Rubikon

On the one hand, film festivals have the power to shine a light on certain films and to kick-start the hype around them, as happened this year with Triangle of Sadness in Karlovy Vary. Unfortunately, however, they can also completely cut other films off at the knees by creating entirely inadequate conditions for them or by raising false expectations. That is the case with the little sci-fi flick Rubikon, which simply should not have been exposed to viewers caught up in the traditional fear of missing something important that everyone will be talking about later. It’s true that the film’s main strengths consist in the fact that it is a low-budget debut by Austrian filmmakers with a tiny international acting ensemble (which includes the charismatic character actor Mark Ivanir, who is known mainly to viewers of the action series Undisputed). But even outside of that context, their work is still a solid (not ground-breaking or innovative or captivating) contribution to its genre that fulfils the basic prerequisite of any good work of science fiction, which consists not in suspense or entertainment, but in presenting viewers or readers with something that makes them think beyond the framework of their everyday reality – in this case, specifically about the subject of humans in space and their ties to humanity on a dying planet. (12.07.2022)