Rupert Graves and Ellie Kendrick star in this sparse British sci-fi about a pair of aliens on a space mission to another planet. There’s no little green men, or indeed women, here: the duo look and sound like humans but communicate mostly via telepathy, and in an austere, formal language that drip-feeds us details about their hive-like home planet.
Debut director Daniel Fitzsimmons has assembled a strong cast and an intriguing concept, but this isn’t tight enough to really sustain the interest like Duncan Jones’s ‘Moon’ or either version of ‘Solaris’ (and if those didn’t keep you hooked, this will not be your bag). Much of the idea hinges around repetition – Graves’ character becomes obsessed with interpreting a signal that sounds like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony – but this ceases to feel significant after a while and you’re left waiting for the punchline.
It’s worth hanging in there for that: it’s just a shame that the most exciting part of their journey might be after the film ends.