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Aniara, 2018
An Earth devastated by climate change or perhaps some other crisis (or combination of crises) has led various people to flee the planet. The plan is to travel to Mars on a large ship called Aniara. But when an unforeseen incident knocks the ship off course, the passengers and crew must cope as a three week trip stretches into months and then years. The narrative is mainly centered on a woman known as Mimaroben (Emelie Garbers), whose job is to facilitate passenger use of an artificial intelligence suite, Mima, that helps passengers to see immersive visions of their past lives on Earth.
Ultimately, this is a film about what happens when a group of people are faced with a sort of perpetual uncertainty. Is it worth staying alive? Is there really any chance that tomorrow will be better than today? Is hope something you want in this situation, or is it just a kind of denial?
My favorite thing about this one was the use of water and how it connected with the idea of being grounded and in the moment. The sequences in the Mima often feature characters in water, or with rain falling, or the sound of a rushing river nearby. When Momaroben first really begins to connect with an officer who will later become her love interest, we see the two of them swimming in the ship's pool. What keeps the people onboard alive is an algae set up in tanks of water. Through the film, the lack of nature (sunshine, plants, animals) is deeply felt, and water is the one thing that seems at once to be present and missing.
Overall I found the narrative to be pretty well balanced between following Mimaroben's personal life (her relationship with the officer, Isagel (Bianca Cruzeira), and her work maintaining Mima) with the bigger story of the ship with the crew and the other passengers. They are intertwined, of course, and it is interesting to see how different characters respond to the bleakness and increasing length of the voyage. The ship's captain (Arvin Kananian) chooses to spin doctor everything; Mimaroben's roommate, an astronomer (Anneli Martini) is smart enough to realize that there will be no rescue and turns to drink; many other passengers turn to all-day partying; some others turn to suicide.
The film moves in "chapters" often jumping forward large chunks of time. This had a mixed effect for me. On one hand, the stark jump to a year later really hammers home how long the people on the ship have to sustain their optimism about any development (because even the "good news" is always a year or two away). But on the downside, there are a lot of important character developments that get short shrift or passed over altogether.
While Mimaroben is a compelling central character, I was very taken with the character of Isagel. Something that the film does a really good job of portraying is her depression and the way that it eats away at her, even during happy times with Mimaroben. One of the saddest scenes to me was actually in the film's infamous orgy sequence (which, by the by, meh), in which Isagel watches as Mimaroben happily pairs off with others and she ends up (in a way that is so hesitating that it feels borderline non-consensual) being paired off with one of the men. (It is implied that Mimaroben is bisexual, but nothing in that regard with Isagel). Isagel becomes a woman without power and without purpose, and this meaningless corrodes her spirit. Mimaroben, for all that she goes through, always seems to have purpose and something she looks forward to. Their relationship, both functional and dysfunctional, is well-realized.
I know that this film tends to be a bit divisive. And I can see how some might take it as empty and more style than substance. But I liked it. I really enjoyed the character of the astronomer and her semi-frequent discussions with Mimaroben.
Probably not for everyone, but certainly worth watching.
Aniara, 2018
An Earth devastated by climate change or perhaps some other crisis (or combination of crises) has led various people to flee the planet. The plan is to travel to Mars on a large ship called Aniara. But when an unforeseen incident knocks the ship off course, the passengers and crew must cope as a three week trip stretches into months and then years. The narrative is mainly centered on a woman known as Mimaroben (Emelie Garbers), whose job is to facilitate passenger use of an artificial intelligence suite, Mima, that helps passengers to see immersive visions of their past lives on Earth.
Ultimately, this is a film about what happens when a group of people are faced with a sort of perpetual uncertainty. Is it worth staying alive? Is there really any chance that tomorrow will be better than today? Is hope something you want in this situation, or is it just a kind of denial?
My favorite thing about this one was the use of water and how it connected with the idea of being grounded and in the moment. The sequences in the Mima often feature characters in water, or with rain falling, or the sound of a rushing river nearby. When Momaroben first really begins to connect with an officer who will later become her love interest, we see the two of them swimming in the ship's pool. What keeps the people onboard alive is an algae set up in tanks of water. Through the film, the lack of nature (sunshine, plants, animals) is deeply felt, and water is the one thing that seems at once to be present and missing.
Overall I found the narrative to be pretty well balanced between following Mimaroben's personal life (her relationship with the officer, Isagel (Bianca Cruzeira), and her work maintaining Mima) with the bigger story of the ship with the crew and the other passengers. They are intertwined, of course, and it is interesting to see how different characters respond to the bleakness and increasing length of the voyage. The ship's captain (Arvin Kananian) chooses to spin doctor everything; Mimaroben's roommate, an astronomer (Anneli Martini) is smart enough to realize that there will be no rescue and turns to drink; many other passengers turn to all-day partying; some others turn to suicide.
The film moves in "chapters" often jumping forward large chunks of time. This had a mixed effect for me. On one hand, the stark jump to a year later really hammers home how long the people on the ship have to sustain their optimism about any development (because even the "good news" is always a year or two away). But on the downside, there are a lot of important character developments that get short shrift or passed over altogether.
While Mimaroben is a compelling central character, I was very taken with the character of Isagel. Something that the film does a really good job of portraying is her depression and the way that it eats away at her, even during happy times with Mimaroben. One of the saddest scenes to me was actually in the film's infamous orgy sequence (which, by the by, meh), in which Isagel watches as Mimaroben happily pairs off with others and she ends up (in a way that is so hesitating that it feels borderline non-consensual) being paired off with one of the men. (It is implied that Mimaroben is bisexual, but nothing in that regard with Isagel). Isagel becomes a woman without power and without purpose, and this meaningless corrodes her spirit. Mimaroben, for all that she goes through, always seems to have purpose and something she looks forward to. Their relationship, both functional and dysfunctional, is well-realized.
I know that this film tends to be a bit divisive. And I can see how some might take it as empty and more style than substance. But I liked it. I really enjoyed the character of the astronomer and her semi-frequent discussions with Mimaroben.
Probably not for everyone, but certainly worth watching.