Aniara

The Aniara is a spaceship carrying thousands of colonisers on their way to Mars. However, due to an accident, it loses fuel and is veered off course, inevitably aiming towards the depths of space. There’s a tiny chance of coming back, but the journey duration stretches from a couple of days to several years. Passengers cure their boredom and depression in a special room called the ‘Mima’, where, thanks to a unique technology with artificial intelligence, they can revive their earthly memories and enter a state of euphoric trance. But as the overloaded ‘Mima’ goes on strike, the society on the ship begins to disintegrate and change. Unfortunately, the instant Swedish existentialist depression with many strong moments lacks build-up due to some big plot jumps in the second half. And some questions remain unanswered till the end. On the whole, however, this is a very strong flick without a happy ending. This is what Passengers would look like if they had balls in Hollywood. [Sitges 2018] (10/22/2018)

This is a conscientiously shot and impressively written sci-fi about several thousand passengers heading for Mars in a spaceship, which has to throw away all of its fuel after an accident and a deviation from its course. The ensuing many-year odyssey, following the demise of human civilization through a changing atmosphere in an isolated community left behind, in which hope, and the meaning of existence gradually die, delightfully builds up a couple of key characters (especially the main protagonist) and the world in which the story takes place. Beneath the spectacular surface, one can even find an intellectually deep, provocative and uncompromising vision, the realization of which, however, is somewhat hampered by the fact that the story stays in one place for too long, barely escalates, and in the end, when the film is trying to catch everything up, it doesn’t provide enough space to the final devastating images so that they can resonate sufficiently. (10/15/2018)