Review of ‘I.S.S.’ (Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2023)
‘I.S.S.’ is a smart thriller set on the International Space Station in which a crew of American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts all appear to be living peaceably and respectfully side by side until a war on earth between their countries ignites a hostile battle of the wills as both sides are, unbeknownst to each other, instructed, before radio contact is lost, to seize control of the ISS by any means necessary.
These research scientists who had a common goal to work together for the common good end up having their values and trust put firmly to the test as it turns out that it isn’t just between the Russians and the Americans that trust is eroded. ‘I.S.S.’ is really a psychological drama that happens to be set in space, with the same sort of dynamics, with their double crossings and duplicities, that befit the world of film noir. What doesn’t convince, however, is that these rational scientists would turn at the blink of an eye into savage, murderous assailants who attack with knives and will kill their fellow crew members — not just those from the rival nation.
It amounts to a good lesson for the audience as to who to trust, as a character who speaks the whole time about his daughters back on earth that he is keen to see once more may not actually be telling us the full narrative, and ‘I.S.S.’ could really be categorized as a ‘gaslighting in space’ thriller where each of the characters at varying moments are villainized, only for all but one of them to end up being good citizens after all. What perhaps doesn’t quite work is that with World War Three having broken out on earth, none of the characters really engage with the fact that there may not be much of a planet to return to should they actually manage to get out of the space station alive in the first place. There is no point in following orders from a government on earth that may not even exist any more.
The characters are a microcosm of us all and they are not straightforwardly demarcated along lines of nationality or gender, which gives the film plenty of room for potential growth. But, in different scenes we are afforded a glimpse into how different members of the crew might be deemed capable of murder or deception, and it is these shifting sands which it is left to the American Kira (Ariana DeBose), the newest recruit to the space station, to decipher as she draws different conclusions in each scene as to the identity of the guilty party.
