|
![]() |
Stowaway (2021)
Joe Penna (Arctic) aims for serious, realistic science fiction in the mold of Gravity with Stowaway, a film about a three-man scientific mission to Mars in the not-so-distant future. And he succeeds by making his film low-key and his characters unremarkable; it's sort of a conscious sacrifice of fun for authenticity. The idea was, of course, that the weightiness of the dilemma the crew eventually face would elevate the drama beyond the film's otherwise subdued storytelling. And there are moments in the film, particularly the part leading up to the ending, which touch on something timeless and vibrant. Unfortunately, Penna more or less invalidates his entire premise of sombre realism by raiding a couple of cliché vaults towards the very end. There is fine, efficient cinematography by Klemens Becker and an interesting score by Volker Bertelman.
|
![]() |