MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE: Josh Senior: Editor in Chief Craig Mann: Editor Oliver Innocent: Assistant Editor Christian Abbott Liam Ball Rhys Belding Martin Carter Benjamin Halford Liam Hathaway Joe Lister-Streep Max Marriott Hannah McDonnell Samuel Riley Nathan Scatcherd Bethan Tanner Kris Thomas
DESIGN TEAM Lauren Banister Joe Bembridge Tom Clayton Alex Fergusson Tom Finn Eddie Fowler www.behance.net/ GDSheffield
Hello, welcome to Out Of The Void! Now, I feel a certain level of privilege in being able to write these words down here. For what you are about to read culminates to nearly three years of work for myself. As a Sheffield Hallam graduate I am immensely proud that I have been given the opportunity to oversee the production and content on this first issue (the first of many more hopefully).
The Void will be a familiar haunt for English, film and performance students and somewhere I encourage you all to visit during your studies, if you can find time between writing essays. The SHU Film Society and It’s Only a Movie hold weekly FREE screenings for students and show an array of weird and wonderful cinema down in The Void. You’d be mad to miss out on what they have to offer.
So to this issue, Sci- Fi seemed like a The story of my journey to this point is logical place to start because not only a long one so I’ll summarise it for you. are the BFI running their own scienceWhilst studying in my third year on the fiction programme entitled Days of BA English and Screen Studies course Fear and Wonder but this month I was finding it incredibly difficult to Christopher Nolan also released his get my own work into print and seen time travel epic Interstellar which has by a wider audience. I’d just finished found its way onto our cover. Look an internship over at The Showroom out for an excellent review of the film cinema so I set up an online blog and towards the back of the magazine. started publishing articles. Some of This genre is so all encompassing my course mates were interested in and touches upon most of our own what I was doing so I started taking personal film tastes. Whether you like their submissions too, and from there Buzz Lightyear of HAL 9000 at some this magazine was born. We now point in most of our lives we’ll have all have a team of around fifteen writers cherished a science- fiction film. Over who are both students and graduates the next few pages we have helpfully that contribute to the magazine on a listed what we believe are the Top Ten regular basis. Over the last few years Sci-Fi films of the 21st Century along we’ve managed to release a couple with a few other interesting pieces to of small zines, formerly under the give you all a lovely dose of films set moniker of On The Edge Films. Now amongst the stars. with our transition over to Sheffield Hallam we’ve taken our new name, I’m truly honoured that I’m doing inspired by the wonderful screening something that helps fellow students facility that resides on Level 1 of the and graduates achieve their creative Owen Building. This magazine aims to goals. The following writing and provide you, the students of Sheffield design work was all done by your Hallam, with a platform to get your fellow peers and possibly some of work into print and for it to be seen your own course mates. A big round by a wider audience. We want to offer of applause for all involved! Now sit a leg up, a helping hand that will one back, strap yourselves in and come on day lead to writing position or great a ride with us… to infinity and beyond. post- graduate employment. Josh Senior
03 04
CONTENTS
TOP TEN #10 GRAVITY
SOVIET SCIENCE FICTION MARTIN
05 07 09 12 13 14 TOP TEN #09 LOOPER
TOP TEN #08 UNDER THE SKIN
TOP TEN #07 SUNSHINE
TOP TEN #06 HER
CELLULOID SCREAMS REVIEW
TOP TEN #05 ANOTHER EARTH
15 16 17 18 19 21 TOP TEN #04 MOON
TOP TEN #03 DISTRICT 9
INCEPTION REVIEW
TOP TEN #02 MONSTERS
INTERSTELLAR REVIEW
TOP TEN #01 PRIMER
10 GRAVITY 2013/ USA, United Kingdom Director: Alfonso Cuarón Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
G
ravity is an absolute master class in how to use special effects and 3D to actually enhance the quality of a film, rather than just creating a gimmick to draw audiences into screenings. Starring Sandra Bullock as medical engineer Ryan Stone and George Clooney as long serving astronaut Matt Kowalski, this Sci-Fi epic follows the difficulties that they encounter when they become stranded in the vast expanse of space, tasking them to find a way back to Earth in one piece.
The intensity of Gravity, especially when seen on the big screen, is almost unbearable as we see Ryan flying through the atmosphere uncontrollably amidst huge explosions that send debris hurtling towards the audience (when seen in 3D of course). Alfonso Cuarón’s use of 3D is implemented in an impressively realistic fashion, instead of it being used simply as a marketing ploy. The technique here actually enhances the feeling of being in space
03
and subjects the audience to the fear that the characters are experiencing. For example, when Ryan reaches out to grab something that is just that little bit too far away, or when bits of machinery are flying though the cosmos towards you, it is genuinely quite terrifying. 3D in Gravity is not just there for entertainment value, it’s for the scare factor too, and is very effective. Gravity is more than just a Sci-Fi film. It is also a study of human emotion and the psyche when in distress or crisis. The complete isolation that Ryan and Matt are subjected to understandably plays with Ryan’s mind. She begins to hallucinate as the film progresses, emphasising how a person’s state of mind is not all that stable when left in such a lonely and hostile place. There are many images in the film in which Ryan is shown in the foetal position, and this seems to be a representation of her rebirth, maybe to reflect how she has changed as a person from this devastating and traumatic experience.
