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When a fan told Jimmy Lavalle that a song he wrote about 18 years ago had become really popular with cats on TikTok, he was shocked. He wrote the track in Reykjavík, Iceland, gazing at the Esjan mountains across Kollafjörður bay — now, cats were prancing across their living rooms to the tune.

Last December, the ambient and electronic musician (also known as Album Leaf) received a video in which the serene opening strains of “Window” — the first song on 2004’s In a Safe Place — unexpectedly piqued the attention of a cat...

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have been making intriguing, resourceful and idea-based (rather than action-driven) genre films together since “Resolution” in 2012. Last year’s enigmatic inner-/outer-space journey “The Endless” seemed to place them on the cusp of mainstream breakthrough, although that promise looks a little less bright for the arrival of “Synchronic,” which rather than being a leap forward offers a bit of a stumble. It may be a tad early for the multihyphenate duo to have their M. Night Shyamalan moment, in which the bag of tricks suddenly looks empty, but they’ll get past it.

Making underwhelming use of its not-bad “time travel pill” conceit, Benson’s sci-fi-tinged script is not at all ingeniously plotted, insists we care about tritely sketched characters, and is never credible enough to transcend an air of escalating silliness. The directors bestow a fair degree of professional polish with their accumulated expertise and improved budget here,...

If you (somehow) aren’t obsessing over filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, Synchronic will change that. Not because it’s their finest achievement to date, but because their ethereal brand of existential questioning has never been so accessible. Resolution, Spring and The Endless exude clever poise under immense ambition, undiluted. Synchronic works as a gateway drug, stepping into grander locational shoots and expansive universes that break away from their otherwise minimalist architectures (in comparison). Thrilling sci-fi exploration that ponders the melancholic state of self-worth, existence, and what it truly means to be alive. Sound like the same recycled introspection that steals indie film festival attention each year? Not with Benson and Moorhead’s dedication to character, detail, and steady craft.

Partners Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan), New Orleans paramedics, encounter death on a daily basis. Their roughened exteriors hide secrets from medical issues to relationship woes, but...