What Keeps Us From Transcending? 'And Through The Portal We Go Finds' Answers in Cult Conformity

Perhaps the best way to watch And Through The Portal We Go, the feature from producer and Alabama native Allison Moy Hayhurst and director Mike Mayhurst, is knowing little. Each reveal exposes as much about the viewer as the three characters.

And Through the Portal We Go centers on the last three remaining members of a cult, or even a religion: former-child actor Mikey (Taylor Dalton Curtis), questioning Craig (Joseph Lymous), and high-maintenance Katie (Sarah Goeke). 

The trio work hard to achieve the perfection required of their last day on Earth – or this spiritual plane – so that they can “transcend,” which involves walking into the woods at the end of the day to a portal, the final step of a long day filled with specific activities. Each task is precious. Get the coffee brewed perfectly, make the mark of spiritual leader Alyom on the pictures of three who’ve made the trip most recently, repeat the phrases of the cult without disregarding a word, complete yoga-esque moves, and finally, take a selfie to leave behind for the rest of the world like the forty-seven others who have gone before them. 

Yet none of it works. The portal is there, and as far as viewers know, as real as the house, the coffee, the avocado toast. When the three attempt to transcend, which is merely to enter the portal to what lies next, each of them return to the moment where they were the next morning to repeat the day again. Something goes wrong. 

At first, it’s a concern of missing a beat, a change of the routine, albeit slightly. After a few days of attempts of failure, it becomes a blame game, and the finger pointing grows more humorous as Katie, Craig, and Mikey try to guess who hindered the rules of the cult. (Dalton Curtis is particularly funny here as he insists on recalling child-star moments each time from what one can imagine was a Disney or Nickelodeon series.)

The movie eases from a comedy of errors to one of reflection, though, as it questions what it is that keeps us from being our best selves: is it how we cut the toast or our outlook on life with the presence of others, others who are so near. 

And Through the Portal We Go makes perfect use of a cult, the utmost unquestioning adherence to a colony and its rules. Where does one separate from the society in which he belongs? And how much should he? 

The movie does not offer easy answers, which is also part of the fun. Maybe it’s not a cult that confines most, but there’s something to be said about following an order without any of your own accord. 

And Through the Portal We Go will screen in Huntsville on Friday, June 6 at 6:00 p.m. in Lowe Mill for the Southern Fried Film Festival. A Q & A with the filmmaker and producer will follow the screening. Tickets are available at the link here.