Richard Lewis

Emily Levine, the subject of the quirky 61 minute documentary-of-sorts called Emily @ the Edge of Chaos, was a philosopher, comedian and writer who became fascinated by physics after she was diagnosed with a tumor in her pituitary gland. The tumor had caused a crazy mix of symptoms that led her to question the meaning of reality. Her TED talks about the interconnectedness of everything and making friends with reality have been viewed millions of times. Knowing that background should make you curious to watch producer/director Wendy Apple’s documentary, following Emily’s heady trip through complicated subjects like Chaos Theory, Interactivity, and Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, but from the practical and often very funny perspective of one woman’s journey.

Based on her 2009 stage play of the same name, self-styled “philosopher-comic” Emily Levine’s darkly comic meditation on quantum physics and living with a slow-moving pituitary-gland disorder that causes varying degrees of disability and distortion of the hands, feet and face–is, against all odds, a genuinely funny and informative romp through science, history, politics and personal experience.