The reviews are in

Here are some reviews of the film Morphic Resonance

To watch the film, click here.

“Morphic Resonance is not a film that you watch if you want quick action or a quick resolve. When watching there were parts of me that came up wondering if this was just an overly artistic portrayal of sound and music, a slow dramatic approach that doesn’t necessarily fit a general ‘reality.’ In continuing to watch what is revealed is a weaving of something greater than I was expecting. Be patient, it’s well worth it.”

Ryan Dillon, Guilford, Vermont

To watch the film, click here. 

“Morphic Resonance (according to the theory developed by Rupert Sheldrake, British biologist 1942–) a paranormal influence by which a pattern of events or behavior can facilitate subsequent occurrences of similar patterns.

I love language, sounds, music and the way that they fit together to create a tapestry of our lives. 

This morning, as I prepared to visit the library and write this review, my friend Anne, whose house I am staying at as I visit the stunning Bay Area in Northern California, brought up onomatopoeia. We talked about how language can sound like the thing it describes, not only in the strict definition of onomatopoeic words (“pop”, “sizzle”, “hiss”) but also how certain words seem to “feel” like what they are describing, as you say or think them. “Creamy” came to mind, and its rhyme, “dreamy”. “Sleek, smooth, ugly, harsh, confusion…” All these seem to be more than just simply symbolic representations but somehow convey syllables that invoked states of being—like Hindu seed mantras, or chanting. 

Anne knew nothing about this film, nor did I make any immediate connection to it in our conversation, although our time together this morning ended in listening to birds singing around her home.

Which became beautifully (and yes!) resonant when I got to the library, jumped onto the free WiFi and opened up “Morphic Resonance” by Mattias Olsson. Reading Olsson’s description of language and sound echoed perfectly my conversation with Anne that morning, and when the film opened with the bird calls of Andris Fågelviskare and the birds’ responses, I was hooked, mouth agape.

There are no spoken words throughout the film but the 24-minute exploration of sounds, settings and mood, in which the patient camera and microphone follow five people communing with, talking to and singing in nature, with nature, is rich with meaning and a certain tension that compels one to keep watching. With his other films, I was struck with, for example, how he weaved the words and images of Charles Eisenstein with Olsson’s own stories and images from his location in Sweden. 

(I first became aware of Mattias Olsson because I am a reader and fan of Eisenstein’s books and have participated in his “Living in the Gift” course and that led me to Olsson’s film “An Unlearning – my meeting with Charles Eisenstein” and his subsequent “Charles Eisenstein Series”.)

His editing is masterful, not jarring and scenes transition so naturally that they seem to have edited themselves. It becomes clear, however, that the editing is a star player in this short. But it’s not jarring intercuts or musical blending into fade-throughs that “grab” the viewer. There comes a crescendoing weave of overlaid scenes, which cause one to want to watch the whole film again to see if each of the subjects must surely have known of the other’s “performances”.

I am a big fan of “The OA” on Netflix and I get the same feeling here as with that ostensibly different but similarly-feeling 16 hours of multiverse exploration. I must watch it again to see what I missed. And again, and again.

I must admit, with the shimmer of synchronicity present here in the library, evoked from my morning conversation, the clean, crisp air of this spring day and the birds singing here in the Oakland hills, I am not an objective critic. But I can’t help but wonder if the film itself is a sort of charmed talisman, calling forth a magical realm. Surely, the scenes and sounds presented are shamanistic and divine. It is a stretch to think that watching them unfold on a screen can evoke the same enchanted reality in real life for everyone.

But I hope it does for you, as it did for me.”

Todd Lejnieks of the podcast Edgetalkers,
Napa, California

To watch the film, click here.

“Morphic Resonance is a beautiful short film that shows a deep love and understanding of Nature through the vibrance of the human beings that are richly in balance with the totality. Each human brings a unique and beautiful transmission of their relationship and communion with Gaia. A sheer pleasure to behold. It brings a peace and stillness to the heart. Enjoy!!!!”

Mary Jones Baumann, Oslo, Norway

To watch the film, click here.

“The beauty of this film is that, like our Earth, it simply provides an experience and the space to experience it. It makes no demands and has no agenda; it’s truly in the nature of Gift.

Earth was as much a part of this movie as any of the wondrous humans who gave of their gifts to Her. Every interaction these beings had with Earth was a visible give-and-take between themselves and a sentient, sensitive, playful, and grateful partner.

For this type of healing work to be captured and shared is a much-needed feat, and was executed in such a considerate and artistic way. Visually, the film was stunning and the editing was totally in service to all the participants; Each human and their surroundings had the chance to fully express themselves, and the audience is given ample space to absorb, feel, and experience.

Everything that the healers and artists did in the film was the opposite of mainstream society’s idea of productivity. I even found a little voice in my head once in a while asking “…But what is it accomplishing tho??”. The illusion here is that this question has an answer. Some questions’ sole purpose is to project our doubt and fear, and, by putting a question mark on the end of it, to validate/perpetuate that doubt and fear. The doubt and fear we experience all draws back to this conception in us that we are separate from the rest of Experience, that we have to answer our own questions because the Universe isn’t listening, isn’t sentient and cannot answer our questions for us. We have built an entire society, and man-made world separate from Earth, in an attempt to answer fear-based questions instead of addressing the fear. These structures can no longer serve us because we can no longer believe we are separate from the web of Life.

This work, done by the filmmaker and all the people in it, is leading the charge into the new paradigm we must build, shaping our reality and our future in ways we can’t fully understand from our current perspective or fit into our current paradigms.

Sometimes, the most productive a person can be is to join the space that Earth is always holding for us. Then we begin to remember who we are and to speak Her language. This film allowed me to access that truth. All I could do was sit humbly in appreciation, in the space that was so generously provided for me.”

Rose Cohen, Austin, Texas