It’s been a couple of weeks since the Toronto International Film Festival wrapped up and for science fiction fans, it was one of the first opportunities to see Dune which, if the critical adulation is any indication, could become a major hit.
Lost in the hoopla about Denis Villeneuve’s adaption of the Frank Herbert classic, were reviews of some other science fiction movies.
One that sounds promising is ‘I’m Your Man‘, a German rom-com about a woman who falls in love with a robot. Here’s how the Globe & Mail described it:
Woman meets man. Man charms woman. Woman starts to believe in love for the first time in a long while. Man turns out to be a robot. German hilarity ensues.
For something closer to home and a bit out of the ordinary is ‘Night Raiders‘, a Canadian science fiction tale with an Indigenous perspective. The Film Stage has this to say about the movie:
Cree-Métis writer-director Danis Goulet wondered how North America would look if … (the residential school) institution not only continued to thrive and indoctrinate indigenous kids by law into the fascist ruling class’ image, but also expanded its reach to every minority population, whether by race, religion, or socio-economic standing?
The Film Review also took a look at ‘Encounter,” a sci-fi thriller that it said had strong performances, but a superficial message.
A meteorite falling to Earth disintegrates into stardust that subsequently permeates everything it touches. It hits the soil, enters a bug, is consumed again, and then injected into human flesh by a mosquito while feeding on a microscopic tardigrade about to explode. So the computer-generated prologue to Michael Pearce’s Encounter sets the table for its struggle between man and neurological parasite.