Bernardo Britto's Omni Loop Loses Track of Time

In search of lost time on the Miami Metromover, Omni Loop, the latest from filmmaker Bernardo Britto, is a rumination on time, purpose, and all the paths not taken during one's transit time from birth to death. A lo-fi sci-fi indie drama, Omni Loop joins a pantheon of time loop cinema from romantic comedies like Groundhog Day and Palm Springs to more action-packed fare like Run Lola Run and Edge of Tomorrow. From that fertile ground, the film continues to explore ideas about fate, free will, and multiplicity.

Omni Loop opens with a terminal diagnosis when the family of Zoya (Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds) learns that she has only one week to live. The twist is that Zoya knows all this before anyone tells her because she has been reliving the same five days leading to her death over and over again. How does she do this? Well, like a pharmaceutical Alice in Wonderland, a young Zoya discovered a prescription bottle with her name on it full of pills that allow her to manipulate time by traveling back a week. She's used them to her advantage before, to ace tests and such, but now she is reliant on the pills to stave off death. From the start of the film, Zoya is already bored by this limited form of immortality until she has a chance meeting with Paula (Ayo Edebiri, The Bear), an inquisitive science student studying at Miami Dade College.

One of the main draws of Omni Loop, in addition to its titular nod to the downtown Miami transit path, is that the film is set and filmed in Miami. After debuting at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival and a curious absence from the Miami Film Festival (considering a lot of the film's action takes place at MDC's Wolfson campus), Omni Loop is opening at Coral Gables Art Cinema this weekend. The Brazilian-born Britto grew up in South Florida, and his familiarity with the area is one of the film's best attributes. His camera beautifully frames aspects of the city often taken for granted, including the public transit system, the airport, and the brutalist architecture.
Where the film sometimes falters is in striking a cohesive tone. When Zoya's terminal diagnosis is revealed, Brito brilliantly backgrounds a group of hospital workers celebrating watching the big game on a nearby television. This promise of dark comedy quickly peters out. Likewise, Omni Loop fails to capitalize on more absurd and surreal additions. The diagnosis in question is not an earthly disease but rather a black hole growing inside of Zoya. Britto sprinkles more bizarre elements throughout the film, including an ever-shrinking man, a near-extinct rhinoceros on display, and, of course, the central premise of time travel, but they feel at odds with the more elegiac take on the material. Much like Zoya, who often thinks about what could have been, there are plenty of other things to enjoy in the film.

Well cast with Emmy-winners, the film hinges on Parker's unique brand of no-nonsense frankness as the exhausted Zoya and current it-performer Edebiri adds her fascinating blend of skepticism and hopefulness to the plucky Paula. The intergenerational partnership between the two women, both professionally and personally, is a highlight that the film could have utilized even more. The third act suffers slightly from Paula's palpable absence before finding a fitting conclusion.
Whether in the lab or pontificating about their past and future, their scenes together anchor Omni Loop in reality and relatability. The film's third star is the kinetic editing by Britto and Martin Anderson that compresses time and adds visual humor and a sense of excitement to Omni Loop.

Ultimately, Zoya and Paula's quest to decode the magic pills is a MacGuffin. Inside Britto's high-concept time loop scenario is an existential examination of life's simple pleasures that will resonate with audiences both young and old. Omni Loop is propelled by Zoya and Paula's sense of ambition and acceptance of what they can do and have done. At times, it feels like Omni Loop does not meet its full potential, like its characters, but in the end, there is plenty to enjoy over and over and over again.

Omni Loop. Starring Mary-Louise Parker, Ayo Edebiri, Carlos Jacott, and Hannah Pearl Utt. Written and directed by Bernardo Britto. 110 minutes. Not rated. Screening at Coral Gables Art Cinema Friday, September 20, through Thursday, September 26, with a special Q&A with director Bernardo Britto after the 6:30 p.m. screening on Sunday, September 22.