IR Film Review: STOWAWAY [Netflix]
The essence of choice in survival situations comes down to individuality and how one reflects in that moment in time. Although on a grander scale with a different interaction of actors, Joe Penna's "Stowaway" starring Toni Collette, Anna Kendrick and Daniel Dae Kim follows the same ideal of what path would one choose. Penna did similar in his film "Arctic" (for which Fest Track interviewed him and Mads Mikkelsen at Cannes). In this case, the conflict involves a misplaced person who, for whatever reason, who has ended up on a one way mission to Mars which impacts the three people who are assigned and supposed to be there. The movie doesn't pretend to be an actioner but understands its structure while not overplaying its hand. It helps that the effects are both modular but also reflexive.
The fourth player in the crew per se is played by Shamier Anderson, who as a relative unknown, but has the hardest job because most viewers will understand the mode of the story hinges on his actions, unwarranted or not. Every character has their motivations but it is nice to see that the problems are handled in an insular way with practical versus plot structured bias...and not out of animosity (which is a nice change). Everyone has something to lose in a matter of speaking whether it is connected to mortality or values. The structure of the film is not based on big set pieces (although there is one) but around the texture of problem solving. The acting for the most part is plot serving, which is no fault of the actors (though Kendrick and Anderson are given the most to do),
Collette and Kim have a certain idealism and function that they do need to keep within but every action has a reason and a consequence. Again the insularity of what the film shows is what makes it work. It is not about the trip per se but how they fill it in those in between times. Mistakes do happen, which I guarantee people will be witness to as the human race eventually gets to Mars. Things won't be easy and there will be, in many situations, no failsafe. Instead rests in the human spirit and simple chance. And without becoming too melodramatic, "Stowaway" does that. B+
By Tim Wassberg
