Tricks of the mind, psychological phenomenons and conspiracy theories are very intriguing themes & promising plot devices - provided the effort, of course. "The Mandela Effect" is a small scale indie scifi drama/thriller and I do deem it quite effortful, just not in all the right areas. If you want an in-depth or just a fresher look at the phenomenon of mandela effect - this movie is not it.
"The Mandela Effect" has a few things going for it. A few minutes in & it's more than obvious that the budget was small, but the enthusiasm of filmmaking is there & technically it's an allright indie feature. Charlie Hofheimer & Aleksa Palladino provide decent performances & it was nice seeing my beloved Penguin from "Gotham" or Robin Lord Taylor, although portraying an uninteresting character this time. And Clarke Peters simply didn't get enough screen time. The effort can also be appreciated in all of the visual aspects of "The Mandela Effect", cinematography's not exceptional, at all, but not sloppy either. The problem, however, is that, for a movie based on such an interesting subject,which has sparked and still sparks infinite discussions, it's just.. an uninteresting take on it. Grantedly, topics like this one don't have any definite resolutions, but it has no boundaries in creativity when trying to depict it in arts and fiction. "The Mandela Effect" tries to keep the story up and going with only half succesfully focusing on the tragedy that's tormenting our two main charaters, while all the other themes - the intriguing ones - eventually just wind up nowhere. "the Mandela Effect" will get you intrigued, then drag for a bit in the middle & end it all vaguely beautifully and also highly unsatisfyingly.
It almost feels like it could've been a bit better if they just renamed it as something not widely known & changed the narration just a bit. Promising secrets and mystery solutions, "The Mandela Effect" provides only an average indie flick with a disappointing core shtick. My rating: 5/10.
