Susan Granger’s review of “I.S.S.” (Bleecker Street)
Although it was released earlier this year, “I.S.S” seems remarkably timely now that two American astronauts – Sunita Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, who took off for the International Space Station for an eight-day trip – may be stuck there until 2025 as the war between U.S.-backed Ukraine and Russia rages on.
Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s taut thriller envisions a halcyon time marked by American and Russia collaboration – when three astronauts and three cosmonauts are routinely performing various scientific tasks in their orbiting laboratory.
The mood is jovial as the newest NASA arrival, Dr. Kira Foster (Ariana DeBose), learns from Christian (John Gallagher Jr.), her veteran colleague, that – in these close-quarters – everything is shared – yet no one talks politics – ever!
She’s the relatable newcomer trying to decipher the dynamics of her weightless workplace – 250 miles above Earth.
Then U.S. Commander Gordon Barrett (Chris Messina) gets an urgent message from Houston cryptically instructing him to abort all experiments and take control of the space station “by any means necessary.”
At the same time, his Russian counterpart, Commander Nicolai Pulov (Costa Ronin), receives the same instructions from the Kremlin which he quickly imparts to his conflicted cohorts: Alexey (Pilou Asback) and Weronika (Masha Mashkova).
Evidenced by the increasingly worrisome red/orange flashes they view from the cupola, “down below” the United States and Russia are engaged in a nuclear war!
After her Oscar-win as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” Ariana DeBose anchors the plot as communication gets garbled and emotional engagement goes from bad to worse in their cramped quarters.
Credit Gabriela Cowperthwaite and production designer Geoff Wallace for injecting tension into this miniature microcosm, a feat comparable to the way various directors depicted confined W.W.II submarine insurrections.
FYI: Nick Shafir’s low-budget sci-fi script landed on the 2020 Black List of excellent yet-to-be-produced films several years before the war in Ukraine began.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “I.S.S.” is a remarkably relevant, suspenseful 6, streaming on Apple and Amazon Prime.
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