Even though there is undoubtedly an impressive amount of spectacle in Gravity, there is also some intimacy in terms of human emotions being laid out to bare for the audiences to see and relate to. The juxtaposition of close-up shots of the protagonist’s faces against extreme long-shots of Earth and the space around them also emphasises the insignificance of the characters and their helplessness amongst such a vast amount of peril. It is a nail biting adrenaline ride into the realms of survival and the pure nothingness of space, the perfect way in which to start our list.
Hannah McDonnell
RED PLANETS SOVIET SCIENCE FICTION AT T H E S H O W R O O M C I N E M A .
A
s part of the BFI’s Days of Fear and Wonder retrospective of science fiction cinema from around the world, the Showroom cinema asked for a film studies course on such films made behind the Iron Curtain. Well, two films immediately sprang to mind; Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) and Stalker (1979), but that was about it. The task of trying to put together an eight-week course of screenings and lectures looked, to say the least, challenging, but also a potentially very interesting prospect. Fortunately, the BFI had put on a season of eastern bloc sci-fi back in 2011 and that became the basis for research into the topic. The Kosmos season had brought together more than twenty films from the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany to provide a fascinating collection of alternative perspectives on what the future might look like. Finding out that such films existed was one thing, being able to see them was something else entirely. However, the wonders of modern technology and its ability to allow you to find almost anything online came to the rescue and allowed the sourcing of a bewildering selection of films from far and wide. Amongst treasures unearthed was possibly the first science fiction feature film, Aelita: Queen of Mars from 1924; Amphibia Man (1962), a colourful Creature From The Black Lagoon knock off; the pioneering works of Pavel Klushantsev, including such gems as Road to the Stars (1957) and Planet of Storms (1962); and, most surprisingly, a cycle of dystopian visions of the future
from the 1980s such as Konstantin Lopushanskiy’s Letters From A Dead Man (1986) set in a world devastated by nuclear war, showing that such fears were not something exclusive to the West. The development of Soviet science fiction cinema was closely linked to the space race between the USSR and the USA; a race in which the Soviets took the lead in 1957 after the launch of Sputnik, the first satellite in space. They followed this coup by putting the first dog into space later that year and then, in 1961, the first man in space when Yuri Gargarin became the world’s first cosmonaut. There would be only a brief period of Soviet ascendancy in
German’s Hard To Be A God (2013) is based on the novel by Alexei and Boris Strugatsky (perhaps the finest of Soviet science fiction writers) and was in production for more than twelve years. German died during the final stages of post-production and the film was finally completed by his son, Alexei German Jr. The finished film is an extraordinary piece of cinema set on a planet similar to Earth but stuck in a medieval dark age ridden by fear, superstition and intolerance. A group of scientists from Earth have insinuated themselves into this society but are there only to observe and unable to initiate change. The escalating violence and terror pushes one scientist, Don Rumata, to his limits with devastating results.
“Alexei and Boris Strugatsky - Perhaps the finest of Soviet science fiction writers” this contest and the rivalry between the two opposing ideologies to reach the moon that ended in 1969 with NASA’s Apollo 11 landing also ended a cycle of space exploration films that reflect the hope of a utopia in space and whilst also implying that Earth is no longer divided into a capitalist West, and a communist East. In these films, unlike actual events, the Earth of the future was not only a united planet, but also a red planet. Whilst carrying out this research, a new addition to the canon has been completed and gaining screenings on the international festival circuit. Alexei
German’s three- hour epic shows that the genre of Russian science fiction is very much alive and capable of taking on far more complex approaches to science fiction than much of what is produced by Hollywood. The screenings eventually put together from this research comprise of Planet of Storms, Ikaria-XB1, Letters From A Dead Man and Solaris; a selection that displays the sheer variety available within this little known but still challenging and vibrant genre.
