Streaming Maths

Part of the joy of modern movie streaming is discovering a hidden gem. The kind of movie that you’d see sitting on the shelf in HMV, or even Blockbuster – (hello all you 90’s kids out there) – and simply walk by.

“I can’t spend cash money on this. I know nothing about it.”

“This isn’t Vegas – I’m not going to roll the dice. Oh, look, a Marvel movie. Neat.”

We all like a known quantity when it comes to making an investment, however big or small. The beauty of streaming is that you’ve already made the investment. Hell, you’ve bought the entire store.

To that end, I was scrolling through the Sky Cinema listings during a quiet Saturday night in when I stumbled across the latest flick to drop onto the platform. A short 88-minute Sci-Fi film called “UFO.” It stars Gillian Anderson alongside a group of other actors that in honesty, I didn’t recognise. Exactly the type of movie that I’d leave on the shelf. But this is streaming.

Five paragraphs into an article titled “UFO Review.” Guess I’d better do some reviewing.

This film is a magic trick of a movie in that it has huge potential to be extremely dull. Most of the scenes are filled with maths. If you watched the film with the TV muted, you’d basically be watching a socially awkward University student struggle to complete a constant stream of equations.

And yet it’s the small steps that keep you intrigued – small details and clues that Derek Echevaro (Alex Sharp) uncovers along the way in his mission to prove that it really was a UFO that mysteriously appeared at Cincinnati International Airport one morning.

Through debunking various cover ups, learning why Derek is so obsessed with proving the existence of intelligent life beyond Earth and enlisting the help of the only mathematician seemingly capable of keeping pace in the movie, the brilliant Doctor Hendricks (Gillian Anderson,) the movie is always entertaining.

It doesn’t talk down to you with it’s convoluted explanations and it doesn’t make the characters any less relatable. For a movie that’s buzz phrase is “Fine Structure Constant,” that’s quite a feat.

No doubt that is assisted by the atmospheric score composed by West Dylan Thordson – you know, the artist responsible for the similarly atmospheric and hugely underrated scores which elevated the tension in Glass and Split. His scores create a tone on there own. Edgy.

I don’t want to dive into specifics, as judging from the 854 Letterboxd users logged as having viewed the movie, I doubt many of you folks have watched this one yet. At 88 mins, this is a great mid-week watch and well worthy of that relatively small time investment.

The acting isn’t going to leave a lasting impression. The plot doesn’t have and “I am your father” bombshell. But this is a solid three and a half star movie, far more entertaining than the mathematically charged premise suggests and worthy of more eyeballs than have currently tuned in.