Review of Approaching the Unknown (2016) by Timm S — 01 Nov 2017

An attractive, if muddled plot that drifts slowly where a couple of other films went before. This is not The Martian. There is no humour, and little to encourage the audience to engage with the main character. That said, the performance itself is very good. It is just that the character is a real jerk! The ending is damn confusing, and open to interpretation. Rather like the ending of 2001, except with no giant space baby.

*SPOILER AFTER THIS* My plot theory: A man walks into the desert with a technological dream to create water from dirt. As seen in flashbacks during the film, the technology fails, the water is toxic, and he collapses into the dust - where, as he is dying, he dreams that his technology worked and that he is going to Mars.

That dream becomes more bizarre and surreal as his mind collapses and in the end he dies, in the desert on Earth (but dreaming that he is on Mars). Desert blues play over the credits, followed by the sound of carrion crows flocking in to eat his corpse.