Martin Carter
04
09 LOOPER 2012/ USA, China Director: Rian Johnson Starring: Joseph Gordon- Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan
T
ime travel – it’s a tricky thing to master in cinema. How much does it have to make sense? Completely? At all? “This time-travel stuff fries your brain”, Jeff Daniels’s mob boss Abe says towards the start of Looper. So how does director Rian Johnson solve this problem? By asking the audience not to think about it too much. However, Looper isn’t really about time-travel it’s more of a narrative device, used as an agent to tell a story about family, love and redemption. Looper’s plot could easily become convoluted and alienating, but Johnson’s tight structure means that the narrative is well paced and always moving fast. Set in 2044, long after the invention of time-travel, the film is constructed around a seedy criminal profession: ‘Loopers’, specialised assassins hired by the mob to kill targets sent back in time from the future, thus removing the tricky business of evidence disposal. Loopers
05
are so-called because eventually their last job will be to kill their older selves, removing any chance that a lifetime of murders can be traced back to the mob. This is called ‘closing your loop’. One Looper, Joe (Gordon-Levitt), fails to kill his older self (Willis) and sets in motion a series of events that will eventually lead to a spectacular rural showdown. Looper’s world is dark and dangerous, and there is a genuine sense of dread and foreboding that permeates much of the film. It is also ever-thrilling, certainly not lacking in action. What really elevates this film, though, is its powerful, emotional core: these characters have difficult choices to make, and we see in detail the impact these choices have on their lives and the motives they have for making them. Particularly moving is a montage that shows Joe’s transformation from his younger self into the bitter old man he will become. These are characters to care about, from both incarnations of Joe (who are simultaneously so similar
and so wildly different) to Emily Blunt’s gun-toting single mother. With Looper Johnson has been brave and bold enough to create something strikingly original and inventive; an emotionally complex narrative world. Its science-fiction elements are treated with subtlety, while its thrilling set-pieces are big, ambitious and impressive. Looper’s real success is in its morally ambiguous, complex characters, and in this the film succeeds where so much sciencefiction fails. These are real people, never reduced to stereotypes and character development is never sacrificed for special effects. With heart, brain and thrills, Looper brings everything to the table and, miraculously, all of its key elements work elegantly and effortlessly together. The result is both thoughtprovoking and pulse-racing: a timetravel yarn for the ages. Bethan Tanner
09 08 UNDER THE SKIN 013/ UK, USA, Switzerland Director: Jonathan Glazer Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Glazer’s
U
nder the Skin is one of the is a glossy Hollywood movie boasting With Jonathan Glazer at the helm – more recent entries on this a brazen B-movie female human/alien the director of Sexy Beast (2000), Birth list, but deserved of its place. hybrid prowls the streets of L.A. for a (2004) and the ‘Guinness surfer’ advert It currently stands as one of suitable male who will unknowingly – one can certainly expect a degree of the strangest, most disconcerting and serve to assist in reproducing her astounding visual flair. Here, Glazer utterly remarkable films of the almost- species. Like a spider, only after mating oscillates between a familiar palette fifteen years that have elapsed thus far with him will she kill him. of greyish, overcast banality that is this century. endemic of inner-city life, and some However, unlike Lifeforce and Species, jarringly spectacular and surrealistic, It’s minimal premise – which was Under the Skin has effectively unsettling visions; a reflection adapted from Michael Faber’s 2000 downplayed the classic science-fiction perhaps of how the film is taking quite novel of the same name – features themes of extra-terrestrial life and the identifiable themes and twisting them Scarlett Johansson (a drastic deviation threat of invasion (although clearly into something that is extraordinary, from her recent Marvel successes) as an invasion of sorts is taking place); grotesque and ‘alien’ to us. a nameless extra-terrestrial that has instead it focuses on themes which adopted the physique of a seductive appear to be a little more esoteric, Throw in Mica Levi’s haunting electronic young woman and spends its time but are equally as fascinating. What score and the final result is a uniquely driving around Glasgow in a white van, Under the Skin provides is a study of transgressive and cerebral modern luring unsuspecting males towards a the physical human form and modern masterpiece, one that seems to be truly ghastly demise… society from an extrinsic perspective; channelling the cold, clinical style of it tackles the notion of beauty being Kubrick with the often unromanticised One could interpret Under the skin deep, as well as exploring just socialism of Loach’s films whilst Skin as an art-house rendering of how uncomfortable we are with our dropping the lot into the chasmal void Tobe Hooper’s bizarre apocalyptic own bodies and minds. All of this of the unknown. Be afraid. extravaganza Lifeforce (1985), or – more echoes the greatest works of David fittingly – Roger Donaldson’s erotic sci- Cronenberg: Rabid (1977), The Fly fi horror film, Species (1995). The latter (1986), Dead Ringers (1988) and so on. Liam Hathaway
07
FREE FILMS FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT WE SHOW ALL YOUR FAVOURITES ON THE BIG SCREEN AND ALL FOR FREE
COME AND FIND US EVERY TUESDAY 6.30 IN THE VOID (FLOOR 1 OF THE OWEN BUILDING NEXT TO THE LIFTS)
SHU FILM SOCIETY
07 SUNSHINE 2007/ UK, USA Director: Danny Boyle Starring: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Mark Strong, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michelle
U
pon finishing Sunshine, its budget, Sunshine manages to the story goes that Danny overcome said limitations with a Boyle said he would never finished product that easily surpasses make another sci-fi film. most American sci-fi of the last decade. The experience was understandably arduous, and for a director who, until The story follows the crew of Icarus II, then, was most famous for the low- who are tasked with stopping the sun budget Irvine Welsh adaptation from dying. However, they encounter Trainspotting, you can’t blame Boyle Icarus I - the first ship to attempt the for being overwhelmed by the whole mission - with disastrous consequences. experience. It is with this in mind that Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland Sunshine becomes all the more special. were keen to create a very scientificallyaccurate film, hiring Professor Brian Prior to Sunshine, Boyle’s most famous Cox to work as a consultant and making films were all down-to-earth, home- the cast research their respective fields grown productions: British films, but of scientific expertise for months in with a dynamic core only the most advance. Much of Sunshine’s tone intriguing of British filmmakers can is reminiscent of films of a similar ilk, achieve. It is interesting, then, to most notably 2001: A Space Odyssey, see Boyle tackle what is essentially a film where science is favoured over an American blockbuster of galactic action and exceeded only by spectacle. proportions, even if it is a mostly British However, Boyle has a slightly less production made on a far smaller clinical touch and there is far more budget (around $40 million) than your action than in Kubrick’s film. Sunshine’s average Hollywood sci-fi film. Despite action-oriented scenes of cosmic the limitations in producing a film with spectacle are just as mesmerising to creative ambitions that far outweigh watch as their Hollywood counterparts,
09
the final scene in particular being one of the most engaging I have seen in a long time. This is, of course, also due to the actors. The film is exceptionally well-cast, especially Cillian Murphy’s Capa - the ship’s physicist and primary protagonist - and Chris Evans as Mace, the ship’s engineer. If the film has one flaw, it is the inclusion of Mark Strong as Pinbacker, whose presence sends the film into somewhat more predictable territory towards the final act. Overall, Sunshine might not quite qualify as a masterpiece but it is essential viewing for fans of both Danny Boyle and science-fiction.
