(The Vintage Tempest)
Available on VOD
May 12, 2020
When Damon (Kristian Bruun of Orphan Black) gets the short end of the stick at his job and his miserable life is made worse by still sharing the same abode with his ex Beatrice (Meghan Heffern), nothing can be made worse than him contemplating an end. In this film’s case, titled Red Rover, it’s more about what’s in store for him if he’s only willing to forge a better future for himself.
When life seems bad, the wiser individual would rise up to the challenge. You don’t quit or run away. Nor is thinking the other party will come around to understanding you. Perhaps taking part in a privately funded recruitment program to send him to the fourth rock from the sun is the best therapy Damon can get–so he thinks!
This quirky romantic comedy introduces him to Phoebe (Cara Gee), who may well be the girl of his dreams. This actress’s pluckiness sells this movie. In character, she sees beyond Damon’s misery and helps him out. This once successful geologist had a life Beatrice once adored. His indecisiveness was what made things worse, and despite him feeling consumed by failure and what ifs, thankfully Phoebe becomes his muse … or not! Even she leaves him after she’s done her job, and he’s left with making a tough choice.
Should Damon go to live on Mars, he still needs his head in the right place than in the clouds. Part of the space flight company’s idea is to make a cosmic reality tv show of how a group of would-be pioneers taming a new frontier.
Perhaps depression was behind Damon’s fall. Canadian born director Shane Belcourt‘s work has me feeling sympathetic for him because we’ve all been there at some point in our lives. Clinging to past failures is tough to let go, and Bruno really nails the pathos. Instead of a plot about going to another planet to start anew, this film explores those problems within, and answer why not all Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus.
4 Stars out of 5