Yes this is sci-fi but its not spaceships or laser battles type sci-fi. No, Variant is a full on head scratching ‘hmm whats going on’ type sci-fi and its a type of sci-fi I do enjoy. Straight from the opening scene where we meet our main character Aria (played by Ashlynn Yennie), an artist who is lying on a beach, looking tired and like shes been through some sort of trauma. We then cut to her in bed as if shes just woken from a dream and this is where the pieces of this film puzzle start to present themselves.
One of the many clever thing about Variant is that we the audience are as puzzled as Aria as she too knows that something strange is going on but isn’t sure what. Aria feels that things in her life aren’t the same as they were, things in her house look different than they were, she meets people she thinks she knows but isn’t sure who they are. There’s one guy (played by Constantine Antoniou) that she keeps bumping into and as soon as we the audience meet him, we instantly suspect that hes a major part of this puzzling mystery. I wont spoil the answer to whether he is or not but by the time you read this- ill know the answer myself.
Variant is a sci-fi gem, its not a huge budget film, its not a film reliant on its VFX, it doesn’t feature mega stars. Variant is a film that relies on the strength of its originality and its storyline (written by Tony ‘Hoodwinked’ Leech) and it stands on those two things very well indeed. One bit of advice I will give you is that if you are the sort of person who likes to play around on their phone whilst the movie plays, then Variant isn’t the film for you. You really do need to pay attention to it whilst it plays. Its not a complicated film its just that there are little clues as to what the heck is going on- littered throughout the movie and if you miss some of them. You’ll likely end up being totally lost.
I do think its a film that benefits a rewatch as for the first viewing, you are trying to piece it all together, whereas the second viewing because you know where its headed, you can pick up on the clues that are left along the way. For fans of film such as Primer, and Predestination. I definitely think you should be adding Variant to your watch lists. Head over to Prime and treat yourself.
Out Now To Rent Or Buy From Prime Video. You can Grab The Film HERE
Starring Ashlynn Yennie, Sonalii Castillo, Constantine Antoniou and Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz
frompage2screen.com 