Max Marriott
JOIN US AT THE SHOWROOM THIS DECEMBER FOR THE FINAL MONTH OF THE BFI DAYS OF FEAR AND WONDER SEASON. WE’VE BEEN BLASTING OUR WAY THROUGH NEW AND CLASSIC SCI-FI FILMS SINCE OCTOBER BUT WE’VE SAVED SOME OF THE T.
COMING SOON: THE BEST OF THERE THE CHEAPEST IN TOWN: 2014, FEATURING BOYHOOD, SUNDAY TO THURSDAY, STUDENTS PAY JUST A FIVER! ON FRIDAY AND THE LUNCHBOX, PRIDE, SATURDAY STUDENTS PAY 5.10 UNDER THE SKIN AND IDA. BEFORE 5PM AND 5.90 AFTER 5PM.
Set in the near future, an exjewel thief receives a gift from his daughter: a robot butler programmed to look after him. But soon the two companions try their luck as a heist team.
Showing from 5 Dec
Dir. Stanley Kubrick / 1968 / UK / 160mins (U)
Kubrick’s spectacular, transcendent epic has been the touchstone for all science fiction films since its original 1968 release. Widely regarded as one of the best films ever made, critic Roger Ebert described Kubrick’s masterpiece as “a stand-alone monument, a great visionary leap, unsurpassed in its vision of man and universe.”
A SERIES OF FILMS & DISCUSSIONS WITH ACADEMICS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD. JUST HOW MUCH WE SEE IN FILMS IS BASED ON FACT AND COULD IT EVER HAPPEN? WITH PROFESSOR TONY PRESCOTT.
Dir. Jake Schreier/ 2012 / UK / 89 min (12a)
PART OF SCIENCE FICTION SCIENCE FACT:
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
PART OF OUR MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS STRAND
(because some films need to be watched late at night!)
THINGS TO COME Showing on 9 Dec at 8.30pm Dir. William Cameron Menzies / 1936 / Austria / 117mins (PG)
Dir. John McTiernan / 1987 / UK / 107mins (18)
Our Cult Tuesdays strand brings you this sweeping sci-fi classic full of futuristic vistas and modern cityscapes, based on the story by H.G. Wells. Beginning before World War II and travelling to 2036 AD, this journey predicts a host of modernities before following a rocketship to the moon.
Shwarzenegger action classic. Arnie’s group of hardnosed commandos are hunted down one by one by an alien warrior in the South American jungle. “If it bleeds, we can kill it.”
06 00 HER 2013/ USA Director: Spike Jonze Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pratt
H
er’s status as a science- is thanks to Arcade Fire’s excellent fiction movie seems almost score – with damaged, droning chords incidental. It’s clearly conveying deathless melancholy a speculation on the and swirling synth arpeggios fuelling direction in which technology seems sections of unbridled infatuation – but to be heading, given the increased also to the stunning visuals, which personification our most innovative portray Los Angeles in the not-tootech wizards are fertilising our machines distant future, the frame doused in a with. It’s also a diagnostic of Western colour scheme which aids the movie’s Society as one currently consumed by balance between vibrancy and warmth. chronic technophilia, suggested by Praise is also due to the cast led by the movie to be a development of the Joaquin Phoenix, ever the weirdo self-absorption of the ‘00s, in that the underscored by sheer humanity. condensation of a world of information However, it’s Scarlett Johansson who into tiny mobile devices allows and indisputably powers the movie as the encourages the harnessing of one’s vocal actress behind OS Samantha. fetishes and wants, completely privately Despite being a performer whose and without restriction. undeniable command is usually attributable to her body language, But that all feels irrelevant when here she dominates each and every you’re watching the movie, as does scene with only her alarmingly the outright peculiarity of its story; proficient voice, her physical absence the intellectual and emotional depth barely even registering. Together, at play assuages the disquieting Phoenix and Johansson capture premise of a man falling in love with the intonations familiar to anyone an operating system, including its experienced with flagrantly doomed crudeness as a metaphor. Part of this relationships, making Her an almost
painfully candid exploration of love in general, not just technophilia. None of this would be nearly as effective without Spike Jonze’s Oscarwinning script, which provides an invigorating story that makes every scene a unique exploration of its characters and themes, all deftly contributing to the movie as a multitextured and unified whole. Her is a great science-fiction movie not only because it uses conventions only as far as to provide its unique thematic and narrative ingredients, but also because it perspicuously reflects our society in terms of the macro and the micro; there’s a lot of ourselves to be witnessed in its looking glass, either collectively or individually. For all its restraint, Her is a cinematic behemoth, one that is wholly worthy of attention.
