LOVE Review

By Andrea Fort

The Toronto After Dark film festival has been thrilling audiences for 6 years by providing a one-of-a-kind showcase of independent horror, thriller, and science fiction films. Their mandate: to bring these unique movies to life on the big screen in a way that audiences rarely get to see. These movies are often the ones that are truly worth watching, and I was thrilled for the privilege of seeing William Eubank’s LOVE.  It is a visually stunning tale of astronaut Captain Lee Miller (played perfectly by Gunner Wright) as he is stranded on the International Space Station after an apocalyptic event on Earth severs communications. He remains stranded for six years, ignorant to the event that caused his isolation, and the audience follows in an examination of humanity’s need for contact.  Never has a title been so appropriate; not only does it contain the film’s key message, but it also tells the story of its creation.

LOVE has a slow pace, similar to the format of 2006’s The Fountain; it juxtaposes the experiences of Captain Lee Miller with flashbacks and journal entries of the Civil War experiences of Captain Lee Briggs (played by Bradley Horne).  Captain Miller, stranded on the ISS, is stripped of human interaction. Abandoned, he relies on his imagination to maintain his sanity. The film grows tense as he becomes visibly unhinged. By using tight angles and bringing certain elements out of focus, Eubank gives his audience visual cues as to the protagonist’s fragile mental state. We witness Miller slowly degrade as he struggles with his situation.

The movie does what any good science fiction should; it prompts the audience to consider how they would respond to the same situation. Would you sit back and accept that you are stuck alone in space? Or would you go to any lengths to try and reach home? Despite the lack of action, there is a strong sense of foreboding and tension throughout LOVE. The score (written by Angels and Airwaves) and the imagery create an ominous environment and as a viewer, you cannot help but realize that Captain Miller’s greatest threat is himself. As he unravels, Wright’s performance is incredibly compelling. He evokes fear, sympathy and awe simultaneously. His portrayal of Captain Miller is only overshadowed by the production of the film, all of which can be attested to one man.

William Eubank acts as writer, director, cinematographer, and production designer in order to make LOVE come to life. Eubank speaks fondly of the whole process, as well he should, as it took him four years of filming off-and-on, and that does not factor in the time it took him to build the set (a replica of the International Space Station built by his own hands in his parents’ backyard).   He worked with tireless innovation to create tunnels and panels for his cast to interact with; in fact he speaks of being unsure of how to model the tunnels, so he built two half pipes and put one upside-down atop the other. Little tricks, like screening nature documentaries on flat panel televisions outside of the set’s portholes in order to give the illusion of space, make the film more compelling. The tongue-in-cheek idea that anyone can make a movie (the entire production only cost around $60,000) creates a resounding connection to the audience.

Over all, LOVE is an experience; as the title implies, the joy comes from the audience’s interaction and relationship to the story. While it is an implausible situation, as true science fiction frequently is, it does create a need to empathize with its protagonist. Captain Miller could be any one of us. He could be our past or our future, but either way, he represents us all. In fact, Wright creates a character that perfectly represents humanity as we struggle with our relationships.  No one can move through the world alone, and LOVE examines the true impact that humans have on each other by removing them from the equation. It is a visually stunning movie with insight that is altogether too rare. LOVE is available now on iTunes, and will soon be available with behind the scenes goodies on BluRay.