Space/Time Doesn’t Break New Ground, But It Has Ambition, Obsession, and a Big Swing on a Small Budget
This is that sweet spot of a movie where you can feel that the indie filmmakers were reaching for something much bigger than their resources, and you have to respect the hustle because the movie mostly lands the jump. It’s not flawless, but it’s more than “watchable.” It’s the kind of indie sci-fi action thriller that earns your attention by sheer invention and nerve. And that ain’t easy.
Rating: 3.5 Cocktails 
½
The Premise
The question in Space/Time is one I ask myself all the time. Usually at 3:00 a.m. while staring into the void like Ed Norton in Fight Club: how much is the progress that we continue to push for cost, and who ends up paying for it? The film stakes out the near-future, and the planet is running on fumes. And a team of scientists is trying to bend physics into a miracle before the world collapses.
Other reviews that I have seen (to make sure that there wasn’t something that I was missing in my appreciation for this solid indie film) all keep coming up with the same compliment: Space/Time doesn’t “feel small” in the way a lot of low-budget sci-fi does. This isn’t a weekend production done for the old SyFy channel, with shaky cameras and high school AV technology. No, the world is lived-in. But, the machinery is convincingly hefty, and the presentation as slick enough that it can momentarily trick you into forgetting you are watching an indie. That’s a rare flex, even for some big budget films. And it’s the main reason this one is already getting attention from us and others.
Synopsis (No Spoilers)
Nothing new here: In the future where environmental collapse is no longer abstract, a team of scientists develops an engine capable of bending space and could get them off of Earth and onto another planet. Someday. The film opens around the first test: moving a plant across the room for the investors. The first major test goes catastrophically wrong, which we don’t see right away (more on that later). The project is shut down, leaving careers scorched and the dream buried under public scrutiny and legal fallout.
But the dream does not stay buried. Holt, the visionary with a ruthless streak, and Liv, his ambitious assistant, reunite, not wanting to let their work die. To rebuild the device, they step outside the rules and into criminal territory, and what began as salvation science turns into something sharper and darker: obsession. The engine becomes a magnet for sacrifice, and the question shifts from “can we?” to “should we?” and then to the scarier version: “we must at all costs.” Only Holt hasn’t told Liv EXACTLY what the engine action did/does.
Why It Works
Liv, played by Ashlee Lollback is flat out great. She’s an anchor, both emotionally and logically. And it kind of feels that the film is carried on her back. There are some moments the script is flat and she is able to make us forget it, which matters, because sci-fi mostly lives or dies depending on whether we care about the humans standing next to the impossible machine. (thank my screenwriting coach for that little nugget…)
Playing the part of the antagonist, sometimes literally, is Holt, played by Hugh Parker. Holt is that classic visionary thinker who can inspire you, then immediately use that inspiration against you, as his/her obsession pushing morality out of the way. Holt and Liv’s dynamic is truly the driver of the movie: two people who think they are building the same device, and doing it by breaking some rules.
Even as a true indie, the machines feel real, the set pieces look huge, and much of the action seems practical rather digital. The particle accelerator looms in the background like a character itself, equal parts promise and threat. It’s a shadow of morality and a “should we be doing this” that hangs like a cloud.
The Writing: Big Ideas, Risky Structure
The writing and script is best when it leans into the morality of advanced super science and letting obsession create havoc with justification to achieve one’s goals. Structurally, its second act meander and doesn’t quite really lean into how far it could go into the criminality of procuring the device’s components, which I would have really loved to see more of. Then the third act recommits to the scientific weirdness and becomes a bit of a mind-bender-blink-and-you’ll-miss-what-is-happening thrill ride. It’s exactly the kind of risk/reward that I just loved.
The Verdict
Space/Time is a quickly-paced, 90 minute fun ride with some great performances, and a story that doubles back on itself on purpose to both break up the “next steps” of the story and to help you remember some things you may have not seen/heard previously. Plus, it keeps a mystery alive throughout the movie, and doesn’t bore you. The performances are solid, due to the tight script that keeps it simple while letting the larger science and implications of said science drive the show. Lollback, Parker and Mzembe play their roles with ease and keep you from questioning their reasons for what they are doing. You will, however, get distracted by the score, which feels slightly off, swells at odd moments and overpowers some scenes. Still, Space/Time does come to a nicely wrapped up conclusion with just a bit of “yeah, let’s do a sequel…”
Pair it with The Void Signal Martini (built for Event Horizon, but it works here, too)