Liam Ball
12
CELLULOID SCREAMS FESTIVAL REVIEW
F
or three glorious days in Sheffield, Halloween horror left its mark on the city with the increasingly-popular Celluloid Screams Festival at the Showroom Cinema. From October 24th – 26th, cutting-edge independent horror combined with cult classics from days gone by combined to reign supreme at one of Sheffield’s finest cinemas, and I was in attendance to capture the moment. So what were some of the highlights of the weekend? Personally, it was a great opportunity to witness the work of Astron-6, a small group of Canadian filmmakers who specialise in feature films, fake trailers and shorts largely based around 80s pop-culture, especially (and unsurprisingly) horror. The team were there to open the festival with their latest feature-length offering The Editor: a hilarious evocation of Italian giallo film, complete with intentionally laughable performances, terrible dubbing and deplorable writing.
One of the more unusual - but rewarding - films at the festival this year was Spring, co-directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. More of a romance than a typical horror film, Spring follows a boy-meets-girl structure, except in this scenario the girl turns out to be an immortal mutant beast. It doesn’t sound very romantic I know, but impressive technical feats elevate the film and display just how professional low-budget cinema can be. The festival has also attracted some high-calibre special guests, including noted producer and director Brian Yuzna - who attended retrospective screenings of classics Society, Bride of
Let it never be said that horror fans don’t have a sense of humour; elsewhere the festival continued to enjoy its share of comedy, with a show-reel of Astron-6’s earlier work and a screening of What We Do In The Shadows, a vampiric mockumentary by the makers of Flight Of The Conchords. The film was voted the best feature of the festival and will enjoy a theatrical run soon, so look out for it on general release.
Reanimator and Dagon - and Laurence Harvey, who appears in The Editor but is best known for his performance in The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence). I have been a regular attendee of Celluloid Screams since 2010 and the festival is always a highlight of my year that continues to get bigger and better each October. I have no idea what Celluloid Screams 2015 will bring, but I’m dying to find out.
13
“ I have been a regular attendee of Celluloid Screams since 2010 and the festival is always a highlight of my year that continues to get bigger and better each October”
Benjamin Halford
05 ANOTHER EARTH 2011/ USA Director: Mike Cahill Starring: Brit Marling, William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Meggan Lennon, AJ Diana
A
nother Earth is a sciencefiction film that can truly be described as beautiful. Shot and edited by its director Mike Cahill, the film premiered at the 27th Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, presented to the best film that focuses ‘on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character.’
The film opens on a young Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), a woman who has been obsessed with astronomy from a young age and has just been accepted into MIT. After going to a celebratory party, she drives home intoxicated and causes a fatal accident, resulting in the destruction and separation of a close family. This happens on the same day as a second Earth appears mysteriously in the night sky, a sudden astronomical anomaly which is partly responsible for the accident.
The majority of the film takes place after Rhoda has been released from prison, concentrating on her struggle to reintegrate into society and to find a resolution to the accident that ruined so many lives. After discovering that not everyone in the other car died in the accident, she takes it upon herself to try and set things straight. As she pursues this goal, the mysteries surrounding “Earth 2” begin to unravel as the first space flight to the planet is announced. Earth 2 is used as a motif throughout the film - often glimpsed in the distant sky - and Cahill manages to compose each and every shot of this new Earth beautifully, to the extent that it never fails to take your breath away. These shots alone are hauntingly memorable; after watching Another Earth, the image of a second blue planet hanging in the dusk lingers in the mind for a very long time. Another Earth’s cinematography as a whole is phenomenal, and it is clear that Cahill shot each scene with strong,
purposeful intentions which is shown through his fantastic use of the handheld camera and creative editing which allows for tonal shifts between grace and misery. This is further fortified by the film’s impressive score, entirely composed by the production company Fall on Your Sword, with the except of ‘The Saw Song’, an incredible piece composed by Scott Munson and performed by Natalia Paruz, also known as ‘The Saw Lady’. So what of Earth 2? A replication of our own planet hanging in the sky is a powerful metaphor, and one that is ultimately difficult to contend with; it could represent the fragility of identity, the fleeting nature of existence, the rarity of second chances in life or a complex combination of the above. Needless to say, this is a film that rewards repeat viewings; richly layered, Another Earth only reveals more of its beauty on a second visit. Rhys Belding
14
04 MOON 2009/ USA Director: Duncan Jones Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Kaya Scodelario, Matt Berry
I
solation, loneliness and sadness are words that summarise the atmosphere of Moon, the incredible directorial debut from Duncan Jones. This is a quietly moving film that pays tribute to some of the greatest science-fiction films of the sixties and seventies: Solaris, Silent Running and 2001: A Space Odyssey, while simultaneously creating something strikingly original.
