Space for more

Johnson Thomas

A futuristic (year 2034) romantic adventure drama, this film has Gardner Elliot as the first human unexpectedly born on Mars – his mother Sarah (Janet Montgomery) was leader to a group of astronauts sent on a four month live-in stint to Mars.  She discovered she was pregnant while on Mars and the programme director Nathaniel (Gary Oldman) back on earth, had to take a call on whether to abort the foetus or not. And it does seem like the fact that NASA was most negligent about carrying out comprehensive pre-flight blood tests, helps carry the story forward to an unimaginable level. 

Gardner (Asa Butterfield), at 16, is a loner and his level of intelligence is more than that of the robots he keeps tinkering with. The temporary mother figure in his life, Kendra (Carla Gugino) a childless divorcee, a scientist/astronaut herself, confesses to not wanting children so he is even more eager to seek out his origins. A chance contact through DM, with an earthling, also a misfit, Tulsa (Britt Robertson), forges a connect that comes to good use when he gets back on earth –which is inevitable, given that he is intent on searching for his father. Meanwhile, his existence has been kept secret by NASA, so there are sure to be complications if he suddenly appears on earth. 

This one is meant to be a tear-jerker and it gets into that mode quickly enough, throwing up possibilities that could hamper Gardner’s survival. The empathy level is high because the lead pair is shown as a vulnerable twosome who needs all the help and best wishes they can get. While the story is far-fetched and the narration quite economically put together, it’s the actors, the evolving background score, CGI and camerawork that make this experience tangible.