Director: Tony Sebastian Ukpo Starring: Eke Chukwu. Haruka Abe. Gabby Wong, Anthony Ofoegbu .USA. 1h 30m
This subdued experimental movie seems to tell a pair of harmonious stories, set in a bleak future where space travel is everyday and our social norms are quite alien from what we understand today.
Initially an astronaut has crash lands in a tranquil field and attempts to find help but the social dynamics is unsettling to him, families seem to be “clumped” together any male plays a father, any child adapts to the family they find themselves with that day, language isn’t a barrier, it seems everyone is adapted to all human languages and it just rolls off the tongue.
Director: Mike Cahill Starring: Brit Marling, William Mapother. USA. 1h 32m
A ponderous piece of philosophical science fiction that features an emotive pair of damaged characters and a golden opportunity leads to a Pandora’s box of horrorful delights that remain just beyond human touch..
In a shock opening, a horrendous car crash starts the slow decline of both lead characters but their personal sorrows become eclipsed when a second planet earth comes into sight in the night sky where everyone’s doubles live. Under the shadow of this outstanding astronomical breakthrough there remains a tough pill to swallow.
There has always been this strange surreal nature to the epic ideas of Russian Science Fiction, be it art, animation, novella or cinema you’ll always find something so profound and lavish in the Russian culture of art. From the early Aelita (1924) to the genre defining Stalker (1979) Solaris (1972) and Visitor to Museum (1989) there’s a strong sense of new ideas and concepts so far out and esoteric it’s hard to take in but yet these films stand as testament to the ingenuity of Russian Cinematographers (using soviet brutalism and derelicts to their advantage) and Directors who work an orchestra of stunning and creepy visuals and wonderment.
Director: Mark Elijah Rosenberg Starring: Mark Strong, Sanaa Latham, Luke Wilson, Charles Baker .UK. 1h 30m
A deeply philosophical sci fi drama that borders the aesthetics of lo fi and challenges a lot of immortal questions about mankind exploring anything about the world around them as well as the wells of unknowns from within.
There’s a ton of highly sophisticated looking tech and a groundbreaking invention at the centre of this one way trip into the void. But Director Mark Rosenberg is more focused on creating an intelligent and driven character and isn’t happy until he’s peeled back all of his layers to get the most intimate look into a fictional character that I’ve seen in a long time. Apart from his pet project, which literally milks water from rocks, the rest of the tech isn’t the shiny fan dangled aspect but Captain William Stanaforth (Strong) does know this machinery all too well inside and out but it doesn’t mean everything is going to run smoothly despite his expertise.
Director: Dan Bush Starring: April Billingsley, Kelsey Scott, Conal Bryne, Rhoda Griffis .USA. 1h 41m
An interesting idea with lots of character twists and turns in Dan Bush’s courageous drama that taps into the bond of blood of a particular family with uncanny powers. For the most part what seems to be a challenging time for one woman in a mental institution eventually creeps into a much more powerful action drama that has all the making of a really decent sci-fi fantasy drama but doesn’t come across with as much power as it might have if handled differently, but it did keep me glued while it transformed into something deeper and more meaningful, maybe there will be a chance to break this story open in a sequel? Continue reading The Dark Red (2018)→
AKA Alphaville: une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (Alphaville: A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution) Tarzan Vs IBM
Director: Jean-Luc Godard Starring: Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Akim Tamiroff, Howard Vernon..France. 1h 39m
Jean-Luc Godard, the King of the French New Wave lands this cryptic and incredibly iconic, sci fi noir story in the height of the movement, while on a wild run with actress and wife, Anna Kerina, the film was released around the time that the couple divorced but he continued to work with the stunner in Pierrot le Fou (1965) released in the same year.
Godard’s ceaseless innovation lead many into the realm of radical politics and extreme formal experimentation, but few could match his raw invention. Alphaville is one of his more approachable works and offers some inspiration for the dystopian futurescape of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, along with having strong parallels with John Boorman’s classic revenge flick, Point Blank (1967).
Director: Darren Paul Fisher Starring: Daniel Fraser, Eleanor Wyld. UK. 1h 45m.
Synopsis : Are human conditions, actions, relationships determined by fate, free will, or a combination of both? At any rate, if it we cannot control it – should we care?
Initially the slow drama of Frequencies starts out at school, where not only is the young and emotive Zak (Fraser) an outcast due to his low frequency he’s also deeply in love with the top girl Marie (Wyld) who is a victim of her high frequency, which totally rids her of any emotions or feelings. In this unconventional universe when they meet, their unusually high and low frequencies creates tremendous havoc. In their 60 seconds or less meetings they form a strained friendship, Zak being the lab rat while Marie tests the effects of their encounters. Later on in life, Zak’s persistent attempts to raise his frequency with the help of his best friend leads him to a discovery that not only uncovers our past but unlocks many secrets and has the potential to change all of our futures. Continue reading Frequencies / OXV: The Manual (2013)→
Director: Philip Gelatt. Starring. William Jackson Harper, Rebecca Henderson USA. 1h 42m.
Based on: They Remain by Laird Barron.
Exploration is the focus of this psychological sci fi thriller, but the execution is as conflicting as the main characters grasp on reality and eventually the slow burning just fizzles out after several meandering mistakes which were supposed to build tension. They Remain explores a relationship of two scientists , Keith (Harper) and Jessica (Henderson) who are employed to investigate an area which was once a camp for a mysterious cult. It’s not very clear what they are doing for a long stretch of the movie, the two seem to have bizarre conversations while looking at camera feeds and “researching”, apparently sent by a mysterious corporation identifies by it’s geometric corporate logo and no more.
Director: Charlie McDowell Starring:Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, Robert Redford, Jesse Plemons. USA. 1h 41m
Boy meets girl on a ferry months after a world shattering invention has been made. A reserved and often recluse scientist Thomas Harbor (Redford) calmly sits down to tell a interviewer about his new discovery; with it, he’s proven, without a doubt, there is life after death. Instantly one of the crew members shoots themselves. The world has a record number of suicides as people are desperately trying to pass on to the other side, there are public counters that are constantly ringing up the number of dead, in the meantime, the boy and girl are journeying to meet, Harbor (Redford) the boys father and girl saviour? it’s supposed to be romantic but they animosity and angst coming from the girl makes the scene rather awkward.Continue reading The Discovery (2017)→
Director: Mark Palansky Starring. Peter Dinklage, Anton Yelchin, UK. 1h 31m.
This is stunning film with some haunting scenes, which linger in the memory but alas by the ending credits I felt as if something was missing from this well-crafted venture that took away the re-watch-ability.
Peter Dinklage brings an amazing character to life in this deep vibrant story. After having a few too many drinks he drives his brother home but the pair crash, leaving him as the sole survivor, his brother mumbles some words which he can’t make out and then he dies. But Sam (Dinklage) isn’t ready to accept that’s the end and writes to a brilliant scientist, Gordon Dunn (Donovan) who has invented a machine, that re plays your memories, apparently we all have the ability to remember everything but not the ability to recall it. This Rememory machine is able to get into a person’s brain and recall everything from our first moment on the planet. It sounds wonderful and Sam sees this as a chance to work out what his brother way trying to say, but one fateful night after a disgruntled ex-patient visits, the scientist is found dead, supposedly of natural causes but there are bullet holes in the wall, was it murder or an aneurysm as the newspapers reported. The machine cannot be found or reversed engineered as Dunn kept everything secret. While his employers stress over losing the invention of a lifetime, ???? uses the stolen machine to find out what happened to Dunn and digs into his own forgotten memories.
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