Movie Review: Space Thriller ‘I.S.S. Tackles Big Ideas With Human Emotion
At the beginning of Gabriela Copperthwaite's new thriller ISS, three Russian cosmonauts sing "Winds of Change" by the German band the Scorpions aboard the International Space Station. In the year 1991 The Power Ballad is associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. As the astronauts sing with nostalgia and emotion, they are gently mocked by their American counterparts, the Astronaut Trio, but the atmosphere is good.
The Cold War is the past, and on the International Space Station astronauts and astronauts have created an international family, Russian and English speakers, working side by side in their research. Through the dome, they have a view of the earth because there are no visible boundaries. But this sense of unity comes with a delicate balance. The space station may be orbiting the Earth, but it is still "below". What happens there has implications for the ISS, a concept explored in this quiet yet gripping thriller.
Ariana Debos stars as Kira, a newbie on the space station who is drawn to the unique and intimate dynamic between the Russian and American crew. Their carefully orchestrated social ecology is called into question after the team witnesses a nuclear attack on the planet as orange flames engulf the entire continent. The Americans and Russians are given different orders to operate the space station in any way necessary, and suddenly every conversation, every action makes sense;
Written by Nick Shafir, ISS is more of a chamber drama than an action, with a narrative that turns global issues into tiny microcosms, drawing out the deep human emotions that drive its characters: love, fear, stubbornness, courage. Kira's discomfort exists as an external element, and she serves as a metaphor for the audience on board, but Shafir gives the story a Romeo and Juliet feel, with a secret affair and larger emotions around her driving much of the drama. .
The space created by Jeff Wallace's collections has a sense of authenticity and authenticity as it looks like a real place where people have lived for a long time. The actors played with digitally erased lines on cables (although the appearance of the device could sometimes be seen in the knots of their pants) in what appeared to be zero gravity. At 95 minutes, there's a deftness in narrative and craft, tight editing by Richard Mettler and Colin Patton that fits the audience well into the space and makes the information clear, albeit sparse.
