This is the most Twilight Zone movie ever. I say this as a huge fan of what Rod Serling did with the original series and the Night Gallery follow up. Rod had a way of taking normal and making it weird. Which I love. But he did it without making it weird. Which I know sound contradictory, but if you have watched any of the old Twilight Zone, you know what I mean. And if you haven’t watched them, you should. The black and white ones. There have been like 4 reboots of the series, or I should say attempts. But they all fail to capture the magic, because the magic was Rod.

And then the other night I decided to watch a 10 year old Mexican subtitled movie called Similars. Can’t say what drew me to it, other than I love watching random things. But from the opening scene where we are drawn into the dingy world of a Mexican bus station during the worst rainstorm ever… I was hooked. 

The movie is almost in black and white. I don’t know how to categorize it. At times I am pretty sure it was black and white, but then there would be a scene with a hint of color.

We have Martin, the ticket booth worker who is jaded in his life and job. Ulises, the man desperately waiting for a bus (that isn’t coming) to take him to the city where his wife is about to give birth. Irene, the pregnant woman who is fleeing from a domestic violence situation. And a few others: the old lady sitting in the corner, the worker in the bathroom, the mother and son (Ignacio), the medical student conspiracy theorist. 

All of them in this dark place where it feels like light will never return to. Speaking of the color though, Ignacio breaks this because he is wearing a bright yellow rain coat and galoshes. As this drama plays out with each person seeming to have a crisis point meltdown, something odd begins to happen. Martin’s face begins to change. And then Rosa in the bathroom. And then the old lady in the corner. They are all now looking exactly like Ulises! But Ulises doesn’t understand why people keep saying that, because they don’t look like that to him.

And then we discover that the key to it all is Ignacio.

This is reminiscent of It’s A Good Life, the Twilight Zone episode with Bill Mumy sending people to the cornfield. And also a bit of Eye Of The Beholder. 

I don’t want to go too deep into this, because it is a fantastic watch. One I hope you take the time to search for. It is a bit difficult to find online because of the name Similars. I watched it on the Roku Channel. And after having spent time in this world, I am absolutely seeking out the other works by the writer/director Isaac Ezban. This is without hesitation a GOLD star review for me.