Final Rating: 4/5
Sometime in the near future aliens have come to live on earth because for whatever reason, their home planet is now unliveable. That is a synopsis that sounds like it could be for District 9, not the opening to The Silent Planet, the new film from director Jeffrey St. Jules, which is having its World Premiere at Fantasia. While that is the set up for the film, it’s not what it’s about.
Humans have conquered the ability to travel to different planets in the far reaches of the universe, and use habitable but empty planets as penal colonies for people that commit murder, terrorism or treason, where they must serve out their hard labour punishment alone. That’s how we are introduced to Theodore, played by the veteran character actor Elias Koteas (Zodiac, Crash, The Thin Red Line). He’s old, in poor health and may or may not have lost his mind after being in solitary confinement for quite some time.
Theodore works the mines for glowing ore and beams it off the planet. If he stops working he gets electrocuted by his suit and a robotic voice reminds him to keep on digging. He spends his evenings watching a TV that works like AI, taking suggestions from the viewer as it creates a personalized show. Theodore’s program is always centered around a couple that share the same name as him and his former wife. It’s a boring existence, but at least the voices in the purple clouds that come out at night keep him on his toes, as he has to constantly question his own sanity.
After a health scare, Theodore rips out the tracking device in his chest, making his unseen wardens believe he is dead. They do what they do every time a prisoner dies in the colony, they send another convict. This time it is Niyya, played by Briana Middleton, who comes after being entrapped into potentially committing treason. She was raised by an Oiaen family, the alien race that came to earth, before being adopted by humans after her alien family was murdered by the army.
Theodore is excited to finally have someone to talk to, and Niyya has such a hatred towards humans that she wants nothing to do with him. When Theodore starts to believe he might actually be someone named Nathan Flannagan, Niyya wonders if she was put on this specific colony as extra punishment, since Flannagan was the man who shot her family. From there we get a cat and mouse game where the two prisoners are trying to figure out what is real and what might just be the voices inside their heads.
The film is ostensibly a two-hander, with the backdrop of rural Newfoundland creating an imposing and isolated land to keep the prisoners hostage. The area used for filming was in Gros Morne National Park, a stunning vista that features grassy knolls and mountains. At night the mountains seem to be constantly shifting with the sound of falling rocks omnipresent. Since it is a smaller planet, the oxygen is thinner and outside of the housing pods, masks are required for consistent breathing.
The Silent Planet plays on conventions explored in other SciFi and Fantasy films, Theodore grows some of his own food, just like astronaut Mark Watney does in The Martian. Between robotic devices and the voices inside Theodore and Niyya’s heads it has shades of what Sam experiences in Moon. Also having a newcomer arrive to distant land where the other person is unsure of the time and space around them was explored in The Lighthouse. The Silent Planet takes its influences and makes it feel fresh and unique.
Theodore is an unreliable main character, and when Niyya’s suspensions start to rise, the viewers will too. Is he who he says he is, or is he surpassing his traumatic past and creating a new identity to keep some semblance of sanity intact. Jeffrey St. Jules has created a moody slow burn thriller that keeps you guessing with trouble deciding who you should align with at every turn.
Koteas as always turns in a masterful performance. Here we get to see him solemn and remorseful, with him trying to forget the past as much as he is trying to hang on to it. He’s at a point in his life, where experience naturally shows up with the creases on his face, like all the best veteran actors get. He’s balanced nicely by Middleton, who is reserved and distrustful from the beginning.
Seeing them try to work out a system to live on the same planet harmoniously is like watching two people playing chess, with neither player wanting to interact with the opposition, preferring to keep all their pieces for themselves. Eventually things will have to come to blows, and like chess there can only be one winner.
Thank you to Quiver Distribution for the screener.
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