Europa Report

Europa Report is a terrific little sci-fi film. Visibly constrained by its budget  - it's probably quite a rough time for this film, screening in a post-Gravity world - but otherwise a wealth of all the things great about movies in space, it's much less the 'little film that could' and much more 'the very competent film that hadn't a great budget.' Founded in a hazy set of scientific truths, the film explores a scenario in which a group of astronauts leave earth to find life on Jupiter's moon, Europa.

The journey itself is told through the ship's video logs, but thankfully doesn't feel at all trapped by the usual restrictions of a found-footage film. Instead, it uses this conceit to its great advantage; excusing showing action it couldn't afford for close-ups of actors' faces, milking scenes of true horror from the dark corners of things you can't see. It tries also to intersperse these scenes with documentary-style talking heads, but wisely lets the 'found' footage make up the bulk of the screen-time. The film's greatest strength is in its naturalism, and then its capacity for smart tension after that; the scenes inside the ship make up the bulk of the film, and feel truly scientific, and ably claustrophobic.

Screening 23 November, Event Cinemas