From Omeleto.
A geneticist creates a hybrid.
EMBRYO is used with permission from Alex Russek. Learn more at https://linktr.ee/alexrussek.
Dr. Miranda Barrett is a geneticist creating human-alien hybrids as part of an ambitious secretive corporate initiative. But she soon receives orders to terminate her research, and is faced with the destruction of her years of work, as well as the embryos she’s created.
To save her creations, Miranda joins forces with Darius, her ex-lover working for a rival entity. He promises he can keep her embryos safe, even when the company that she works for can hunt her down. But when they meet in the unforgiving desert for the handoff, they discover the nature of the larger force orchestrating the events.
Directed and written by Alex Russek, this propulsive short sci-fi thriller "Embryo" explores themes of scientific ambition, ethical boundaries, and the complexities of human-alien interactions, delivering a tense and thought-provoking storytelling experience while touching upon the moral dilemmas of pushing the limits of genetic experimentation.
The visuals are ambitious, grand and accomplished, from the coolly gleaming futuristic cinematography to the sweeping camerawork to the ominous, pulsing electronic ambient score. We swerve from a retro-nostalgic donut shop to the strikingly ominous lab to the desert escape, giving the narrative a large and expansive scope. The writing, too, hints at a larger, fascinating world, with its stripped-down dialogue and performances hinting at a rich history between Miranda and Darius. There’s also a sense of ominousness with Miranda’s boss at the company, though everything remains tantalizingly mysterious, generating intrigue at every turn.
Actor Lyndie Greenwood as Miranda Barrett gives a performance that endows the film with much of its emotional coloring, portraying the internal conflict between scientific responsibility and personal attachment. She can’t bring herself to destroy the human-alien embryos, due partly to her attachment to her work. That attachment has shades of the maternal — an urge that forces her to make drastic, dangerous choices to save the hybrids.
With its epic scope and bravura craftsmanship, it’s startling to realize that EMBRYO, with just four characters, is essentially a chamber drama, though its excellent world-building hints at a wider story and character complexities that would benefit from a bigger canvas. Gripping from beginning to end, it teases at bigger questions as well, giving us just enough to see how one scientist’s human impulse towards her alien progeny sets off an irreversible chain of events — and promises an exciting exploration of scientific achievement, moral obligation and human attachment.