With only weeks until the end of his contract and his return to Earth, Bell starts to suffer from hallucinations and begins to suspect that he may not be alone before he uncovers the heartbreaking secret behind his existence. Sam Rockwell gives a career-defining performance as Bell, perfectly capturing the existential struggle that comes with emptiness and abject isolation. Desperate to reunite with his family, Rockwell imbues his character Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) has spent with genuine emotion, perfectly three years alone on the moon as part encapsulating the heartache that comes of a work contract with Lunar Industries, with long-term separation from loved who have dispatched him from Earth to ones. As the truth slowly reveals itself, mine an alternative fuel source named Bell experiences hopeless sadness, helium3. With no live communication anger and confusion in turns to create to his home planet, Sam has only pre- one of the most moving performances recorded messages from his wife Tess of 2009, in a genre film or otherwise. (Dominique McElligott) to maintain his hope and sanity. The only one-to- Jones creates a perfect contrast one interaction Sam has is with an AI between Rockwell’s heart-wrenching, provided by Lunar Industries named moving and ultimately human GERTY (Kevin Spacey), who at the performance and the stark lifelessness of film’s outset ominously recalls the the moon’s environment; the somewhat quintessential AI-gone-bad: HAL 9000. tedious - but ever friendly - GERTY is
15
the closest thing to a secondary human character. Spacey’s voice performance is wonderfully matched to artificial intelligence: an emotionless monotone that leaves open the possibility that GERTY might be hiding something behind his ever-helpful nature. CGI is used sparingly and only when necessary in Moon. In fact, the film strikes a nice balance between practical effects and computer graphics: the lunar station is wonderfully formed and there is some true spectacle to shots of the moon’s surface. But amongst Moon’s beauty is a dark heart: this is a beautifully bleak experience from beginning to end, another feature that aligns Moon with the greatest sci-fi features of years gone by. Clint Mansell’s haunting score adds the final touch: Moon is Duncan Jones’ masterpiece - a moving, provocative and intense wonder for anyone who has the heart for a trip to the dark side of the moon. Sam Riley
03 DISTRICT 9 2009/ USA, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa Directed by: Neill Blomkamp Starring: Sharlto Copley, David Jones, Jason Cope, Nathalie Bolt
A
t the time of its release five years ago, District 9 was released to a fair amount of hype. Helmed by ambitious first-time feature director Neill Blomkamp (who had cut his film-making teeth on adverts), and bolstered by a production credit for Peter Jackson, it understandably got tongues wagging and imaginations brewing amongst sci-fi fans, with a cryptic marketing campaign elevating the anticipation to fever pitch. As it turned out, the film not a disappointment: a fresh jolt for the science-fiction genre and one of the most interesting and inventive genre movies of the decade. Filmed and set in South Africa, District 9 follows government officials as they respond to the arrival of an alien race by essentially enslaving the extra-terrestrials, segregating them into a large ghetto (the ‘District 9’ of the title) away from humans, and generally subjugating them under strict government checks backed up by brute
force. The parallels to South African apartheid are obvious, and the povertystricken slum inhabited by the ‘prawns’ (as they are pejoratively known by most humans) feels almost tangibly dirty and run-down, everything shot in a semi‘found footage’ style which makes the film’s world feel all the more strangely plausible. After all, when people treat others so terribly just for having a different skin colour, how would they react when an entirely different species friendly or otherwise - shows up? When Multi-National United - the film’s stock ‘sinister corporation’ - sends their operative Wikus Van Der Merwe (Copley) to evict some alien residents from their homes, he is inadvertently sprayed with a mysterious substance which appears to initiate his transformation into a ‘prawn’. Viewed as a threat by MNU to either be killed or captured and experimented on, Wikus is forced to team up with a couple of the aliens against his former employers. The simple set-up of ‘seeing how the other half lives’ opens up some
fairly on-the-nose commentary on social injustice and racial prejudice. This was Sharlto Copley’s acting debut, and it is clear why he went on to have a successful career in Hollywood with this impressive all round performance. The film boasts some memorable action scenes and the impressively economic effects work keeps the film’s vision of future South Africa feeling believably grounded, with an internal logic to its juxtaposition of grimy squalor and high-tech futuristic weaponry. Overall, District 9 is a modern classic: its mixture of political/social analogue, splatter-heavy action and intense body-horror that recalls the early work of David Cronenberg - all anchored by an emotionally involving central performance - qualifying it as a modern science fiction classic and wholly deserving of its place as one of the finest sci-fi films of the 21st century. Nathan Scatcherd
16
STEPPING INTO SCI-FI
INCEPTION 2010/ UK, USA Director: Christopher Nolan Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cottilard
I
nception is a visually and mentally astounding film. It holds nothing back in warping the traditional narrative structure of the Hollywood blockbuster. Christopher Nolan, the film’s writer, director and producer, already had a huge following of diehard fans before the film’s release, undoubtedly due to the critical and commercial success of the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy. But Inception takes its cues from his more daring work: the likes of Following, Memento and The Prestige. The overarching link between these films is Nolan’s tendency to play with traditional notions of temporality. Memento’s narrative is structured backwards; Following revolves around a multilayered flashback; even Batman Begins is non linear in its narrative approach Inception subsumes these ideas and adds some of the sciencefiction elements we first glimpsed in The Prestige, running wild with the resulting combination. Not until the release of Interstellar would we see these two elements; sciencefiction and the orkings of time - come together in an all-out space epic.
