The Occupant

Abby (Ella Balinska) is a British Geologist who has been working around the world for months in a row. She desperately needs the money to pay for her dying sister's (Vanessa Ifediora) medical treatment. But now, when she's finally on her way home, her helicopter crashes, killing the pilot. Abby finds herself stranded and alone in an icy wilderness, where a mysterious helper may or may not be her salvation.

This starts off a little like "Long Distance" where 2 astronauts crash land on an alien planet are trying to meet each other using just radio chatter.

It's also reminiscent of "Keep Breathing" where a woman has to survive after a plane crash in a mountain region.

However it is nowhere near as good as either film. Balinska puts in a fine performance in terms of acting. But the film has no point and no flow and the story is mired in obscure dreams and flashbacks. I did try hard to follow it but I stopped short of googling to make sense of it. If a film can't tell you a story in the screenplay, it's not a very good film anyway.

I rated it a 4 and that was solely for Balinskas acting.

I went into The Occupant (2025) completely blind - no trailer, no synopsis, no expectations. Unfortunately, it didn't matter. What followed was a dull, lifeless experience. The film clearly wants to be clever and cerebral, but instead it's painfully slow, uneventful, and lacking in any real tension or payoff.

Where to start?

Was looking forward to this.

Sci-fi vs reality.

Human difficulty vs death

No spoilers, this is a movie of three parts and they just fail to join up.

Lots of open ends, with no answers.

Full of promise and yet delivers less and less as time goes on.

I was hoping the end would be transindetal or sci-fi laden, no such luck.

This is a weird movie. It felt to me like it was more of a vanity project than a movie made to entertain or make a profit. Its full of long picturesque shots of great scenery, snow, forest, and rock formations, but without much substance or any real depth. The misleading title bares little relevance to whats on offer, and the story is an odd combination of two notions that meld rather poorly.

It's a story essentially of loss, dealing with it and the pain of losing close emotional attachement. Unfortunately, the movie does this by meandering along a path that gets boring quickly and deludes into thinking theres going to be some sort of payoff somewhere, but sadly there isn't any.

The majority if of the movie is spent following our stunningly beautiful lead Ella Balinska as she treks across the wilderness. Very little happens, there's very little development save the flashbacks to her homelife and the short insights were given to her character.

To be fair it's not a terrible movie if you have almost two hours to spare. You could do worse, but its certainly not a good movie, less so an entertaining one. The begining suggests that there was a sci-fi themed thread at play, but this never really pans out. Even though the prelude did seem initially interesting, I was bored twenty minutes in, and this didn't really improve throughout the one hour and forty minute produciton.

There's only a handful of roles on offer here, and essentially the whole movie rests on the shoulders of one actor, Balinska, who to to be fair, gives a pretty solid performance, but it just isn't enough. The tale is a threadbare offering too long, and too abstract.

There is nothing of interest, no payoff and its not even an interesting watch.

In all honesty my advise is to give this one a miss. I don't like to be overly critical with my reviews but there just isn't anything on offer here.

3/10 is all I can manage.

Hugo Keijzer offers us an interesting film that focuses on intrigue with science fiction overtones that immerses us in a personal reflection on letting go.

Starring Ella Balinska as Abby, a guilt-ridden geologist and engineer in transit from her remote mission, she survives a mysterious helicopter crash and must try to escape the harsh environment. But she's not alone . The film is a slow-burning thriller that takes its time between metaphors and science fiction to give us a well-crafted film that manages to hold our attention thanks to its perfect photography by Robbie van Brussel and its locations, in addition to the good work of its protagonist who completely surrenders to the drama her character is going through.

Its director is clever at blending the various genres at his disposal. While the film isn't verbose and has its lesser moments, it manages to deliver a story that captures our attention and makes us understand the final reflection proposed by its script, with an emotional final stretch. The great strength of the film's proposal is the multiple reflective layers with which the film weaves together this slow-burning story, while still keeping you attentive to everything happening on screen.

A rather interesting international effort that manages to deliver some good moments in a film worth giving a try. Well directed, well acted, and with a story that remains interesting, despite its simplicity. This thought-provoking journey and a harrowing premise make for a well-crafted survival thriller.