If I may, I'd like to add my 2 cents.
"Is the thing about the ships true...the Islanders didn't see them because they, erm, couldn't conceive of them...? Or something? (I may be remembering it wrong!)"
--No, you remembered correctly. The woman who said that was a chemist, so I'm not going to say she's stupid, but the idea that someone can not see a sailing ship right in front of their eyes is totally and utterly ridiculous. A dog sees a car coming at him and even though he doesn't understand what it is he can still see it, and that's indisputable. And we (most of us, I guess) are smarter than dogs.
The idea she was trying to get at is that they didn't understand what they were. But I also find that hard to believe, too. They knew of boats. So what if these boats were bigger and had sails? No difference.
She (and the movie) was also trying to say that just because we see something doesn't mean it registers in our brains. Any detective, investigator, or criminal trial lawyer will tell you that's a fact. It happens every day. People are right there within your sight yet you fail to really see them or remember them. Other times, our minds can be tricked by what we see. Just ask a magician how that happens. We believe what we want to believe, even if we just saw it, or didn't see it. So our recollections can be very different from what actually happened.
"At first I thought it was clever to demonstrate some pretty heavy science with a nonsensical Bridget Jones / urban jungle / isn't-modern-life-rubbish-kinda-montages."
--Those narrative scenes were supposed to help demonstrate in a way what the scientists were talking about. Marlee Matlin is so likable that I think she was a great casting choice, and it gave the audience something else to follow besides a bunch of talking heads going on about things most couldn't understand.
"Then, towards the end it got creepy. Preachy."
--That's when such films (or written works even) should finally make their points. Personally I didn't find it creepy at all.
"When she threw her anxiety pills in the trash can I definitely got a Scientology vibe about the whole thing."
--I can certainly see how you'd feel that way, the Scientology people preach against drugs that affect the mind. I think, though, what this film was trying to say, based on what we saw the main character go through, is that we are "addicted" to the normal way we act & react, and the drugs were a symbol of our disbelief in those addictions, the kind of addictions that don't need drugs to overcome. We have emotional ties to our non-clinical depression, anxiety, fears, etc. Belief in yourself, positive thinking, and the ability to take hold of your life will help you overcome these things.
Again, just my 2 cents worth.
"Careful, man, there's a beverage here!" - The Dude
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