Cargo

There are things that only happen in a lifetime. This was my main motivation for buying the DVD of , the only swiss science-fiction movie ever, and maybe the only one. The best way to describe Cargo is to say that it is classical science fiction: 2001, Alien, Matrix are all clear inspirations. The realisation is meticulous, the special are fine (given the budget of the movie), and I really liked the mise en scène which heavily borrows from the science fiction imagery: the spaceship would fit in perfectly in Blade Runner or Firefly, but at the same time gives a good sense of the emptiness and coldness of space. The use of coulours and themes is also very classical, but efficient nonetheless.

The plot is also quite classical: a spaceship in a dark future and something weird in the holt. The movie is basically a mix of science-fiction themes and ideas and, while the general ideas can be guessed from the synopsis, I still was curious to see where the plot would go. I suppose I’m biased, but I really like the rythm of the movie, and the fact that most of the tension was psychological, the characters are normal people, and the action scenes feel very real because of this.

The result is somehow like a swiss watch of science fiction. Nothing ground breaking, but all the elements have been meticoulously built and fit neatly in place, with all the attention concentrated on the important bits: characters, plot, ambiance, and a refreshing lack of ridiculous action scenes. While the movie is in German, there are English (and French) subtitle available.

8 thoughts on “Cargo”

  1. It’s not the only Swiss sic-fi movie anymore: now there is La guerre des Romands. ;)

  2. Visiblement très inspiré d’Alien ou de The Thing… Comme souvent, la bande annonce semble résumer tellement bien le film que je n’ai plus envie de le voir !

  3. C’est vrai que la bande annonce a un ton (et un rythme) très différent du film…

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