OtherLife

OtherLife

Year: 2017

Runtime: 96 mins

Language: English

Director: Ben C. Lucas

Science FictionMysteryCrimeHumanity and the world around usTwisted dark psychological thriller

Driven inventor Ren Amari develops OtherLife, a groundbreaking drug that alters the perception of time and creates immersive virtual realities. With OtherLife, brief moments in reality can feel like extended adventures. As Ren and her team rush to launch the drug, the government intervenes, planning to use it to create virtual prison cells, drastically reducing real-time sentences. When Ren objects, she becomes a test subject, trapped within her own mind and facing madness. She must escape and regain control of OtherLife to prevent others from sharing her fate.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – OtherLife (2017)

Explore the full timeline and setting of OtherLife (2017). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Near future

The narrative unfolds in a near-future landscape where memory manipulation and immersive simulations are commercially viable. Technology enables decades of experiences to unfold in minutes, blurring the line between reality and virtual reality. Corporate and government interests push for rapid deployment, creating ethical and legal tensions.

Location

Technology company HQ, OtherLife testing facility, Hospital ward, Prison cell

The setting centers on a sleek technology company headquarters where researchers push nanotech memory-implant software. It expands to the dedicated OtherLife testing facility where immersive simulations are created and run. A stark confinement cell and hospital wards feature prominently, highlighting the moral tension between corporate ambition, medical care, and personal autonomy.

🏢 Tech company 🧬 Nanotech lab 🏥 Hospital ward 🚓 Prison cell

Last Updated: October 03, 2025 at 10:17

Main Characters – OtherLife (2017)

Meet the key characters of OtherLife (2017), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Ren Amari (Jessica De Gouw)

Ren is a lead researcher and co-founder driving the development of OtherLife. She is driven, ethically minded, and willing to push boundaries to help her comatose brother, while resisting exploitation by others. Her dual role as innovator and reluctant whistleblower places her at the center of the moral conflict surrounding memory implants.

🧬 Scientist 🧠 Visionary ⚖️ Ethical conscience

Sam (T.J. Power)

Sam is the entrepreneur behind OtherLife, pitching near-instant experiences for profit. He pressures for licensing the technology to government use, prioritizing market potential over safety and consent. His push for expansion catalyzes the ethical and legal conflicts that drive the plot.

💼 Entrepreneur 🧠 Strategist ⚡ Ambition

Danny (Thomas Cocquerel)

Danny is Ren’s coworker whose enthusiasm for simulations tests boundaries. A reckless unsupervised test leads to a fatal seizure, revealing the human cost of rapid experimentation. His strained relationship with Ren underlines the personal stakes of the project.

💡 Innovator 🧪 Scientist 🎭 Tension

Jared Amari (Liam Graham)

Jared is Ren’s comatose brother who becomes the target of memory-implant trials. His life-support becomes a focal point of the moral debate, illustrating the real-world consequences of the technology. His desire for death and the questions surrounding it intensify the ethical stakes.

🧬 Patient 🧠 Dependency ⚖️ Ethical weight

Dr. Robert Amari (Tiriel Mora)

Dr. Amari is Ren’s father, a professor whose stance pushes to terminate Jared’s life support. His perspective embodies a traditional view of medical ethics and the heavy burden of parental decisions. His involvement adds pressure to Ren’s already fraught mission.

🧪 Professor 👨‍👧 Family ⚖️ Moral authority

Byron Finbar (Clarence John Ryan)

Byron is a senior executive/investor who steers the project toward aggressive commercialization. He embodies corporate pragmatism and willingness to test boundaries for profit, often clashing with Ren’s caution and ethics.

💼 Investor 🧠 Strategist 🧭 Power broker

Miss Wilson (Priscilla-Anne Forder)

Miss Wilson is a board member representing governance and risk oversight. She signals institutional scrutiny and the cost of unchecked ambition, reinforcing the pressures that shape the project’s fate.

🏛️ Board member 🔎 Oversight ⚖️ Risk management

Last Updated: October 03, 2025 at 10:17

Major Themes – OtherLife (2017)

Explore the central themes of OtherLife (2017), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🧠 Memory ethics

Memory manipulation raises fundamental questions about identity and consent. The film probes whether experiences created inside a machine are real, and who should control such power. Characters must wrestle with the consequences of inserting memories, erasing trauma, and shaping minds for profit or punishment.

⚖️ Power and accountability

The pursuit of profit and control drives corporate and boardroom dynamics, often at the expense of individual rights. Investors and executives push for broader uses of OtherLife, including state applications, testing ethical boundaries. The story scrutinizes who bears responsibility when technology harms people.

🔒 Freedom vs confinement

Confinement emerges as a literal and metaphorical battleground, with Ren trapped inside the OtherLife system for a year and others facing long or indefinite captivity. The film questions whether true escape is possible when realities can be manufactured. It culminates in a debate over autonomy, suffering, and the right to end artificial life.

Last Updated: October 03, 2025 at 10:17

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OtherLife Summary

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OtherLife Summary

OtherLife Timeline

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OtherLife Timeline

OtherLife Spoiler-Free Summary

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OtherLife Spoiler-Free Summary

More About OtherLife

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