‘The Becomers’ Review – A Wild Body-Snatchers Love Story

The pandemic felt like an out-of-body experience for the country. Shutdowns. Masks. Political unrest. It was a time when the world felt like it was spinning on its axis. Confusing. Exhausting. Depressing. It was a time when people existed in silos, and loneliness spread as fast as the illness. The indie film The Becomers tackles this era in American life disguised as a throwback to the body-snatching alien movies of yesteryear. While that is the narrative’s main thrust, the film is a stirring commentary on pandemic life in America. Partly a fish out of water, we follow two body-snatching aliens as they attempt to rekindle their love and understand the madness of modern-day America. Bizarre yet thoroughly entertaining. The Becomers plays like a satire with a documentary lens.

The Becomers is a trio of “Ws”. Wild. Weird. Wonderful. The film is intentionally low-budget, giving off a feel of the genre-defining B sci-fi movies of the ’50s. Even with those limitations, the body-snatching and gross-out shots evoke David Cronenberg. These influences add to the movie’s charm. Think The Fly meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In the story, we follow two aliens who fled their dying planet. Once on Earth, they acclimate to America and hop from body to body. They need to avoid detection, which presents a myriad of challenges. During these in and out-of-body experiences, they attempt to navigate life on Earth and understand the pitfalls and challenges of life in America.

The film is set during the pandemic and provides a unique catalyst for these two characters to move in and out of American lives. While the film plays more like a satire, there is a documentary approach vis-à-vis the aliens as they cope with the confusion and complexities of this era. In addition, it intertwines a commentary on conspiracies, like Q-Anon, that have always existed but have taken firm roots in the pandemic era. This added intrigue gives the film a unique lens through which to offer a commentary on the socio and political events that not only occurred during the pandemic but still exist in part of the American zeitgeist today.

Throughout the film,  a monotone narrator (Russell Mael), one of the aliens, fills the audience in on the status of the dying planet and what brought these two lovers to Earth. Throughout the film, we see their aliens search for each other in America before reconnecting. Once together, they assume the bodies of a seemingly ordinary but oddly suspicious couple, Carol (Molly Plunk) and Gordon (Mike Lopez). As would be the case, the couple are involved in a conspiracy group that has kidnapped the state’s governor (Keith Kelly). Now, their assumed lives descend into more madness. Further, the alien nomads are body-jumping and later separated, longing to see if they will ever be together again.

The Becomers intentionally keeps the faces and bodies of our aliens a secret. Because of the low budget, we get hints at their true selves through glimpses of their body pores and hypnotic, beaming-colored eyes. Here, again, is where the film embraces elements of Cronenberg but does not go into full-gross-out-horror. A partial tease at the end gives us some insight into these extraterrestrial beings, and it is as wonderfully weird as one might expect. The film oscillates between a comedy and a drama and accomplishes both feats with remarkable flourish.

Putting aside all the trappings of political commentaries and literal imposter syndrome the film has to offer, The Becomers weaves a surprisingly poignant tale about the power of love. The audience is rooting for the aliens to get their lives together and find each other. Writer/director Zach Clark makes his ambitions clear right from the start. These two beings are soulmates no matter who, no matter where. Above all, soulmates are forever. Love can truly conquer all, be they in another galaxy or on Earth.

The Becomers is currently playing at Cinema Village in New York courtesy of Dark Star Pictures. The film will expand to Lumiere Music Hall in Los Angeles on August 30th followed by additional markets in the coming weeks. The film will also be available on VOD on September 24, 2024.