‘Altered Perceptions’ Review: DIY Sci-Fi Gets Lost in Its Repetitive Message
variety.comSiddhant Adlakha One might think, upon watching Jorge Ameer‘s “Altered Perceptions,” that it’s the work of a novice filmmaker who hasn’t quite figured out the basics.
In reality, the shoestring sci-fi effort is Ameer’s dozenth narrative feature since 1994, and while it deserves grading on a curve alongside fellow tiny-budget indies, it also represents an aesthetic step backward for the DIY creator.
Announcing itself as a work of fiction in its opening onscreen text (alongside a mounting death count, from an unnamed virus, that steadily grows to 80 billion), “Altered Perceptions” unfolds with distinctly real-world politics, despite featuring a fantasy pathogen that turns people violent.
Ameer’s movies, sci-fi or otherwise, have always worn their queerness on their sleeve, and his latest is no exception, though its political entanglements are rarely deeper than cartoonish, caricatured villainy.
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