dialogue. This is something which is also true of Interstellar: a visually impressive film filled with talking heads. The basic plot points are restated constantly, which also reveals whenever a paradox has been found. With less exposition, Inception might have the pleasant quality of a halfremembered dream rather than a tedious lesson in pseudo-science. However these are minor issues, made
“ It is certainly a film that has divided audiences; to some a dream to others a nightmare”
up for in bounds by an impressive cast and amazing performances. Leonardo DiCaprio leads as the captivatingly meticulous - yet clearly unstable Cobb; DiCaprio proves once again that he shines most when playing characters haunted by a half-buried past. Yet Tom Hardy threatens to steal It is clear that Nolan wanted to the show here: mesmerising in every challenge the typical audience for scene. Inception also sees brilliant blockbusters when he released turns from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Inception, but this is both the film’s Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and Ken strangest and weakest point. The Watanabe. This is an ensemble cast to narrative is unclear and multi-layered, go down with the all-time greats. as if Nolan is daring the viewer to Inception is, of course, a film about try to understand his film, but this is dreams, and inside the human mind undermined by needless hand-holding each shot is awe-inspiring and full in the form of endless expositional of spectacle. Cinematographer
17
Wally Pfister clearly understands that cinephiles turn out in droves for spectacle; to be amazed by strange new worlds. And, of course, Hans Zimmer’s now famous and muchimitated score defines the film. Despite its flaws - and there are some big ones here - Inception is a unique Hollywood blockbuster. It attempts something that is sorely absent from the majority of big-budget sci-fi tales:
a challenge. Some decried the film for its depth; others accused it of being nothing more than a pseudointellectual heist film. It is certainly a film that has divided audiences; to some a dream, to others a nightmare.
Christian Abbott
02 MONSTERS 2010/ UK Director: Gareth Edwards Starring: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able, Mario Zuniga Benavides, Annalee Jefferies, Paul Archer
B
efore Gareth Edwards became the toast of Hollywood, directing this year’s $160 million budget Godzilla, he directed the $500,000 budget, almost homemade Monsters in 2010. Why is this important? Because Monsters is a huge achievement.
Science-fiction films (especially those in which Earth is invaded by an alien species) are a dime-a-dozen today. Monsters gives us something much more than just the special effects carnage we are usually force-fed, and part of its charm comes from what little we see of the titular creatures. Obscuring the aliens adds mystery, keeps us on the edge and wanting more. When we do get those beautifully voyeuristic moments, mere glimpses of life from another planet, they never disappoint. The creatures are brought to life with wonderful special effects, painstakingly created by Edwards on his home computer
with shop-bought FX software. It is jaw-dropping to witness what he has managed to achieve and it is to Edwards’ credit that he uses the effects sparingly. The aliens are only ever used as background characters, secondary to the protagonists’ physical and emotional journey. There is nothing gratuitous here and that is exactly how it should be. Edwards uses what he has at his disposal exquisitely, and his use of location is outstanding, brilliantly exaggerating the computer-generated effects. Narratively, we get some of what we might expect from a film about alien invasion. We follow Andrew (Scoot McNairy) who has been employed to escort Samantha (Whitney Able) from Mexico back to America. After a series of unfortunate events, they are forced to travel by foot through the quarantined, alien infested, ‘infected zone’; densely populated with monsters, but also blighted by the use of chemical weapons in an attempt to keep the threat at bay.
It is here we realise that the film is less about the titular monsters and more about the human interaction between our main characters, the organic love that ensues, and the state of the world we live in. It is clear that the film is a comment on America’s current immigration situation, but this is dealt with in such a delicate way that nothing feels convoluted or melodramatic; everything has its place and nothing is forced. Together, all of these elements present a story that feels real. As a result, Edwards asks: Who are the real monsters here? A question only hinted at during the film’s beautiful climax, and one you will have to answer yourself.
