★★★1/2

Resilient is a word that comes to mind when looking at Again Again, the time-loop science-fiction drama written and co-directed by Mia Moore, in collaboration with Heather Ballish, and executive produced by Lilly Wachowski (The Matrix). Shot in the blue-collar town of Aberdeen, Washington (home to grunge icon Kurt Cobain), that resiliency not only comes in the film’s journey from page to screen - blending together years of previous material to tie into the passage of time - but also the film’s function as an allegory of the transgender experience: the notion of living the same day again and again while hoping something might change for the better.

Again Again is a time-loop movie. And like most time-loop movies, the mystery of why an individual is experiencing the same day over and over becomes the focal point of the narrative. Moore and Ballish are ambitious in how they approach this particular mystery. Here, the time loop has existed for Aggie (Moore) for a decade. Her partner Tess (Aria Taylor) is not just a childhood friend who was there for Aggie through her transition, but has been an on-again, off-again romantic partner. They have been through it all and Tess even chooses a life with Aggie on her wedding day, leaving behind a saddened fiancé. 

Much of the first half of the film focuses on the relationship they share—the conversations that meander, the arguments and conflicts which sometimes arise. Part of what Moore’s screenplay explores here is what happens when the loop ends. How do you break out of what is familiar and start to live anew? That’s a practical concept that can exist in multiple scenarios of the human experience and its inclusion here speaks to the ambition of what these collaborators have crafted together.

Despite living the same day together for all these years, Aggie and Tess are still learning more and more about each other. As it turns out, there is more to what is happening in Again Again and I won’t spoil the film for anyone interested. I will say that Aggie’s not completely in control of everything around her and the film’s second half pivots into an exploration of how complicated relationships can become, and who sacrifices what for whom and at what cost. The film also looks at the role each person plays in a relationship, defined, in part, by a society that, at least in the modern political discourse around transgender individuals, seeks to diminish, if not flat out eliminate one’s very existence.

Tess has been there with Aggie each day of the time loop. And though Aggie deals with severe anxiety attacks and drinks and does drugs as a coping mechanism, without that support we see she is steps away from not being okay. There’s a comfort in the loop, even if it stifles you and holds you back from living a true and authentic life. Watching Aggie, we can see a pattern developing, normalizing disappointment and normalizing a fear of stepping forward unapologetically. Again Again hints at, and taps into, a lot of things in its 90-plus minutes. Not all of it is cohesive, some of it is messy and at times I wanted the film to move itself along and avoid spinning its wheels like it can be prone to do.

But when all the twists and turns are shared and the sci-fi elements of the film are humanized, Aggie and Tess share an embrace and exchange looks with one another that say so much. Oftentimes, life is not about living to the fullest, it is about existing and getting from one moment to the next and surviving the smaller moments. Moore and Ballish remind us with Again Again that even with a chance to relive every day, life will never really become everything we want and need it to be. 

And that is living. And that is okay.

Again Again was screened as part of the 52nd Seattle International Film Festival.