The Clock
2020 · 12m · United States
Directed by Emily Lobsenz
Genres: drama, sci-fi, thriller
Tones: contemplative, dark, provocative
In a 2040 feminist utopia, Octavia shows her friend Mel how to use the Abortion App on her Clock, a biometric device that gives women precise control over their reproductive systems. When Mel pries into the history of the Clock's invention, she tears open the dark secrets of Octavia's tragic sacrifices in sparking this new world order.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Everyone expects cli-fi dystopias; Lobsenz flips the script and asks what we sacrifice to build the world we think we want—then makes you squirm because the utopia actually works. The real provocation isn't the premise, it's that she refuses to let you feel clean about progress.
A crisp sci-fi parable that inherits the DNA of speculative cinema while resisting its moralizing—the Clock device itself becomes a formal constraint that mirrors the film's own precision, each scene calibrated to reveal another layer of the bargain struck beneath this glossy future.
The decision to keep Octavia's face almost impassive during the confession, letting only her breathing and the Clock's haptic feedback carry the weight—that single choice transforms what could be a campus debate into something genuinely haunting and human.