Fantasia '18 Film Review - Parallel

What would you do if you had a portal into an alternate dimension where things were just about the same as yours but with a few small differences? Science may have taken a different path, artists may have expressed themselves differently or technology might have evolved a different path. Most intriguing is the possibility that a deceased loved one could be alive or someone that someone that you long for might be receptive to our feelings in an alt-world.  These are the questions that are explored in director Issac Ezaban's Parallel.

Four friends are running a start-up tech firm in Seattle, Washington pitching an idea for a parking app. Their client is considering terminating their deal unless they can complete the app in a few days as opposed to the original longer deadline as a rival can meet that timeline. The group is dejected until they find a false wall in their rented home revealing a mirror in the attic that is a portal to parallel universe where time moves significantly slower. At first, they go through to complete the app ahead of schedule then they begin to fray lines with the victimless act of bringing back winning lottery numbers before they are drawn in the home reality.

Director Isaac Ezban and writer Scott Blaszak have a lot to keep straight with the production. Characters going in and out of multiple dimensions, have to avoid their other selves, bringing back innovations, in art, technology and weaponry not yet invented back home. Devin (Amil Ameen) is looking for his dad who died in shame world A. The crew used different camera lenses spherical vs. anamorphic to distinguish characters and events in alt vs home timelines along with an amber tint for the original timeline then a blue hue for the alt spaces.

Mark Wallstrom's Noel is the most aggressive of the four at using their unfair advantage. He brings back innovations calling them his own. He also messes with individuals in other dimensions to mold the home timeline to his benefit. Leena (Georgina King) bends the rules as well. Appropriating art back home making her a large player in the Seattle painting scene. Josh (Mark O'Brien) uses the mirror to win the affections of a crush while Devin is the most opposed to mixing elements of different timelines together.

Parallel is a film that mixes science fiction, tech innovation and psychology. Ezban himself describes it as Flatliners meeting The Social Network. The fresh faced cast adapt to their mulit-layered roles well. Its a funny discovery piece a the outset then morphs into a suspenseful horror film in classic Twilight Zone mode as ambition and the consequences of messing with greater forces descend on the group.

*** 1/2 Out of 4.


Parallel | Issac Ezaban | Canada | 2018 | 104 minutes.

Tags: Portal, Mirrors, Time Travel, Appropriation, Sci-Fi, App, Ray Gun, Corruption, Suicide, Gallery, Tech, Ambition, Deception.