SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! Writer-director Richard Melkonian makes his feature-length debut with his avant-garde drama Universe25 (there is no space between the word and number). The film starts with a young man working in a dead letter office and comes across a mighty tome. With some time to kill, he decides to read what’s there to try and assess where it should have wound up. The handwritten screed tells the story of Mott (Giacomo Gex), an angel sent by his Master (Andre Flynn) to accomplish three tasks before the world ends.
Mott must find a saint who doesn’t know he’s holy, sacrifice a “lamb” as a blood sacrament, and write down all of his Earthly experiences so that others may learn of his trials and tribulations. The catch is that Mott only has until the next Sabbath arrives to do everything. If Mott succeeds, will he be able to prevent the end of the world, or is humanity done for no matter what?
“…an angel sent by his Master to accomplish three tasks before the world ends.”
Melkonian has a lot to say about the human condition and how people become complacent. Throughout Universe25, Mott changes the people he encounters and they them. At a party for the contender to be saint, Mott meets a lady, and the two have a musical number. Ostensibly, it is about how both of them seek the ever-elusive love. As an angel, Mott laments things he’s never known while the female goes on about things that have slipped through her fingers, so to speak. The brother of the saint goes after Mott for “being crazy” at a certain part despite liking him earlier on. The quick change in the man’s attitude toward Mott illustrates how people will like something until it challenges their point of view or beliefs. It is heavy stuff, to be sure, but the filmmaker handles it all with verve and style. However, to say more about plot specifics runs the risk of spoilers.
Gex seems monotone at first, but as his character spends more time on Earth, that slowly dissipates. By the time the end hits, Gex is fully emoting and selling the gravity of what’s truly happening. It is a tricky part that requires a lot of subtlety, and the actor nails it from start to finish. Flynn is both menacing and commanding to the point where he might actually be a deity of some kind.
Universe25 is highly original and completely absorbing. Gex is perfectly cast as the angel whose time on this blue ball in space changes him for good and ill. The themes Melkonian attaches to the narrative make one think about how humanity treats others and the planet. More importantly, challenging religious ideas and texts to help people become their best selves (potentially) is an idea that might make some wince. But rest assured, the director knows exactly what he’s doing and makes his point most entertainingly.
Universe25 screened at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival. For more information about Universe25, go to Richard Melkonian’s Instagram page.
"…highly original and completely absorbing."
