At Filmmaker we’ve long been a fan of Zach Clark, director of such witty and genre (and genre-adjacent) work as Little Sister, Vacation! and White Reindeer. He always brings real style and subversive smarts to his pictures, which often apply ingenious tonal twists to familiar situations and set-ups. For his latest, The Becomers, Clark fuses an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-type tale with a classic rom-com set up. Reviewing the film out of Fantasia, Erik Luers wrote:

In depicting two shape-shifting entities who arrive separately on Earth searching for their misplaced mate, Clark’s film provides his Midwest cast the opportunity to play alien visitors disguised as the humans they body-snatch along the way. It also gives the actors the opportunity to work without one of their key resources, their eyes—when the creature overtakes the body of a human, the host’s eyes glow a blinding neon color, something only sunglasses or contact lenses can mask. Toggling between a Jarmusch cool and a Linklater chill, the film doubles down on its hangout vibe by enlisting Russell Meal, one half of American sibling rock band Sparks, to serve as narrator.

The Becomers opens in NYC from Dark Star on August 23 at Cinema Village, in Los Angeles on August 30th at Lumiere Music Hall, and in Chicago on September 13th at Music Box Theatre. North American VOD is scheduled for September 24.