Parallax (Sci Fi Movie Review)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

PLOT: A woman who is plagued by strange dreams begins to suspect that her waking life isn't her true reality.

REVIEW: Writer/director Michael Bachochin's PARALLAX is a two hour long mind game that had me intrigued at first, but began to wear out its welcome about a third of the way through. By the end it had lost me completely, as I was both tired of playing this mind game and baffled as to what was going on. In the end, I'm not able to tell you exactly what was happening in PARALLAX or why. I fully admit, I did not "get it".

The story centers on a couple, Lucas (Nelson Ritthaler) and Naomi (Naomi Prentice), and we're introduced to them at a time when Lucas feels that the love of his life is slipping away from him. Naomi feels out of place in her own life, she doesn't recognize or remember anything – even when Lucas brings her grandmother over, Naomi says she has never met the woman before. We're told that Naomi has a history of mental illness and the couple's therapist Dr. Ted (Ted Gianopulos) suggests that she might have dementia. But just when it seems the film could be a straightforward drama about a woman dealing with mental deterioration, Bachochin starts introducing other elements to the story that mix in the question of whether or not something supernatural or sci-fi may be going on here. 

Naomi is plagued by nightmares of drowning, but she also finds that she can visit the beach at any time of day just by touching her paintings or concentrating for a moment. She appears to be physically transported to the water. In this other reality (dreamworld? different dimension?), Naomi meets a woman named Mikayla (Hattie Smith), and it seems that she was in a relationship with Mikayla, either earlier in her life or in a parallel dimension. Now Naomi has to figure out which reality she inhabits is her true reality, if any of them are. And what's up with that room in her house that she and Lucas have both accepted is off limits?

PARALLAX gets very trippy, to the point where it was making me think of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and PHANTASM movies, but if those classics had the thrilling horror elements stripped out of them. You could also say it's like INCEPTION without action, leaving only scenes of characters drearily making their way through scenes that may or may not be dreams. I wasn't interested enough in this slow burn to stay invested in the characters through the series of confusing moments. 

The film does impress on a technical level, aside from a stylistic choice that did not work for me: this is one of the most oddly framed films I have ever seen. Bachochin often chose to have the characters on either the far right or far left of the screen, leaving most of the screen to be taken up by empty space. There are also moments where characters are too low in the frame, like one shot where we only see Naomi from the bottom of her eyes up, with a lot of empty space above her head. Clearly Bachochin wanted these moments to look like this, but I found it to be very off-putting.

The cast did well in their roles as they helped bring the madness to life. I don't know if it's a coincidence that the lead character and the lead actress are both named Naomi, if the character was renamed after Naomi Prentice was cast, or if Bachochin specifically crafted the film to be a showcase for Prentice, but she shows that she is capable of carrying a film. Ritthaler and Smith offer solid support, and viewers may be split by their characters. Do you think Naomi should be with Lucas or Mikayla? Will you still be rooting for them by the end of the film?

This movie is only recommended to viewers who enjoy confounding mind game films and want to be left wondering what they just watched. If you're not into "was it all just a dream?" films (or at least not into ones that don't involve horror icons), this one isn't likely to win you over because there's not a lot going on in it.

PARALLAX is getting a theatrical release on July 10th.