Indigenous people are routinely underrepresented in film (and in just about every industry, really), so the fact that this is an Indigineous sci-fi movie gives it an edge against other indie sci-fi movies. Parallel Minds takes an original approach to high tech science fiction from a point of view of people who have been marginalized throughout history. It's refreshing to be able to watch a film that utilizes Indigenous futurism and touches upon Indigenous Canadian history in a way that doesn't feel white saviour-y or ignorant.
The story goes like this: a tech firm is building a revolutionary contact lens that will let people replicate their memories and relive them. Red Eye develops a mind of its own and starts "consuming" people, including its "mother," inventor/scientist Elise Perrot. Her coworker Margo works with the gruff detective Thomas to figure out the truth about what happened to her. Along the way, they discover the power of the past and get wrapped up in a world of digital mind manipulation.
Personally, I'm a sucker for killer AI stories. The desire for these robots to become human and the things that they'll do to achieve it (and the things tech CEOs will do to cover up their bloodthirsty computer creations!) are really interesting. Since computers don't have souls, it thinks power will make it become human - of course, that's not how humanity works, but the computer will have to learn that over time. The third act is tense and actually dips into a bit of thriller territory. The final showdown is satisfying, and the multiple storylines intersect and resolve themselves well.
On top of that, there's some really nifty explorations of the mind going on here. It can be a little hard to follow at first, but as the story unfolds, you start to put together why people's minds and memories are being affected in the ways that they are. It gives it a philosophical bend which gives depths to the characters and their motivations.
There's a bunch of symbolism involving the medicine wheel, and the way the story blends Indigenous spirituality with technology is very innovative. Later in the film, the residential school system becomes a key point in the plot. This topic is rarely brought up in any meaningful way in film, so to have a sci-fi movie bring up this unfortunate bit of history involving Canadian Christians trying to force Native Americans to assimilate is novel and fresh.
There's a lesbian cyberpunk rock character named Jade who is apparently dating the AI on her computer, and that is the kind of thing I LIVE for. She says some quality lines like, "I'll run you through a newspaper roller if you want to be on the funny pages." The movie was pretty interesting even BEFORE she showed up, but she definitely sold me.
I also enjoyed Thomas, who is running from a troubled past. He made a mistake as a police officer that haunts him, and the memories of this flood through him when he uses Red Eye. The scenes of him remembering his trauma are intense. It's jarring when these scenes come through at first, but it adds to the disjointed feeling of memories and minds melding. As the story goes along, you get more glimpses at his backstory until it eventually all ties together into the bigger mystery about Red Eye. Though he has a tragic backstory, he still manages to bring some charm to the movie, like when he casually sips some of Elise's (probably expired) milk while he's investigating her apartment.
Visually, the movie's pretty solid. Since it's a futuristic story, there are a lot of scenes set in laboratories. The lab sets in the expensive tech firm are a cool blue and white, which contrasts with Jade's more home-made garage lab. I really, really liked the set for Jade's lab because it has this DIY wire jungle gym going on. It's very grimy and punk. Spin-off movie about Jade and her lab, please!
Overall, it's a charming sci-fi mystery that taps into sci-fi in a new and interesting way. Visions play a key point in the story, which gives it a spiritual angle. The mystery, neo-noir aspect also adds a neat layer to the whole thing - it's like an Indigenous sci-fi episode of CSI or something. It's definitely worth checking out if you're looking to explore something new and a little different. I highly encourage watching independent films, especially ones that highlight people of color like this, and this one's a great place to start if you're into science fiction flicks.
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