Plot: At First Light is part social drama, part coming of age romance, part Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After a little party in the desert, some drugs and a late night swim in a pond nearby, Alex finds herself a new girl. Some strange lights came from the sky and gifted her special powers. I guess it's also a bit like Chronicle in that sense.
Watches
February 15, 2021
Sci-fi with a serious dash of teen romance/drama. It's a thing of the 10s to dilute (or strengthen, depending on your point of view) core genre films with dramatic elements to create a more complex mesh of genres. While in itself not a bad evolution, the results rarely align with the intentions of the filmmakers.
The two leads deliver strong performances, the rest of the cast isn't quite up to par. The sci-fi elements are nicely realized, the drama is a bit basic but solid and there's enough intrigue to keep things interesting. But all of that mixed together makes for a somewhat uneven film. Despite its broad range of influences, At First Light never feels quite as fresh or differentiating as it attempts to be.