I would say this movie sits somewhere between 6 and 7 - it's a good job of entertainment, but a finicky viewer will find much to object to. I had to brace myself for the down-on-their-luck scenes, but those were balanced with the "meat" part of the tale well enough, for me. What was lackluster was their treatment of the ethical side of this matter, so look elsewhere if that's what interests you most.I couldn't decide whether or not the movie was an attack on Buddhism. I felt an ironic tone to that entire side of the film, and that the credulous viewer is being taken on a not-so-genuine carnival ride, although if deliberate it's done in a subtle enough fashion to be innocuous. It's the filmmaker's business if he wanted to portray that kind of view. Although maybe they were just going with the whole mystique of eastern religion as a contrast to a decidedly western perspective, which could add to the effect of making the plot feel more wholly fleshed out.

Film is decent. Strong points are interesting concept, good pacing, and strong acting. Weak points include pretty bad dialogue and some key unbelievable plot points, weird choices in aesthetic. The movie is worth it, but its not perfect. Constantly struck by how weird everything looks in the like yellow-green tint. Added nothing to the movie. The dialogue is also pretty unimpressive. Not a memorable or striking exchange in the movie because of the awkward word choice. However this is all made passable by the strong concept and moral questions that are brought into the scope of the film. It touches on the concept of sacrifice and freedom as we brave a new age where technology entangles with the human brain. A lot to take away as any good scifi should.

I got to this movie by chance, just looking at sci-fi titles. Its actually quite a well made film. The story is engaging, the characters are intriguing and the acting is good. Its very difficult to find good sci-fi in the last few years. In this JJ Abrams era every sci-fi is the same, the story is the same, the actors all look alike, the characters are full of clichés and boring stereotypes that only teenagers may find interesting. Thats why Im happy to ignore a few flaws in movie Listening, which offers something outside of the cookie cutter scene. Cool movie.

The movie reminds me a lot of Primer, but Listening tries to take it up one more level. While the concept in Primer seems mostly talk, this movie movies around with you a lot more.A group of broke college students sacrifice everything for their experiment to harness the power of the mind. In a lot of ways the story works like the social network. Two kids who come up with a great idea, and everything is cool until they figure out they changed the world, and in that moment they change (Although the movie attempts to put morals behind the change) The philosophy of the movie is pretty cool, but at times feels like it's going all over the place which makes the movie seem longer than it really is. I actually love very low budget Hard Sci-Fi films like this one that fully draw the fiction from actual fact, but there are moments where the movie bites off more than it can chew, Ironically, not with the Science part, but with the social commentary about young genius who create something they loose control of.I did love the story and the characters in the story, no matter what, everyone was likable and you want to root for them throughout, but I would wait to stream this online one a day when you have nothing better to do.