Directed by Billy Blioumis | Reviewed by Sabarno Sinha
Watching the first episode of The Paradox was indeed a
nail-biting experience, firstly due to its genre, i.e.,
science-fiction thriller as well as the unique involvement
of children and how the plot weaves around the child of an
average firefighter. Kosta’s town suddenly experiences
strange disappearances of children and as a firefighter, he
gets to hear very weird accounts of incidents happening in
the city. Unfortunately, by the end of the pilot episode,
his own child, Konstantine becomes the victim of this
mysterious phenomenon that has been occurring in the town.
The film begins without any transition which is certainly
off-putting but my biggest complaint in the opening sequence
is the relevance of the cold open, which the directors have
opted and as is usually common in television series. Upon
watching it for the first time, it did not make much sense
to me as to what the men were doing in space and what had
they found so haunting. The message becomes clearer as the
story progresses but then, the cold open is completely
forgotten. Instead of hinting about the source of the
mystery before showing its manifestations in the town
(disappearances), it would perhaps be better if the cold
open dealt with the Kosta’s family for the pilot episode. As
of now, it serves no purpose, according to me. 
The
background score of this episode has been very well made and
they accentuate and highlight the moods of the characters
very effectively. This is also true of the sound editing and
foley effects which have also been done well in my opinion.
Climbing the stairs, running, driving- placing such sound
effects correctly is indeed a work of art and this has been
done quite well by the sound team. The visual effects in
this pilot were also quite good and could be hardly
understood as computer-generated such as the burn on
Persefoni’s hand. Even the effect used to make the child fly
away looked rather believable to me. The editing has also
been quite good but in some places, the cuts have been too
starkly visible such as when Kosta leaves the child with
Persefoni for the first time in the episode (5:10). I would
have preferred these cuts not be so noticeable. But, while
the crew of the post-production have tried their best, there
are certain grave errors that were made by the
cinematographers that cannot be ignored easily. Largely,
very traditional shot types have been chosen for the pilot
due to which the overall effect of the scene is quite bland.
In between such shots, some of the more artful ones have
been used which has created a very jarring sequence overall.
An example of this would be when Persifone and Kosta talk
about the child right before he disappears. The low-angle
long shot suddenly changes into a deep-focus close up of
Kosta with Persifone on the side. This shot looks
out-of-place and looks forcefully artistic in this context.
However, there are other innovative shots in the episode
that I really enjoyed: two memorable ones being the long
shot wherein the camera moves across the fence and captures
Persifone running and the one in which the camera shifts
from her and goes into the car which almost crashes into
Kosta and then captures the helpless father looking for his
child. Both of these are brilliant specimens of
cinematographic innovation in this 32-minute sequence and I
really enjoyed both of them. However, right after the former
of the two mentioned, the camera tracks her from the back
for most of the time. This is redundant and also overused
and I was, therefore, a bit surprised after watching a fine
and unique shot. 
The
plot of the story is gripping and I have nothing but praise
for the plot which develops in a very nuanced way in this
pilot episode. The characters of Persifone and Kosta have
been established very well in the first episode and I can
already imagine that both will become quite important in the
plot of the series. The actors of both the characters have
performed quite well. One can only wonder what natural or
supernatural force is causing the mysterious events of the
story and I, for one, am excited to know what happens next.
Sabarno
Sinha is an undergraduate student of English at
Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He was active in the debating
and MUN circuit in Kolkata. Sabarno frequently writes short
stories, poems and screenplays for short films. A lover of
world cinema, Sabarno finds pleasure in watching
contemporary as well as classic films from Japan, Italy and
Germany among others.
