Most movies with John Malkovich end up being a convoluted but delicious layer cake of madness, and Chariot is no exception, playing out like a dream within a dream within a nightmare of veiled reality and the separation of fated lovers. Directed and written by Adam Sigal, Chariot proved to be a cake of many layers, including corporate manipulation, psychological glitches, and a Love that traverses mind, body, and time. This movie got weirder and weirder by the minute, and I loved every minute of it!

Chariot follows a man named Harrison (Thomas Mann) who experiences a recurring dream. Its persistence raises concern for eccentric sleep/dream specialist, Dr. Karn (John Malkovich), whom Harrison seeks out for help in treating the cause of the dream. Through the apartment building that houses Dr. Kahn’s patients, Harrison meets a woman named Maria (Rosa Salazar) with whom he quickly forms a romantic and nurturing bond over their peculiarities. When Dr. Kahn learns of their connection, Harrison begins to get the sinking feeling that the doctor, and anyone that he controls, is attempting to keep him and Maria apart, which sends him down a rabbit hole that leads to his inevitable future.

Chariot is a psychological drama told in the tone of a mystery thriller. The mystery that surrounds this movie was so engrossing that I felt like I too was being sucked down into the rabbit hole that this story became, which grew deeper and deeper with the introduction of each new eccentric character. Without the use of special effects or mind-bending imagery, Sigal and his incredible cast achieve the same level of reality-questioning and mental double-takes as any other psychological thriller. And yet, I would not say that Chariot is a thriller, though its pacing, its red herrings, its existential crises, and its premise of shadow corporate oversight all worked together to create a thrilling narrative.

I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic between lead characters Harrison and Maria, with their love story oscillating between awkward and romantic throughout the film. Sigal employs an all-star ensemble cast to tell his story, including in addition to Malkovich, Mann, and Salazar, the talents of early 2000s heartthrob Shane West as an unwilling villain and seasoned actress Scout Taylor-Compton in a standout double-role as a patient suffering from a dissociative identity disorder. The plot of Chariot is enough to make anyone into neuroscientific predictive programming or techno-reality conspiracy theories even crazier than they already are, as Chariot will have audiences questioning reality and every coincidence that seems to lead one closer and closer to a predetermined end.

Being a story, inside of a weird story, inside of an even more confusing story, Chariot is a Russian nesting doll of convoluted but clever storytelling that gets a little messy with its world-building but makes up for it in stellar quirky characters and excellent dialogue. I dare say that Chariot is a quirky/hipster version of The Adjustment Bureau, or even perhaps a more sensible version of what the most recent Matrix was trying to be (and should not have been) — a love story that transcends both time, and, the overseers pulling the strings behind the curtain of Life.

Chariot releases to theaters and digital platforms beginning April 15.

7.75 out of 10