Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival entry 'Interplanetary' film review

September 23, 3:57 PMBirmingham Indie Movie ExaminerAngela Burchett

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Is there life on Mars?

In writer/director Chance Shirley's second independent foray the answer is yes, no, yes... perhaps. Interplanetary delivers a saucer full of bloody flesh and snappy dialogue set anywhere but Earth, specifically Mars.

First of all, the music, nicely timed, is extremely clever. In parts engaging the viewer with "wild west standoff meets languid drumbeats," and electronica too mellow to be techno, but excited enough to move the action along.

The story itself is meant to be intelligent, brazen, slightly shocking and chuckle-funny. A secondary Mars base crew stumbles onto the remnants of the first, in more ways than one. Sexy bits balance gory splashes, and one cannot help but notice that a storyline is actually being followed. The crew must decide whether the unknown is more frightening than their corporate boss, played almost too well by  Lisa Mason. As events unfold, the lighting gets better at setting up creepiness, and the camera angles work within the story instead of coming off as camp. The sound quality holds its own, with only a few notable bobbles, but unlike many independent films, it is consistent.  Without giving too much away, plenty of crew lose their lives in a myriad of special effects, squirming, squishing and gushing. One may not see a bathroom stall the same way again. Two unique touches are the 'profanity filters' and the 'orientation video' a la Starship Troopers. Note how Melissa Bush's body language and facial expressions remind you of your old workaholic second-in-command. In the end, will a prophetic date come to fruition, or will heads be flying? Answers obviously scoot around the Red Planet wearing helmets with bright yellow arrows.

This film has brief nudity, strong language and brief drug use. With HD quality cameras giving audiences sharp "real-life" pictures, this low budget film shot in Super 16mm, is refreshing. Director Shirley makes good use of devices to show his audience the action, such as a video camera pop-out screen and over-the-shoulder shots of a communications panel. Kudos to detail in the news broadcast, so pause frequently to read the scrolling text. Although certain transitions could be smoother, the overall effect of this film is exactly how it is intended, monstrously satisfying. Throw in savvy Alabama casting, with nice comedic timing by Kevin S. Van Hyning and Sylvester Little, Jr, and the movie is as firmly rounded as a planet.

For more info: Interplanetary will be shown Sunday, September 27 at 4:15 p.m. in the Carver Theatre as one of the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival entries. Keep an eye out for a brilliant performance by Church Hill as 'Frank.'