Beyond The Sky

Beyond The Sky [2018] is the feature debut of director Fulvio Sestito. Starring Ryan Carnes, Jordan Hinson, Peter Stormare, and Dee Wallace; a documentary filmmaker sets out to prove that alien abductees are merely suffering from False Memory Syndrome, but upon meeting a young woman with a mysterious past begins to discover something more.

A Film About A Film That Is The Film? A strange aspect of this film is how it tells the story, which is ultimately about a documentary being shot. The film doesn’t commit to a mockumentary style à la The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield, but it’s overall use of handy cam and how it deliberately jumps back and forth from the omniscient camera to those DSLRs and GoPros used by the filmmakers (along with a reoccurring voiceover and informative title cards) has it fall into a weird zone where it feels like there was a lack of commitment one way or another. It doesn’t really detract from what the film is delivering, but it does make it hard for the audience to fully give in to any of the events.

Where’s Mulder When You Need Him? The story follows Chris, a man whose mother disappeared on his birthday when he was a young child. His father was forever convinced that she was abducted, and these many years later Chris has decided to shoot a documentary to expose those who claim to have been abducted by revealing that their stories are lies made up to cover up more realistic but painful or disturbing events that have traumatized them in their lives. Upon meeting Emily, a woman claims to have been abducted every 7th birthday for the past 28 years, Chris becomes more involved in strange details and events that come to pass as he delves deeper into Emily’s past.

Created By Fragile Minds to Cover Painful Truths. There’s nothing particularly special here when it comes to plot points or story elements. The film isn’t wholly unengaging but there’s hardly enough to fully challenge or interest the audience. Its short run time goes by fairly briskly, and the production quality is solid overall. The performances actually work quite nicely, even if the fast pace moves characters to commit quicker than feels believable. While it’s a competently pieced together product it doesn’t have anything new or exciting to say, especially considering the endless number of films about nonbelievers having their own encounters and unexplainable experiences.