Joe Lister-Streep
18
ST “Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.�
19
I N T E R S T E L L A R 2014/ USA, UK Director: Christopher Nolan Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, Michael Caine
I
n the not so distant future, cinematic experience, it never truly our planet is dying. There are feels like a cohesive one. The three too many people, the crops approaches frequently jar, contradict, are failing, and the Earth’s and undermine each other with the dust is choking us to death. Cooper result that the film feels less like a (McConaughey) - a NASA test pilot unified whole than a patchwork of forced into life as a farmer once different images, ideas, and feelings. the funding for space travel dried This incompatibility becomes evident up - receives a strange, otherworldly when Nolan immediately follows message in his daughter’s bedroom. distressing emotional scenes with He deciphers the message as a set of breathtaking chase sequences or directions which lead him to a secret interesting expository dialogue about base run by NASA. It is here that he is the gravitational pull of black holes. informed of Earth’s impending doom The preceding scenes of emotion and is convinced to take part in a are quickly abandoned, swept under dangerous mission to travel through a the carpet and forgotten about wormhole to explore new, potentially until Nolan remembers to follow habitable worlds. However, in order them up later. This lends the film a to save his family he must leave them rather disjointed quality that, while behind, knowing that he may never never really encroaching on the see them again. overall effectiveness of the film as an enthralling piece of entertainment, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is somehow dilutes its power over the something of a composite film, viewer and ultimately prevents it from exploring its central concept via three attaining the status of a true classic. very distinct approaches. Nolan’s film is, first and foremost, an action- In light of the film’s somewhat oriented blockbuster, tackling space disjointed nature, it is perhaps best travel in a typically intense, visually to concentrate on the strength of exciting manner. Nolan also looks Interstellar’s individual approaches at space travel with a scientific eye, rather than dwelling on its flaws as distilling the science-fiction genre a whole. In fact, when looked at this down to its basics; that is, a fictional way, as an almost episodic experience, narrative rooted in some form of it is easy to forget the film’s flaws. scientific fact. The final and, indeed, Interstellar’s blockbuster approach most surprising approach is that of is perhaps its biggest asset. Nolan’s a personal, highly emotional family action sequences are so exhilarating, drama. Surprising, not because it so visually magnificent and compelling, is a seldom used device in science- that it is almost impossible not to fiction cinema, but because of how get drawn into the story and be the quiet, tender, insular drama of entertained. Nolan certainly knows family life contrasts with Nolan’s huge, how to pull off memorable action grandiose action set-pieces. On the set-pieces and makes great use of whole, Nolan utilises each approach the IMAX format to deliver the most with verve, executing sequences which immersive experience possible. Take, are individually thrilling, thought- for example, a scene where a huge provoking, and emotionally affecting. tidal wave descends on Cooper and However, it becomes increasingly his crew. Nolan takes full advantage apparent that, over the course of the of the IMAX screen’s huge scale, film, these three approaches are often making the wave appear enormous incompatible. The main problem by having it span the complete with Interstellar is that, while it is height and width of the screen. This undoubtedly a stunningly immersive imposing visual is further enhanced
by the film’s impressive sound design, which is deafeningly intense in IMAX, so much so that you can actually feel the sound as well as hear it. Nolan refuses to let you watch this film in a detached manner; he wants you to experience it as much as watch it, he wants you to feel the same sense of danger and excitement his characters feel. In this respect, Nolan succeeds wholeheartedly. Interstellar’s scientific angle is also of particular interest, making the film a lot more thoughtprovoking than the average summer fare. The film explores such weighty scientific facts and theories as black holes, wormholes, gravity fields, and time dilation. Granted, it does get some of the science wrong and there are inevitable paradoxes, but at least it tries to lend some credence to its subject matter and attempts to stimulate the mind as well as the eyes and ears. Interstellar’s mo st unexpected strength lies in its gripping, emotionally involving performances. Matthew McConaughey in particular is absolutely fantastic as Cooper, delivering heart-wrenching scenes with utter conviction. He is a completely believable character who, unlike most action heroes, is not afraid to let loose and cry. Overall, Interstellar’s strengths far outweigh its weaknesses and it easily transcends its disjointed story, emerging out of the black hole as a thrilling, intellectual, emotional ride into another dimension.
Oliver Innocent
01 PRIMER 2004/ USA Director: Shane Carruth Starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya, Samantha Thomson
L
et’s address this in the first bends the rules of established genre to suburbs, car parks and storage line – Primer is a difficult norms almost to the point of breaking. facilities. The real achievement of film. It is both difficult to There are no alien species, no vast Primer is the blending of an impossible understand and difficult to space stations or faraway planets to concept with a humanist twist – it love. People who have seen it will tell be explored; instead, Carruth’s debut explores the ethics and problems you of the relentlessly inaccessible concerns scientific process, ethical which arise in the face of a science nature of the plot, the dense script dilemmas and human interaction in fiction concept, the resulting effects composed largely of theoretical the face of a world changing discovery. on the families of the characters and physics terminology and the lack of The film deals with the accidental the corrupting influence the power of answers to any questions you may discovery of a primitive means of time time travel has upon them. have by the end of the film. What they travel by two scientists attempting won’t tell you is that Shane Carruth’s to create a device in their garage There are extensive videos available Primer is one of the most rewarding to counter the effects of gravity on online attempting to explain the and miraculously brilliant pieces of small objects. What follows is a tightly interweaving timelines, essays which science fiction cinema of the last 14 wound plot of deceit between friends dissect the mysterious procedure years and thoroughly deserves the top and the misuse of great power. The which occurs within ‘the box’ and spot on this list. Made on a shoestring scientists indulge in stock market theories concerning the multiple budget of $7000, Primer is the work manipulation with their knowledge of versions of the characters – all of a true auteur with Carruth tackling future transactions, attempt to change best ignored until after you have writing, directing, soundtrack and impending events in order to inhabit fully immersed yourself in the acting duties with flair and aplomb, the role of the hero and interact with strangely familiar world of Primer, even going as far as studying physics the multiple versions of themselves a film which is difficult to love but at university level to better understand which the machine produces. impossible to forget. the complexities of his concept. In a sense, Primer is the very definition It is important to note that Primer is not of an anti-sci-fi. Conventional tropes are a conventional science fiction film and disregarded and the action transferred Kristofer Thomas
21
FACEBOOK.COM/SHUOUTOFTHEVOID