I walked into Synchronic expecting a sci-fi trinket about drug-induced time jumps. However, what I got was a slow-burn romance drenched in midnight rain and existential longing. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead craft two paramedics in New Orleans who are as worn-down as the streets they patrol. They’re barely holding themselves together. Yet, they can’t turn away when lives hang in the balance.
Most of the film unfolds under the cloak of night, lit by streetlamps and neon flickers. It’s gritty, it’s noir, and it feels like the city itself is a character in mourning. Yet the “time-travel serum” isn’t an excuse for flashy stunts or psychedelic party sequences. Instead, it becomes a vessel for something deeper—an ache to grasp meaning when your own world feels hopeless.
What struck me most was how the film turns its high-concept hook into a meditation on purpose. These two ambulance workers chase strangers’ second chances while wrestling with their own demons. Every temporal detour reveals new facets of love, loss, and the desperate search for connection.
I’m giving Synchronic a 4.5 out of 5 for its fearless originality and layered character development. The finale left me both emotionally spent and quietly resolved. It was far from the thrill ride I anticipated, yet exactly the kind of unexpected journey I needed.
Synchronic: Synopsis and What Critics Are Saying
Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead and starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, Synchronic premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. It then landed on US screens in October 2020.
At its heart, the film follows Steve, a charismatic yet self-destructive paramedic, and his steadfast partner Dennis. They respond to a series of bizarre, drug-related deaths in New Orleans. When Steve accidentally injects himself with Synchronic—a designer compound that warps the pineal gland’s perception of time—they discover users can hurtle into Louisiana’s past. After Dennis’s daughter vanishes and Steve’s own health crisis intensifies, the two friends chase clues across centuries. They evade conquistadors, Klan riders, and prehistoric tribesmen in a race to save her and find meaning in their own lives.
Empire nailed it when they observed, “Synchronic is one of those tricky movies which isn’t really about what you think it’s about. What you think it’s about is infinitely less interesting than what it’s really about.” Critics on Rotten Tomatoes applaud its blend of mystery, horror, and romance, giving it a 79 percent Tomatometer score.
Roger Ebert’s Matt Zoller Seitz wrote that the film “puts thought into the science of its premise.” It is “far more stimulating than most of the films and TV series that call themselves science fiction,” even if its climax “feels a touch underplayed for such high stakes.” On the flip side, veteran critic Mark Kermode warned it sometimes “risks feeling like a straight-to-video B movie.” A few viewers wished for sharper emotional beats on Dennis’s side of the partnership.
Whether you’re drawn to its philosophical detours or skeptical of its noir-soaked, low-budget sheen, Synchronic has sparked conversations about where sci-fi can go when it trades spectacle for soul. Have you taken the journey yet? What did you uncover in its dark alleys of time?
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Folklore and Flesh: A Dark Fiction Collection of Folklore and Body Horror
Step into the uncanny with Folklore and Flesh—a collection of visceral horror stories and haunting poems that blur the boundaries between myth and the body. From ancient rituals and supernatural transformations to the raw ache of grief and memory, these tales invite you to explore the shadowed places where folklore becomes flesh.
This collection binds 10 creative short stories and a dozen visceral poems.
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