Heartland Horror: The Alternate
This imaginative and impressive sci-fi/psychological thriller haunts us with forbidding questions about whether we're truly being the best version of ourselves.
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Something I try very hard to do in life is not compete with or compare myself to others. They’re doing their thing, and I’m doing mine. I don’t care if the person next to me at the gym is benching more than I am, or if my neighbor has a nicer car, or a fellow film critic publishes more than I do.
I truly embrace the ethos of working to be the best version of yourself. Strive, challenge yourself, get better — just don’t worry about the other guy.
“The Alternate” is a film that pokes nagging questions at people at me: What if there really is a better version of you out there… and it’s another you?
This top-notch horror/psychological thriller written, directed and edited by Alrik Bursell, uses an out-there science fiction proposition to ask this very question. Ed Gonzalez Moreno plays Jake del Rio, a young filmmaker burning out on soulless commercial jobs while he pines to turn his short movie, “Space Drive,” into a feature film.
Things aren’t going well for him. He lives in a shabby rental house with his wife, Kris (Natalia Dominguez), who slaves away in an optical shop while dreaming of running her own eyewear line. There’s a lot of tension between them, with Kris wanting to start a family and for Jake to get his act together and start contributing more to the family’s shaky financial picture.
(He’s kind of a slob, too, leaving half-empty plates of food around the house and shuffling about in a ratty robe, scratching his bushy beard.)
While shooting a corporate honcho he and his cameraman notice a strange speck on their video feed that interrupts the session. Later in his basement editing studio, Jake blows the blip up into a strange, undulating image — “freaky screensaver,” he dubs it. Even wilder is that when this image is projected onto a screen or a computer monitor, it becomes a portal through which anything, or anyone, can pass.
On the other side of this gateway is Jake’s own home, but a much, much nicer version of it. There’s a finished basement, top-line film editing equipment and even a vintage pinball machine collection. Upstairs is even nicer, with fancy furniture and pool/hot tub combo. Jake is even more shocked to discover pictures of himself and Kris, seemingly much happer… and with a little girl.
Jake soon comes to the realization that on the other side of the portal is an alternate universe — one in which he already made his movie and is now a successful filmmaker, Kris has the career and family life she wants, and everything is seemingly perfect. He spies on his own ersatz clan and grasps how happy and successful they are.
You can probably guess where things go from here: Jake starts spending more and more time in this “other” side of his life, and thinks about why this other Jake has things so much better — and if maybe a swap is in order.
Director Bursell wisely doesn’t attempt to parse or explain the portal — it’s just there, mysterious and beguiling, and the movie focuses on how Jake reacts to this fantastic possibility rather than obsessing with the mechanics of how it works. I think a lot of scary movies, such as “It Follows,” are better when they just ask you to suspend your disbelief and move on to the dilemma.
For a low-budget film, “The Altenate” looks fantastic with impressive special effects for the portal and solid technical polish, especially from musical score composer Kevin Kerrigan and cinematographer Jason Joseffer.
Moreno gives a memorable double performance as both versions of Jake, who are the same guy but with some key differences. Successful Jake has everything the other one wants, but he’s also constantly working and neglects his family. Loser Jake blames everybody but himself for his situation.
The film has an impressive storyline of scares and surprises, but it was the deeper themes that really resonated with me. We like to tell ourselves we’re always doing our best, but are we really? Are there ungrasped opportunities we’re too blinkered to see or lazy to embrace?
Maybe there’s another version of me out there somewhere, writing a much more scintillating review…