Co-pilots Cane (Rupert Graves, best known for Sherlock and V for Vendetta) and Eva (Ellie Kendrick – Game of Throne’s Meera Reed) are ordered to investigate a strange signal from a distant planet. Stuck on a ship for however long it takes to get there when your only companion is in stasis whenever you are awake would drive you mad too. So it happens with Cane, and the mission is threatened by both His fragile mental state and Eva’s increasing concern.
First screened at the 2016 Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, Native reels in the simplicity of its look. The film’s most appealing features are little visual tricks on the holographic ship controls – as realistic as they are hypnotic – rather than gargantuan CGI sequences. These, interspersed with wide shots of an empty cosmos just to remind you that this is actually in space, make Daniel Fitzsimmons’ feature debut sincere and beautiful in its own understated way.
Graves is utterly convincing as the deteriorating Cane, but it is Kendrick who deserves the most praise. For almost the entire film her conversations with Cane are functional, instructive and cold. As the film progresses, however, Kendrick gradually works more internal doubt and worry into her stern outside appearance. By the film’s climax, she is overcome by grief and indecision (not helped by her telepathic brother talking constantly in her head). Her progression is more drawn out than Cane’s and is a gripping change to witness, performed impeccably by Kendrick.
Said climax is when Native is at its most intense. It sees what could easily be a predictable ‘will they, won’t they’ scenario play out in an unexpected and satisfying way. The storyline starts slow, and then more tension and dilemmas surface well past the eye-widening point when you see where their mission has sent them. The whole film rests on the line between heart and head, communication, and probing the moral conviction of the two protagonists.
The stars do not quite align. The comments about human interconnectivity and technology, which bizarrely features a brief clip from The X Factor among other things, feels rushed and insignificant compared to what has come before. Yet somehow a meaningful point is still scraped together when it could easily have been lost.
It doesn’t hit the grand heights of Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special, but it is still up there with the finest examples of indie science fiction. It captivates from the first telepathic chat to the last. It leaves you with thoughts and ideas which make you question, even if only for a moment, the current direction of humanity. It doesn’t get more sci-fi than that, and Fitzsimmons is clearly a talent worth keeping tabs on.
NATIVE / CERT: 12A / DIRECTOR: DANIEL FITZSIMMONS / SCREENPLAY: NEIL ATKINSON, DANIEL FITZSIMMONS / STARRING: RUPERT GRAVES, ELLIE KENDRICK, LEANNE BEST, JOE MACAULAY, POLLYANNA MCINTOSH / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 23RD 2018
Expected Rating: 6 out of 10
