ALIENATED (2021)

ALIENATED (2021)

Tagline: Nope

(Romance, Sci-Fi, Nice Aliens) [PG]

Note – There was no MPAA rating for this movie, but it would likely have been a PG. 

In this one, an OCD scientist named David Bennett has a mourning father who blames himself for the loss of his wife years earlier. David had immersed himself in his work but is still struggling to complete a project on time. After going to an art show he ends up finding himself falling in love with one of the artists there. She’s pretty much an alien and to complicate things she is being hunted by a man who is being dismissed and laughed at by his own peers making him determined to find her. 

Okay first off, this thing is a sci-fi film in the very lightest sense possible. We get very few effects shots and maybe a minute of “inside the spaceship” stuff, but the film doesn’t rely on any of that. This one should be approached like you were watching a quirky charming romance movie with a bit of sci-fi thrown in.

Actress Gracie Lacey kills it as an alien and her chemistry with Michael Aaron Carico is pretty solid. Gracie’s experience is mostly in shorts. She’s done a ton of them and has 8 projects currently either just completed or in post-production. Her character “Jordan Waters” in this movie seems to have somewhat of a biblical reference. Jesus Christ was baptized in the waters of the Jordan River. Michael Aaron Carico has fewer credits, but possibly more screen time. He is probably best known for the TV show “The Inbetweeners”. He was decent in this, but I think it was the chemistry between the two that helped him along. Scenes he does on his own are just so-so. Daniel Wilkinson who plays David’s father shows the most emotional range in this as well as the most character growth. He hasn’t been in anything I have seen aside from this. 

I don’t know if the production value on this one is going to blow anyone away. It indie through and through but that is great. There is nothing pretentious about this movie and its straightforward and innocent approach is actually quite refreshing. It’s not edgy or crass or trying to traumatize you with blood and guts and aliens doing crazy stuff. For me, this was a delightful surprise and one of the movies I was kind of iffy about at first because these types of films can go really weird really fast. This one doesn’t. 

Overall given the so-so acting on most everyone’s part aside from Gracie Lacey and Daniel Wilkinson, I have to give this thing a 6 out of 7 because it does have a few things I wish were slightly different in the casting. Having said that, the movie talks a lot about out-of-the-box thinking, and this whimsical approach to aliens being on earth was unexpectedly fun. I would watch this again. 

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