It was one of those movies that sell itself pretty good on the trailer, so I went in prepared for another attempt at a multiverse story, something that has been proven not so easy to pull off, recently after watching Dark; the TV series, I realize its not so easy but can pick up so pace after time. It turns out that Parallel is a low budget sci fi film that delivers an exciting narrative that is engaging from beginning to end, with the concept being simple as it is and a cast of three talented actors, but even with such good cast is not as great as you might expect, the movie still manage to explore some profound themes on loss and grief and the importance of choice.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18177528/
- Platform: AppleTV+
Rottentomatoes Rating
Vanessa played by Danielle Deadwyler is buried in grief after her son Obe died in a car accident, although her husband Alex played by Aldis Hodge and his brother Martel by Edwin Hodge both try to as much as they could to comfort her, she is incapable of letting go of her grief and the tension between the two brothers is at first sight as a result of Alex's attempts to help his wife heal from her loss.
This movie is not about boring drama, its the sci fi elements what makes it stand out, not the flashy special effects or convoluted explanations, it stays grounded and focuses on the emotional weight of discovering different versions of reality and the forest itself becomes a character that amplifies the unsettling scenario, making everything more weird, with a minimalist approach to the multiverse and not been the flash multiverse travels back and forward, it brings the multiverse theme into the characters’ personal struggles.
Vanessa's journey in the movie will show us how she develops a greater understanding of these parallel universes, with each separate universe that she experiences reveals the possible alternate outcomes of her life, some in which her son is still alive, others where he never existed and still others where his death happened differently, this study in alternate realities takes the sci fi out of the sci fi and into a metaphor for how we torture ourselves with "what if" scenarios after a tragedy happens to us, making the sci fi elements feel far more personal than just being cool, the kind of situation that blows your mind in every possible way, I feel how some people might have issue with the entire multiverse fever that we experience with the MCU but is still cool watch a movie with similar concept with regular people and not super heroes.
Danielle Deadwyler I think took this movie on her shoulders and really brings an emotional side to her performance of a woman in pain and its not only about the death of her son but the guilt she has and how that has effected her relationship with Alex; her watching these different versions of herself wondering through several side split realities each with their own pile of problems and baggage is where her performance keeps you wondering whats next for her and how long would it take for her to take drastic action on the story, it was evident she had a great chemistry with Aldis Hodge who matches her passion with the multiple versions of the same man each just different enough to distinguish themselves withing the core of who Alex is.
Edwin Hodge had a great acting as Martel, who is Alex's brother and attempts to help his brother and sister in law cope with their grief and the real life brotherhood between Aldis and Edwin Hodge adds a natural and believable feel to their scenes together and the chemistry between the three actors makes their family feel lived in and genuine, so when the more sci fi oriented elements of the story come in, it's easy to buy it as the story unfolds.
The ending of Parallel is where things get really interesting and honestly it is the kind of ending that will have you thinking about it long after its done, after Vanessa has explored multiple realities and meet different versions of herself and her family, she finally reaches what she believes to be her home reality but the movie doesn’t leave us wondering if this truly is where she belongs or if she has picked a different reality, she wakes up to a dead bird just like the opening scene and Alex repeating the same words about his mother’s belief that dead birds mean the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, but its when Vanessa enters a room and discovers toys and children's clothes, followed by the sound of Obe calling for his mom, this ending for me at first was kinda hard to interpret or figure out where did she really end up, it circles back to the themes of grief, acceptance and the choices we make when confronted with impossible situations, either Vanessa has made her way back to a reality where Obe never died or she's stayed in a parallel universe where he is alive or maybe it is all happening in her mind as a coping mechanism to her loss, what a way to fuck with your mind, its not a cliff hanger but it is at the same time "sorry but not sorry" type of thing. Well that's what I thought at first but after a rewind she actually never goes back to her reality and that is how most of the multiverse theme series or movies end up because its almost impossible if it was real, its like time travel almost impossible to make things happen your way, she actually did return to a universe where Obe is still alive.
The end result is that Parallel proves you don’t need a huge budget or a bunch of special effects to tell a good story about parallel universes, all it requires is a good concept, good actors and a clear vision, I know its easier said than done but what could have been a simple sci fi low budget movie becomes a touching look at grief, choice and the roads not taken, I'm not trying to say its a perfect multiverse movie but it is a great movie that takes the multiverse into something else than an action movie, it gets personal to each of the few characters, so if you are into drama, sci fi and specifically multiverse theme movies then this might be for you, I totally recommend it with a 7/10 for a great one time watch and ratings out there are just extremely low.
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