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Red rover, red rover, send Damon on over!
In a situation that is fucked up beyond belief, one poor schmuck finally finds his way out of his ex-girlfriend’s basement. He's going to colonize Mars! Well, maybe. If this scenario sounds like a wacky, space cadet move, know that - when you consider that the schmuck has nothing really to live for here - it sounds perfectly logical.
With no job and no real prospects of ever escaping the house he bought with Beatrice, his ex-girlfriend (which he now lives in the basement of), Damon (Kristian Bruun, Orphan Black) is beyond a broken man. The flyer he's handed one night from an intriguing stranger might have the answer for the escape he's looking for.
Enter writer/director Shane Belcourt’s Toronto-set comedy Red Rover. This beautifully crafted film is a rom-com that is actually quite profound in its exploration of the human condition - especially when it comes to ideas of love and companionship in the mid-life funk that we sometimes stumble into.
Adrift and wanting to start over after the break-up from his high school sweetheart, he spends his free time on the beach looking for something lost among the rocks and debris. It must be something very important. He’s been doing this, in between the arguments with the yoga-loving, always shirtless, Australian boyfriend, Mark, (whom he hears having sex with Beatrice every night in their upstairs world), for over a year now.
Dedicated, yes, but it’s also kind of pathetic, but that’s the world that this lonely geologist lives in. He kinda hates people right now and he definitely does not want to be around his family. He’s a carrier pigeon who blocks out the sun. {googleads}
That is until Phoebe (Cara Gee, The Expanse) walks right into his stunted world. Vibrant and smiling, she shakes up Damon’s miserable existence with a spark that ignites a passion within him. Plus, she’s also wearing a form-fitting space suit (which always helps in getting attention) for most of the movie. Phoebe is a rare bird. She’s spunky, delightful, but keeps people at a distance; it’s as if she is protecting herself from something, too.
Damon learns, through their casual run-ins on the beach that she’s an aspiring musician, but - to pay the bills - she is currently the public face for Red Rover, a company which wants to send people to Mars and televise it. She tells him to check it out; to go to the website and submit a video for consideration into the program. Be one of the few! The Brave!
When he considers the shit on Earth that’s here for him, that idea of a one-way ticket to Mars makes a lot of sense. So, he takes her up on the idea. The problem is that his life is still a mess and to even think of trying to sell himself to complete strangers in this competition makes for a rather miserable video submission.
He’s going to need help. The kind of help that only a free spirit like Phoebe can provide. A bond is quickly formed between the two. It is full of wonderfully honest surprises and it comes across as heartfelt and extremely necessary. And these two actors bring a lot of laughter and light to the script, filling in the holes to their characters with delightful nuances.
But there are some heart yearning lessons here. There is a sequence, late in the movie, which absolutely brought tears to my eyes as every idea this film has been leading to is explored via images of space and planets and then, finally, life here on planet earth. It is a fabulous montage that left me breathless in its persistence to start fresh instead of just expand on what has already been created. Something, during these Covid-19 times, that we could all benefit from doing.
From writer/director Shane Helcourt, co-writer Duane Murray, and starring Kristian Bruun (Ready or Not), Cara Gee (The Expanse), Meghan Heffern (Wynonna Earp), and Anna Hopkins (The Expanse), Red Rover premieres On Demand May 12 from Indiecan Entertainment and October Coast.
Between the earth and the moon….there is so much to love. Red Rover is something to throw your arms around.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 95 mins
Director: Shane Belcourt
Writer: Shane Belcourt, Duane Murray
Cast: Kristian Bruun, Cara Gee, Meghan Heffern
Genre: Comedy | Romance
Tagline: We all want someone to call us over.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Imagine human settlement on the planet Mars."
Distributor: Indiecan Entertainment and October Coast
Official Site:
Release Date: May 12, 2020
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: No details available.
Synopsis: After feeling he has nothing left to live for on earth, a lonely geologist tries to qualify for a one-way mission to Mars with the help of an offbeat musician who is just as lost as he is.
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