Imagine Back to the Future as art-house science fiction with Christopher Nolan flare, and you’ll have some semblance of what to expect from Lola, the feature film debut from director Andrew Legge. One-of-a-kind in its execution and storytelling, Lola is a hidden gem that is just waiting to be discovered by larger audiences.

The film industry is in a tumultuous time right now with the ongoing conversations surrounding A.I. and its unknown impact. We’re seeing, firsthand, the ramifications of how technology is altering the future of film as we know it. This controversy sets the perfect backdrop in which to watch Lola, an ambitious story about how history can be made and unmade by human invention.

Lola takes place in 1941 England and centers around two sisters, Thom (Emma Appleton) and Mars (Stefanie Martini), who have built a machine that intercepts radio and TV broadcasts from the future. The machine, which they call LOLA, opens a limitless portal to the future. Turning on the device and seeing David Bowie singing “Space Oddity” is a revelation. They listen to iconic songs before they have been made, like The Kinks “You Really Got Me”, and place bets on games already knowing their outcomes. The sisters’ intention is to use LOLA for good, and they do… until things go terribly wrong.

With World War II impending, Thom and Mars use LOLA to change history by altering the course of the deadly event. Ecstatic about their contribution to history, they quickly realize that adding new variables has led to a new set of consequences. For starters, David Bowie is no longer a pop icon. In fact, they may have accidentally erased him altogether. They stopped the war and saved lives, but also existentially grapple with what they sacrificed.

Lola encourages critical thinking, much like the anecdote of the train going down the tracks toward a group of people. If you were to control the lever, would you let fate prevail and let the train strike the group, or would you alter its course by intentionally switching tracks, instead going in the direction of a single person? The film encourages audiences to examine these hypothetical questions, and therefore, I recommend watching with another person to engage in a post-screening Q&A. Transfixing performances by Stefanie Martini and Emma Appleton further add to the film’s charm. The experimental score by Irish singer-songwriter Neil Hannon is one of the most inventive and clever I’ve heard all year.

If you could control the butterfly effect, would you? Technology has the capability to enhance humanity thereby creating a perfect society, but at what cost? Lola tackles universe timeline jumping in the same fashion as Everything Everywhere All At Once, but even compared to the 7-time Academy Award-winning film, it still stands tall. A nominee for Best First Feature at the 2022 Locarno International Film Festival, Lola is a delightful film that deserves your attention.

Distributed by Dark Sky Films. Now available on VOD.