A Glitch in the Matrix review – intriguing but shallow look at simulation theory

Red pill or blue pill? How you answer that will likely determine your interest in A Glitch in the Matrix, a documentary deep-dive into that ever unsettling question: are we actually living in a simulated reality? In the hands of writer-director-animator Rodney Ascher, it's an intriguing watch, but one that's also prone to tangents and digressions, eschewing science for subjective anecdotes – fascinating but ultimately shallow. The mistake would be to consider this a work of scientific endeavour. Rather, its focus is on the individual desire to believe.

Ascher, whose Shining conspiracy film Room 237 mined similar territory, has made a career out of compiling the most far out fan theories and packaging them as thought-provoking video essays. It's not that he necessarily buys into what his subjects are saying. More that he's taken up position as a chronicler of our human capacity for interpretation, our innate tendency to look for patterns and hidden clues in everything – whether they're there or not.

It's this film's willingness to give the bulk of its runtime over to what are largely subjective anecdotes that at times lends it the feel of listening to a crackpot shouting conspiracy theories at you on the street. Though the documentary finds room for some scientific theory (Oxford professor Mark Bostrom, who popularised the modern simulation argument, makes a brief appearance), it might have benefitted from even more – especially since the idea of a simulated reality has only grown in popularity in recent years within the scientific community, with some experts even estimating there's a fifty-fifty chance we're living in one.

What we get still makes for an absorbing tapestry of mind-bending observation, blending neat animation with archive footage in a way that ensures it's never dull viewing. We glimpse sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick, who spent his later years preaching feverishly on the subject of our fake reality, intercut with talk of the religious connections, video game footage, and discussion of the eerie “Mandela Effect.” Interviewees, meanwhile, are rendered as digital avatars – to hide their identity, or perhaps just to spice up the visuals. Late in the film, a more thorough analysis of The Matrix arrives at a disturbing – and perhaps unnecessary – recreation of the real life incident that led a delusional son to murder his own parents.

As with Room 241, Glitch arrives at no conclusion. How could it? Whether Ascher is poking fun at his interviewees or finds their theories convincing also remains unclear. But why bother to make this documentary unless you were genuinely open to the ideas presented within? If the film is overall less convincing than a well-written article on the subject, it at least makes for a valuable conversation starter. If, for all its implications, this is a conversation you even want to have.

A Glitch in the Matrix is now available on various digital platforms.