I wanted to catch Jonathan when it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year but unfortunately, my schedule conflicted.

From first looks, this moody sci-fi flick seemed right up my alley. Reminiscent of a Drake Doremus color palette with two actors that seemed highly compatible on screen, I was hoping Jonathan would get picked up by a distributor so I would have a chance to see it in theaters. Thankfully, Jonathan is having its big screen debut this Friday and I am very happy to say that it lived up to my expectation and months-long anticipation.

Like an episode of Black Mirror, Jonathan follows the titular character – Jonathan (Ansel Elgort), a handsome young man who shares a body with… his brother. Now, don’t write this film off based on this premise of symbiotic multi-consciousness, because the “why” remains a mystery for about a third of the movie (and I’d hate to ruin the surprise, so just go along with it for now). The way in which his body is shared is quite interesting as well. There is a daytime Jonathan – who acts as our protagonist – and a nighttime Jonathan – or “John” – whom we never actually meet. They each take 12-hour shifts within the body, with Jonathan being conscious from 7 am to 7 pm and John awake from 7 pm to 7 am. Since they don’t share a brain – only a body – they communicate about the days and nights events through videotaped monologues, catching each other up on whose turn it is to do the laundry or informing what groceries have been purchased.

‘Jonathan’ is twisted sci-fi through and through…

Their routine, while absurd, works for them. That is until Jonathan realizes John has been lying and secretly dating a girl named Elena (Suki Waterhouse). For obvious reasons, romantic attachments are strictly against their rules, and after an argument (which lasts for a couple of days since they need time to watch their videotaped fights and then reply), John goes radio silent, “ghosting” Jonathan and not recording tapes. Lost and confused, daytime Jonathan doesn’t know who to turn to, who to trust, or what’s going to happen next. 

First-time feature director Bill Oliver does such a fantastic job of building the suspense in Jonathan’s world without overcomplicating or rushing key plot points. A tricky aspect of suspenseful surrealism convinces the audience of the story’s realism, no matter how outlandish the plot. Jonathan is twisted sci-fi through and through, and Oliver’s patient unraveling of information, along with cinematographer Zach Kuperstein’s grounding camerawork, and a hauntingly good score from the Blair Brothers (Green Room, Blue Ruin) make this mind-bending thriller a fun and worthwhile watch.

Jonathan serves a double dose of Ansel Elgort, which is sure to excite fans of the twenty-four-year-old Baby Driver star. Thankfully, his character is more than just eye-candy to entice girls to the theatre. Here, Elgort is (literally) embodying two different personalities and acting against himself on screen. It’s quite the challenge, yet he pulls it off so well and with such control, even when his character is anything but stable. 

Jonathan is daring and bold, a fine film all the way around. It is sure to satisfy fans of the science fiction genre in a gently challenging way, but even if symbiotic multi-consciousness isn’t your thing, there’s still much to admire in this little indie film that could.

‘Jonathan’ is not rated. 95 minutes. Opening this Friday at Arena Cinelounge and on VOD.