernates or goes back to his home planet.
This is an extraordinary film. Even now I not sure if this is a love story sugar-coated with one of the most complex metaphysical scripts of all time, or a metaphysical script grounded in a wonderfully odd love story.
However, as one of the main characters quips in the very last scene, "Does it even matter?"
The film is mesmerizing and engaging and challenging. It makes the MATRIX look like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The scenes in the present with the adult cast are perfect and flawless, but the flashbacks with the child actors are beyond even that, they are hypnotic.
A great film by a gifted auteur. Memorable. Enjoyable. Astonishing.
Highly recommended
