Nova

Enjoyable independent sci-fi film with a compelling narrative about a small crew composed of humans and humanoid robots en route to the Mars colony. Was pleasantly surprised that despite the low budget, the production quality was high enough and consistent throughout the film to keep me captivated. The acting is okay, my favorite actor being the one who played the ship's captain, but also the woman who played the titular character had me forgetting she was human. Also the film handled the challenge of having a young child actress quite well and she did a great job in her role.

All in all a technically solid and fun indie film.

No matter the budget, it's a miracle if you can get a film made and worth it if you have something to say. Nova attempts to ask questions about how we treat our own creations, especially at moments of crisis when the choices only become tougher along the way. Aside from the scenes of peril that offer excitement, Nova works best when it leans on its dramatic aspects, most notably with Lelia Anastasia. Her performance as the Captain leading a doomed ship lends authenticity and dimension to a character with both nobility and bias- especially against the AI of the film- played with haunting understatement in the case of Juliet Chevelle's title character. For a shoestring budgeted sci fi film, it's nice to see that it concerns itself with drama between characters and allowing the performances to be the film's greatest special effect.

What happens when robots begin to feel? Should we nip that in the bud? Or allow them to flourish? What happens when they start to learn things that they weren't necessarily programmed to do? How dangerous is that?

Yes, this film is extremely low budget, but I think it's worth a watch if you want to see one possible outcome to these questions. If you just want action, go watch something else.

The actors aren't very good, but considering the majority of the cast are robots...not sure you can judge that.

Ok. I have to get the costumes off my chest. The fem bots. Literally. The female robots have big hair held in place by a huge barrette. And eye lashes that are so big... maybe they double as antenna?

To be completely honest, I did consider turning it off after a few minutes. But as the film progressed I did not mind the acting style. In fact, it started to provoke feelings. I really do not know why, but I did get pulled into this film.

The plot is cliche, but there is something I cannot put my finger on. I just wanted to keep watching. It might be that the illustration of the moral dilemmas facing the crew is so clear and highlighted. Maybe it is because there is not much else to focus on. Either way it works. I found myself getting emotionally involved in the characters in ways that even star studded casts have failed.

I don't know if my experience is unique or not, but I like this film.

I love a good Science Fiction thriller and this one fit the bill nicely. Thematically it was actually really very refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie and can consider it fun for the whole family. It had characters of all ages so everybody in my home had one or more people or android we could easily relate to. The subject content were many and varied from trivial to life threatening. It was a very realistic view of the present we're living to the near future were anticipating. It gave us a lot to talk about afterwords and was very well thought out. Kudos to the writer/director. My family feels we gave it a very realistic rating.