Review:  Semi-sci-fi ‘Movement and Location’ ushers its audience to unexpected places

It may be about a woman from the future who has been sent back 400 years to present-day Brooklyn, but the curious “Movement and Location” would never be confused for your standard sci-fi thriller.

Instead, the low-key drama, from the husband-and-wife team of director Alexis Boling and writer Bodine Boling, implements those high-concept conventions as a gateway for an original take on the immigrant experience.

Although there’s definitely something a little off about Kim Getty (Bodine Boling), her irked roommate Amber (Anna Margaret Hollyman) would never suspect that she was from another era, and Kim intends to keep it that way.

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Sent back in time in search of a better life, she has a steady job doing homeless outreach and is in a promising relationship with a nice-guy New York cop (Brendan Griffin).

But when she crosses paths with 15-year-old Amber (Catherine Missal), a fellow refugee from the future, the new existence she has been careful to build for herself quickly unravels.

Like its beguiling title, shared with a song by progressive bluegrass band the Punch Brothers, who appropriated the phrase from a throwing philosophy practiced by ex-pitcher Greg Maddux, there’s very little about “Movement and Location” that feels familiar or predictable.

Systematically yet subtly, the Bolings and their strong cast take this certifiably oddball film in some thoughtfully intriguing places.

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“Movement and Location.”

No MPAA rating.

Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes.

Playing: Arena Cinema, Hollywood.

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