Often as incoherent as it is visually profound

There’s a cut, approximately halfway through the elliptical documentary Above & Below, that begins with a table tennis match. The camera captures this back-and-forth, from afar, on what appears to be the surface of Mars (we’ll get to that). It appears that the figures are miming their actions, as no white orb can be clearly seen. Then, right as one astronaut-in-training smacks the would-be ball, the film cuts to an actual sphere drifting through water. Both shots are magnificently composed in their own right, and the edit is breathtaking (I rewound my online screener, an action I almost never take). Yet, after the moment passes, you may wonder what this stylistic flourish said or truly accomplished. Though it winds up having a magnetic power, Above & Below is often as incoherent as it is visually profound. http://www.cutprintfilm.com/reviews/above-below/