Review of 'Orbiter 9 (Órbita 9)'

Helena (Clara Lago) has lived all of her life in a space pod with her parents having left after a malfunction in the air recycling. Alone and on her way to a distant planet for colonization she is visited by Álex (Álex González) a mechanic come to fix her spacecraft. Limited to 50 hours, Álex is able to quickly repair the pod but in that time the two develop an attraction to one another as Helena yearns for missing human contact. After the troubled Álex leaves the pod everything changes…

I can't really go into too much about what happens in the film as that would spoil it for those that have not yet seen it. It is quite a shocker and comes very early on with the rest of the film a race against time. The special effects are amazing but it is the actors in the leading roles that really steal the show with Lago absolutely enthralling as the young woman living alone in the pod. It is her expression and subtlety of movement that utterly convinces and tugs at your heart strings while González's change of heart is also equally believable - Company man that sees what his company has done and is determined to make it right.

An amazing story with some incredible performances, Orbiter 9, despite it's subtitles (if you don't understand Spanish) is well worth a watch. A small film but with some powerful, though simple, human themes.

Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”

Review Date: 2021-08-01

Directed by: Hatem Khraiche

Studio: Cactus Flower

Year: 2017

Length: 95 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469798/