Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A young and talented architect comes to his senses after a horrific accident only to find himself in the odd dystopian world. A world that is filled with the memories of all current coma patients. Just like a human memory this world is fragmental, chaotic and unstable. This is COMA: icecaps, rivers and cities can all exist in a space of a single room and laws of physics are no longer laws as they can be bent.
Coma (2020) is a Russian sci-fi visually ambitious film that dazzles with its surreal, fragmented world-building and striking production design — the cinematography is genuinely exceptional, rendering a dreamlike collision of environments with impressive craft. The central concept of a coma-induced shared memory world is intriguing and the plot holds together reasonably well as a premise, though it struggles with pacing and depth in execution. Acting is functional but unremarkable, with characters that feel underdeveloped. The ending feels rushed and somewhat unsatisfying, failing to capitalize on the rich atmosphere built throughout. Novelty is above average given the distinctive visual identity, but the underlying narrative beats follow familiar virtual-world survival conventions.