As attention spans dwindle to below-goldfish levels, researchers are looking for new therapeutic treatments to tackle the steadily growing mental health issues many are facing. And with Artificial Intelligence increasingly taking over, well, everything, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some are developing AI models to treat depression, anxiety, and other disorders. The gamification of mental health therapy is already on the rise, whether it be self-care and meditation apps like Finch or Headspace, neurofeedback treatments, or even chatbots for the lonely. Virtual and augmented-reality environments have already been shown to be successful at treating anxiety. All this is to say, the somewhat fictional world in Corey Hughes’ Your Final Meditation isn’t as far off as one might think.
And perhaps that’s the beginning of the beauty of Hughes’ work — it’s believability. In Your Final Meditation, Jodiiie is using a VR game, combined with “Transcend,” which functions like an Alexa or Siri, to calm her increasing anxiety. As described, the game is “powered by a next-generation AI algorithm that uses your personal data, biometrics, and memories to create a custom meditation experience.” The bulk of the film is spent inside this virtual world, following along as Jodiiie works her way through its various levels. Interspersed are clips of real-life Jodiiie in her apartment, using Transcend to invite friends to a party or read a text from her landlord. Periodically, these are self-triggered, and at other times it’s from low batteries or other technical difficulties. It’s in these segments that we begin to understand the underlying reasons for Jodiiie’s anxiety; her friends never respond, and her landlord tells her she needs to move out ASAP.
But within the game, there’s a sense of calm — at least, at first. Clips of paths in the forest or crashing waves feature an ambiguous voiceover: “The ocean. It arrives. Be the ocean. Breathing.” Jodiiie progresses through the game’s 12 levels, the latter of which are more anxiety-inducing than distracting: a video game character with only 12 minutes to live, a plane without a pilot. After completing the twelfth level, Jodiiie has seemingly reached her goal; we see her attending the party she invited all her friends to, but still wearing the VR headset that puts her within the game. It’s in this blend of the real and real-adjacent realities that Jodiiie seems to finally “transcend” her mental health struggles.
Anxiety is famously hard to depict on screen, but Hughes’ blend of reality and imaginary manages, to use his language, to transcend that difficulty. By keeping the bulk of the film fixed within the game, Hughes sidesteps the typical issues that come with portraying the feeling; we don’t see Jodiiie suffer from a panic attack or go through acute trauma, and this avoidance allows Your Final Meditation to fully embrace the complexities and particularities of her circumstance. At the same time, the shifts between the virtual and real worlds mirror the inconstancy and seesawing nature of anxiety itself. Just when things seem calm, a sudden shift — like a glitch or a transition to a more unsettling level — captures how anxiety can intrude without warning, and the result of this approach is a productively experiential work.
But the film doesn’t ignore the inherent tension in its premise. For some, digital treatments like Jodiiie’s might seem counterintuitive (especially those later levels) — after all, technology can be a profound source of anxiety, and retreating into virtual spaces can sometimes exacerbate feelings of isolation in its avoidance rather than alleviate them. Your Final Meditation leans into this contradiction with finesse, exploring how the very tools that offer comfort might keep us tethered to a sense of unreality, leaving viewers to question whether Jodiiie’s peace is genuine or another (temporary) illusion.
This approach makes the film more abstruse, but its opacity serves a purpose. By refusing to hold the viewer’s hand and follow a straightforward narrative, Hughes forces the audience to navigate the story in much the same way Jodiiie navigates her anxiety. It’s a puzzle that doesn’t offer easy answers, reflecting the way anxiety can feel both all-encompassing and hard to articulate. This ambiguity may frustrate those looking for clear resolution (though, if you watch closely, there is one), but it’s in this specific nuance that Your Final Meditation finds its strength. For those willing to engage with the film’s complexities, it offers a strikingly raw portrayal of the human mind’s struggles to find peace in the digital age.
Published as part of New/Next Film Fest 2024.
