Hemisphere

Sitting through this film I didn't know what to expect. What a pleasant surprise. Independent films sometimes out perform and Hemisphere is definitely one of them.

The director did a great job holding to those elements that were entertaining and impactful. I liked the conspiracy elements and the characters felt fleshed out - not an easy thing to do on a smaller budget. The sets were imaginative and visually compelling. The team here felt committed to what they were doing and it sure pays off. I've always liked these kinds of films and the filmmaking team pulls off a genre that is not easy to get right. Well done!! I couldn't recommend it enough!

This is so amateur that looks like a bad high-school play or something, not much effort at anything really, specially knowledge of Science and Space technology; not even trying to do thing right with the little they could afford. Nothing was realistic, they went into filming without any knowledge of anything related to even film-making, let alone, making it interesting about anything. The "script" has 0 value, it was done by a lazy teenager in a weekend, about some easy crime in space, without any attempts to learn how to write for such. It was really bad, I can't believe they call this a movie, I'd be totally ashamed to even present this.

This was a lost opportunity to show brilliance of any type, since it'd automatically be highlighted for how bad was everything on this movie, not even the camera movement was right, I've seen movies like this but long ago, when low budget was = to low knowledge, before the Internet and computers and AI. Really no effort here; I can't qualify it 0/10.

For those who enjoyed Sean Connery's Outland from 1981, Chris Maes' "Hemisphere" might be the film that appeals to you.

The film has two central performances from Julie Kashmanian & Paige Rion. Telegenic Julie Kashmanian gives an enigmatic and "can she be trusted" type performance.

Julia Kashmanian is a one to watch, along with her performance in "Ghost Planet," I think it's only a matter of time, before she shines in a film which can show her true versatility as an actress.

Meanwhile Paige Rion has a great look on camera. A cool voice and fine acting chops.

With limited resources Chris Maes and his team have made a film exploring isolation, abandonment and the loneliness of space.

These reviews blow my mind. Are they all written by the same person? This movie was so... not good. I get that it had an extremely low budget, but the plot was trite, acting was unconvincing and overdone, dialog was incredibly poor, and the set - parts of this "space station" were obviously made of cardboard.

Look, I can forgive a lot for an indie production, but this is one that's worse than what an average freshman film major could do. Pass on this and save yourself 90 minutes.

EDIT: Four of these raving reviewers have reviewed only this movie and nothing else. Interesting. I'm the fifth I guess. I'm here to provide some much-needed counterbalance to this peculiar parade of praises.

Full disclosure, I know a lot of the people involved on this production, and my immediate take away from all of this is that the performances stand out the most, especially Paige and Julie's performance -- that's a testament to the direction and writing on part of the director, Chris Maes.

This being his directorial feature film debut, what stood out to me was the plucky, bare-knuckle style and grit to the film that makes it enjoyable and worth investing the time into watching. The obviously fault here is that the film wears its budget on its sleeve **which is the case for just about every indie-film** but is especially hard to overcome for indie-science fiction...if you look passed budget constraints then the story becomes a lot more meaningful and enjoyable to watch.

Beyond that, I think the real winning take-away here is that we live in a day and age where science fiction is no longer out of reach for independent filmmakers and that's both inspiring and amazing...so big kudos to the producers for having the gumption to create this. I could never have imagined anyone would attempt a 2-piece chamber film in a small set-location designed to be a space station, but I am here for it!

You can't judge this movie by the shortcomings when you see the earnest attempts made by filmmakers that cost millions and fail horribly due to cliché and forced Hollywood pandering *cough* looking at you Last Jedi....this film fits really nicely into its own category and I really hope to see what Chris has up next.