Movie review - New Strains

New Strains ** (out of 5) This low-key indie dramedy either succeeds or sucks, depending on what you’re seeking. For starters, do you want to recall the early days of the Covid pandemic through the eyes of a few others? That’s what co-directors, co-writers and co-stars Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan serve up here. They portray, respectively, Kallia and Ram – a young couple staying in her uncle’s New York apartment as a getaway from their recent hassles and frustrations. Unfortunately, rather than explore the city honeymoon-style, the initial quarantine kicks in, sticking them in what becomes an unbearably claustrophobic situation.

She’s more energetic, romantic and sociable than her partner. He plunges into Woody Allen-esque anxiety, with a large dose of Howie Mandel-level germophobia, as this new peril with its unknown parameters shatters their plans… and moods. She’s horny; he’s paranoid. She goes out to breathe to the extent she can. He stays in, obsessing over the news and any unfolding information about the contagion.

It soon becomes apparent that these two have too little in common for forced prolonged cocooning. One may even wonder why they got together in the first place. The film is short at under 80 minutes, but it will seem much longer to the viewer, as the imposed cloistering grates on the couple. Their different ways of handling this physically and emotionally widen the gap between them. Considerably.

Neither of them remains particularly likable, also adding to the downer factor. She lies about some things due to restlessness and frustrations with him; he gets more clingy. Both creators deserve credit for not making themselves characters who would be anyone’s idea of a role model. Though unrated as I write this, there’s probably enough non-erotic nudity (mostly Kallia’s breasts) for a likely R rating. Very little progress occurs, though there are minimal interactions with others, similar to what we all had to do in the early weeks of the outbreak. About 90% of the running time occurs in the apartment. It’s more likely to make you feel better about how you handled it compared to them than to elicit fond memories of mid-2020.

For a shoestring budget, they do a pretty good job of presenting a slice of life from that time. The title serves double duty as the new strain of virus puts new strains on relationships. Whether audiences find it entertaining will vary widely.

(New Strains debuts exclusively on the Memory VOD platform as of 7/19/24)