On a deep-space mission, Cane and Eva (Graves and Kendrick) alternate guiding their ship to a planet that holds the potential to relaunch their dying civilisation. They were selected for the job due to telepathic connections with partners back home: Cane's wife Awan (Best) and Eva's brother Seth (Macaulay). But Cane is starting to question his purpose, and then becomes disruptive when his connection to Awan is severed. Eva struggles to keep him under control as he spirals increasingly off-mission, but eventually she also begins to question everything she's always been so sure about.

Director-cowriter Fitzsimmons keeps the atmosphere moody, letting the story progress almost silently. Effects are subtle and clever, although sets and costumes are corny. And with so little scope for action, or even proper interaction, the film sometimes feels rather dull. This approach limits the amount of depth he can inject into the characters or their relationships. So the entire movie becomes somewhat sketchy and elusive, even as it's intriguing to see how events develop and twist along the way.

Graves and Kendrick are the only actors who get a chance to flesh out their characters, and both add some raw emotion beneath their robotic exteriors. The frustrating thing is that they don't get more opportunity to interact, merely brushing past each other while sometimes pondering the rather tangential ways they are connected. Of the remaining cast members, only D'Anna gets to express anything like a personality in her brief but very pointed appearance.

As the plot develops, there are some clever wrinkles that draw on time-honoured science-fiction themes, and there are also some subtle issues raised by the way the events play out. But feels like a short stretched to feature length, as there's simply not enough material here to fill 88 minutes. Still, it's an admirable achievement that Fitzsimmons has made such a striking film on what is clearly a very low budget. It will be interesting to see if he can come up with a more robust script that builds on the promise of this feature debut.

themes, violence

4.Dec.17