The prize winner is selected by a jury of film and science professionals and presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character.
"In the Blink of an Eye" spans across three very different stories which are thousands of years apart but all flow from a distinct connection. A Neanderthal family joins a broader community, two university scientists (Rashida Jones, Daveed Diggs) fumble through the evolution of a relationship and a scientist (Kate McKinnon) on a spacecraft on a long-term journey to a distant planet confronts a potential loss of oxygen which threatens to destroy the ship's precious cargo and ultimate mission.
Director Andrew Stanton ("Wall-E" and "Finding Nemo") starts laboriously but melds the storylines in a manner that keeps the audience engaged in the very different narratives. The cavemen sequences fall mostly flat as nothing new to see here.
Daveed Diggs and Rashida Jones benefit from being in the most contemporary storyline and carry most of the dramatic load providing stellar performances of academics who overcome awkward social skills to forge a lasting connection. Their awkwardness also provides the film's all too occasional comic relief. Kate McKinnon ultimately ties it altogether in a straight up dramatic role, which albeit fleetingly, touches upon humanity's perseverance through love, connection and technology. McKinnon is surprisingly believable in the roll, although her story wraps uncomfortably neatly and in unnecessarily rushed sequences. Stanton could have used a little more scientific and human precision in the editing room.
Nevertheless, in an American political environment currently dominated by academic cynicism and distrust of science, the film is a refreshing reminder of the potential for human connection to overcome reactionary forces when family, compassion and scientific technological achievement collide to move humankind forward. Such profound stuff just should have been a bit more watchable.
On the KPCW sun ranking system, "In the Blink of an Eye" earns three suns out of five.
