The Antares Paradox – Movie Review [Fantastic Fest] (4/5)

THE ANTARES PARADOX is a new sci-fi drama from Spain (org. title La Paradoja de Antares), and it is amazing. Shot from the perspective of a single location, we follow one woman forced to make impossible choices. Read our The Antares Paradox movie review here!

THE ANTARES PARADOX is a new Spanish sci-fi drama (org. title La Paradoja de Antares) that just premiered at Fantastic Fest 2022. It’s an amazingly intense story about a woman who is forced to make impossible choices.

In a single-location story, the woman we follow, Alexandra, does talk to other people. And yes, we do see these people on camera or hear them over the phone. We just never see her with anyone else in person, since she is very isolated. I’m not sure what I expected from this sci-fi drama, but it far exceeded all expectations!

Continue reading our The Antares Paradox movie review below.

Truly a paradox

Overall, Alexandra is faced with so many challenges and tries to stick to her convictions without hurting anyone. However, she is constantly being questioned and does begin to question her choices herself as well.

Will she miss out on possibly making the biggest discovery humanity has ever made? Or will she miss out on important moments with her closest family? Also, there’s a brutal storm raging and her research project is about to be shut down.

I can imagine that some people might find it easy to choose between work/passion and family/love. And actually, Alexandra also finds it relatively easy to choose. She obviously hates that she has to make a choice. But she knows she can’t turn her back on her life’s work.

Andrea Trepat is perfect as Alexandra

To me, Andrea Trepat plays the role of Alexandra Baeza absolutely perfectly. I could feel all the turmoil she was going through as the story unfolded. And even if I would have made different choices, I could understand why her passion for her work was so important. That takes skill and dedication.

Andrea Trepat has been in many bigger Spanish drama series, so she’s worked for years. Still, with her amazing lead performance as Alexandra, I hope we’ll get to see her in more genre productions in the years to come.

The role of her sister, Ana, who we also see quite a lot as they facetime during the night, is portrayed by Aleida Torrent. You may recognize Aleida Torrent from the brutal Netflix horror-thriller The Occupant or the Harlan Coben series The Innocent.

The Antares Paradox premiered at Fantastic Fest 2022.

Lius Tinoco is the writer and director of The Antares Paradox (org. title La Paradoja de Antares), which is his very impressive feature film debut. He has written and directed a few short films prior to this feature film, so he’s been around for quite a few years already.

Personally, I cannot wait to see what Luis Tinoco does next. I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased with this intense sci-fi drama. It reminded me of the feeling I had after watching the Father’s Day segment of the Holidays horror anthology.

Having premiered at Fantastic Fest 2022, The Antares Paradox is set to have its European premiere in its native Spain at the Sitges Film Festival.

We watched The Antares Paradox as part of our Fantastic Fest 2022 coverage.

Details

Director: Luis Tinoco
Writer: Luis Tinoco
Stars: Andrea Trepat, Aleida Torrent, Jaume de Sans, David Ramírez, Ferran Vilajosana