First comes love. Then comes marriage. And then comes… a planetary apocalypse that forces you and your alien soulmate to invade Earth and take over bodies you don’t understand? Sure, why not.
Alien terror collides with a cascade of mistaken identity in Zach Clark’s wonderfully offbeat “The Becomers.” When two sexless aliens crash-land in different parts of Illinois, they must secretly assimilate through a revolving door of skin suits before finding each other’s new forms. Clark’s latest film is more saccharine than saccharine — but for those unfamiliar with his wacky style, this electrifying portrait of doomsday-defying love is a ready-made soft spot for the indie filmmaker.
The writer/director/editor of The Becomers is already known for his earnestly comic tones thanks to films like Little Sister and White Reindeer. He once again tackles complex themes of grief here, but this time through the lens of a loss so powerful that it must be processed both individually and as a couple. The terrified but still-in-love aliens (known for this review as Lover 1 and Lover 2) spend the first third of the film apart. This proves essential to the sharp patches of sci-fi melancholy that add enough flavor to this ultimately imperfect horror comedy to still be enjoyable.
While investigating a cloud of purple smoke in the woods outside Chicago, a hunter (Conrad Dean) stumbles away acting nothing like himself. This thing, which turns out to be Lover 1, sits slumped, wearing backwards sunglasses. In its first disguise, it can barely walk — let alone talk. A pregnant woman named Francesca (Isabel Alamin) gives birth in the back seat of a car parked up the street. The stranded mother-to-be’s pleas are heard by the amoral passerby, who quickly commits a brutal murder and a second body snatching. (Don’t ask what happens to the baby.)
Courtesy of Dark Star Pictures
At the same time, an invisible narrator (Russell Mael) tells the love story that brought us here. The lovers met on a blind date. The couple did not Hm“unite” that first night, but soon after, they met up again and did it. Sure, one of them was a well-known ceramic artist who showed in galleries around the world — and yes, the other was a frustrated factory worker doing something with “pulse colliders” at the “Gamma Center.” But even while juggling their competing careers and practicing ethical non-monogamy (OK, progressive!), the alien sweethearts have stayed together ever since. Well, until now.
Where do you go when you don’t know who you are? In the safety of a Motel 6, Lover 1 doggedly learns the English language by repeating what is said on television. It’s a tired idea that has been seen in countless other films and series, but Clark gives it a fresh twist with a news parody that pits his actress against both sides of a partisan political debate. Lover 1 also tries to feed and clothe his new body. They must purchase human clothing and colored contact lenses – her eyes are neon blue and her partner’s are glowing pink – all while dodging the increasingly creepy advances of the motel manager, Gene (Frank V. Ross).
Courtesy of Dark Star Pictures
Even incognito as the so-called Francesca, Lover 1 and Gene do not have much in common. Gene is willing to give up everything to be with a person he has barely spoken to, but that is because He is as lost as his alien crush. A sad sense of anonymity unites nearly all of the characters in “The Becomers,” which was filmed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and makes clever, if unavoidable, use of face masks. When it comes to long-term romantic relationships, personal identity can be hard to protect. That’s true of any species prone to committed attachments, but with Lover 2 nowhere to be seen, Lover 1 is forced to define his new personality within the confusing confines of some deeply fractured American values.
This pulsating political current drives the plot forward, and a chance encounter in a Home Depot parking lot leads Lover 1 to reject Francesca and become Carol (Molly Plunk). The consequences of this decision are unpredictable for the alien, and only begin with the problematic revelation that Carol’s husband is waiting for her at home. Stressed and not knowing why, Gordon (Mike Lopez) unswervingly steers the plot toward its satirical endgame — but with Lover 2 finally emerging as a city bus driver formerly known as Debbie (Jacquelyn Haas), he may not remain Gordon much longer. Is Lover 2 ready for this change? And what about Lover 1?
Courtesy of Dark Star Pictures
“The Becomers” thrives on the focus on the aliens’ intimacy. The sex scenes are exaggerated and seem outrageous (“I missed your opening,” the lovers moan in unison), but just watching the duo shop and wave at suspicious neighbors is delightful. As their precarious situation becomes more complicated, Clark’s obvious love of the last century’s sci-fi classics — think both versions of “The Body Snatchers,” but also the wackier “They Live” — merges with a more modern romantic comedy formula. You’ll recognize the regular couple pushed into criminal activity from Netflix’s own pandemic-era romantic comedy, “The Lovebirds,” as well as 2010’s “Date Night,” starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey.
For the most part, that combination works, which is surprising considering how little time many of these actors had to build iterative versions of a relationship. You Won’t Be Alone, written and directed by Goran Stolevski, took a similar idea from a Macedonian witch tale in 2022 — and while that film is objectively better, the transformation here is more impressive when measured as a team effort with fewer resources. Clark keeps everyone on the same page, even as the two leads are constantly being recast, and the surprise addition of a key character (Keith Kelly) shakes things up even more.
“The Becomers” loses its way as Clark searches for a political message he can’t place. A series of sharp comedic twists promise a payoff for the increasingly insane plot, but it never comes, even as the body-snatching elements get increasingly gruesome. Lovers 1 and Lover 2 are stuck in some sensationally stressful scenarios, and their inability to lie their way through these moments is genuinely hilarious. In the end, though, Clark doesn’t know what he wants to say about the state of the country or the world, and the lessons the lovers learn from their experiences suffer as a result.
Courtesy of Dark Star Pictures
An overly hasty conclusion to the story ends with a charming dedication – “FOR JEN” — and the heart of the film survives. Microbudget movies like this face extraordinary constraints at every turn, and what this interstellar mess lacks in the grand scheme of things, it makes up for in the little things. Clark may have wanted something deeper than the us-against-the-universe ending he achieves, but the way the filmmaker gets there shows his broader talent for world-building. (Keep your ears open for a good joke that’s sort of about Florida, but mostly about people who just won’t listen.)
Describing a home planet audiences never get to see, The Becomers feels, for better or worse, like a lockdown death rattle. It reflects not only how far we’ve come since this unique piece of offbeat cinema was filmed, but how far we still have to go to understand why and how this tragic time has changed us as people. Clark maintains his admirable devotion to humanity’s messiest emotional crises in his sixth film, and that deserves applause. He knows who he is—and not every artist is confident enough to ask a question as daring as: What will become of us?
Grade: B-
Dark Star Pictures’ “The Becomers” will premiere in New York at Cinema Village on August 23rd. It will open in Los Angeles at the Lumiere Music Hall on August 30th and in Chicago at the Music Box Theatre on September 13th. The film will be released on VOD on September 24th.
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