A man finds himself in a relationship with a woman whose husband coerced the man into sleeping with her one stormy night. A young woman having an affair with a prominent politician is sheltered away to keep her from tarnishing the politician’s image. In both of these scenarios, the women may or may not be pregnant. Meanwhile, a psychological researcher works with a doctor in a labyrinth-like underground facility on experiments involving machine-generated tones and hypno-therapy, and the husband from the first storyline works in secrecy with the politician from the second.

If you were to try to explain to a friend Rob Schroeder’s sci-fi-cum-psychological thriller, Ultrasound, you might compartmentalize the plot information like this – like the panels on the page of the graphic novel. These are the panels at play, and while they may not always combine in ways that makes answers all that apparent, the film’s consistently disconcerting tone assures these panels won’t be easily shaken.

The film is based on Conor Stechschulte’s graphic novel Generous Bosom, and although it takes little aesthetic inspiration from the book—its look by comparison is drab and somewhat muted—it has the control over its myriad of other elements that sometimes only graphic novelists are able to achieve. Stechschulte pens the script adaptation of his own work, and it seems that in distilling his story down to only words, he has found a sandbox to tinker winkingly with story mechanics and elevate mystery. That said, Ultrasound is not a film devoid of audacious and inventive visuals. In following its characters, we go down twisted synaptic passages of the mind as often as we go down the shadowy corridors of research facilities, and Schroeder knows when to work with his team to ramp up the delirium with impressionistic flourishes in lighting, editing, and score.

But because of obvious budget restraints, Ultrasound smartly makes ambiguity its strongest quality. Schroeder doesn’t introduce twists and change direction with his story in ways that might give you whiplash, but his deliberate way of navigating the maze-like story still has an odd way of keeping you desperately invested. A film like this might be most digestible in the end for those who look for “EXPLAINED” video on YouTube to give them closure, but for those content to sit and muse over their own theories, Ultrasound yields plenty of heady concepts and moral conundrums to unpack.

The acting from all parties involved is exceptional, and while no performer is ever really given an opportunity to shine above the rest, this is perhaps done on purpose to suggest that power dynamics are murky, and that who is in “control” or who is the real antagonist is never certain. Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser is the most recognizable face and maybe the audience’s most logical avatar, but his character is subdued, neutered, and spends much of the story despondent and withdrawn. All the characters of the film are pawns—to a certain extent—and this is where the film taps into an unmistakably “sci-fi” brand of dread, its world’s technology distorting conceptions of autonomy and selfhood into the horror of something unknown.

While the unknown and the alien dominates Schroeder’s film, it is the banality and domesticity of a world not unlike our own that keeps the film’s warped dream logic surprisingly grounded. A man goes to buy his girlfriend orange juice; a woman receives unsolicited comments at a community pool; a selfish man gaslights his young lover. What is most intriguing about Ultrasound is that the sinister conspiracy at the centre of its story might all be in service of the most commonplace, everyday white lies and manipulations. But this makes it no less intriguing. The biggest questions about the littlest things are what help us open our world up and look beyond the veil.

CAST & CREDITS

Directed by Rob Schroeder

Rob Schroeder began his film career as a music video director and independent producer. He co-founded Lodger Films in Los Angeles and currently produces and directs the Emmy®-winning PBS series Variety Studio: Actors On Actors, now in its 14th season. Ultrasound is his feature film directorial debut.

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Alexis Rose

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Justin Allen, Shayna Schroeder

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Peter Kuplowsky

CO-PRODUCER

Spencer Jezewski, Brock Bodell

CAST

Vincent Kartheiser, Chelsea Lopez, Breeda Wool, Tunde Adebimpe, Rainey Qualley, Chris Gartin, Bob Stephenson

DIRECTOR

Rob Schroeder

PRODUCER

Rob Schroeder, Georg Kallert, Charlie Prince

SCREENWRITER

Conor Stechschulte

CINEMATOGRAPHER

Mathew Rudenberg

EDITOR

Brock Bodell

COMPOSER

Zak Engel