Film

Fast Color

Name: Fast Color
Genre: Thriller, Science Fiction
Released: 2019
Cast: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Saniyya Sidney, Lorraine Toussaint, David Strathairn, Christopher Denham

A sci-fi thriller about a woman with superhuman abilities forced to return home after years on the run. Intimate and atmospheric rather than bombastic, it's a quiet story about family, trauma, and inherited gifts that refuse to stay buried. For anyone who loves character-driven speculative fiction and doesn't need explosions to feel tension.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy intimate, character-led science fiction where the superpowers stay small and the real drama is between a mother and daughter who barely know each other.

Skip it if you need big set pieces or a brisk pace, since this is restrained, often small-scale and slow to show its hand.

What it asks of you: It runs about 102 minutes at a deliberate, hushed pace, asking you to read faces and silences rather than wait for action.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Midnight in Paris2011

Like Fast Color, it's a intimate character study that uses an extraordinary premise as a mirror for deeper emotional truths. Both explore what we run from and why we can't escape ourselves, wrapped in magical realism rather than spectacle.

But It's a Woody Allen film, which carries baggage. And if you want plot momentum over philosophical wandering, you'll find it frustratingly slow.

The Leftovers2014

A series that treats the inexplicable with seriousness and patience, building dread through character and atmosphere. Both works understand that what matters isn't explaining the mystery—it's how people survive living inside it.

But Three seasons is a heavy commitment, and the show gets increasingly bleak. Some find it punishingly sad rather than cathartic.

Arrival2016

Another sci-fi film that prioritizes emotional truth over world-building spectacle. It's about communication, family, and time—themes that hum quietly beneath Fast Color's surface too. Gorgeously shot and genuinely moving.

But The twist is mathematically and thematically elegant but feels heavy-handed if you spot it early. Some viewers find it overwrought.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Fast Color

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Stalker1979

Both use an inexplicable phenomenon not as plot but as a mirror forcing characters to see themselves clearly. The real story is internal.

Andrei Tarkovsky's metaphysical sci-fi masterpiece about a guide leading two men through a mysterious zone toward a room that grants wishes. It's utterly different in era and scope—a Soviet philosophical epic versus American intimate thriller—but both films treat the supernatural as an occasion for characters to confront their own deepest fears and desires.

But At 163 minutes, it moves at a meditative crawl. Tarkovsky requires patience that borders on devotion; most viewers will find it forbiddingly slow.

Thelma & Louise1991

A Norwegian thriller about a young woman discovering telekinetic powers while isolated and afraid. Shares Fast Color's interest in female power as inheritance, trauma, and dangerous gift—all rendered with glacial, unbearable tension.

But It's deliberately paced and often opaque about motivations. If you need clarity or plot propulsion, you'll feel frustrated.

The OA2016

A wildly ambitious limited series about a blind woman with mysterious powers who gathers people into her story. Visually strange and thematically rich, it shares Fast Color's refusal to treat superpowers as straightforward good or evil.

But It's cancelled after two seasons on a cliffhanger. The mythology sprawls in ways some find messy rather than mysteriously complex.

Annihilation2018

A sci-fi thriller that trusts the audience to sit with weirdness and dread. It's about an inexplicable phenomenon and the women drawn into it—visual and unsettling in ways that linger like Fast Color does.

But The third act becomes more abstract and less narratively satisfying if you're invested in conventional story resolution.

Lovecraft Country2020

A series that braids horror, family trauma, and supernatural inheritance together. Each episode pivots genres while maintaining emotional core, much like Fast Color balances thriller tension with intimate family drama.

But Only one season exists. The show tries to do so much that some plot threads feel underdeveloped or abandoned.

A Dark Song2016

A quietly devastating film about grief, faith, and a woman's determination to commune with the divine. Shares Fast Color's willingness to let silence and atmosphere do emotional work that dialogue can't.

But It's essentially two people in a house for two hours. Minimal plot means you need to be moved by character and mood alone.

The Vast of Night2019

Another 2019 indie sci-fi gem about strange phenomena in a small town. It captures that same blend of intimacy and cosmic unease, with period detail and a focus on how ordinary people process the inexplicable.

But The narrative unfolds through long, talky sequences. Patience with dialogue-heavy scenes is essential; some viewers find it static.

Candyman2021

Both explore inherited power and inherited trauma as inseparable. What is passed down to you, you carry whether you want to or not.

Jordan Peele's horror film about inherited trauma, family legacy, and power passed down through bloodlines. It's genre filmmaking (horror instead of sci-fi thriller) but shares Fast Color's exploration of what women inherit from their mothers and what they cannot escape.

But It's extremely graphic and violent, and steeped in discussions of race and body horror that some viewers find distressing. Not a comfortable watch.

Akira1988

Both center on a protagonist whose emerging superpowers are tied to family and trauma, and both suggest that such power, once activated, cannot be controlled or contained by will alone.

Katsuhiro Otomo's animated cyberpunk masterpiece about a young man discovering telekinetic powers in a dystopian future. Radically different in form (anime, baroque action sequences, apocalyptic scope) but identical in asking: what happens when dormant power awakens in someone unprepared to handle it?

But The plot is dense and requires attention; the animation style is demanding. And the climax becomes surreal and abstract in ways that baffle as much as impress.