Damon (Kristian Bruun) is one of those people who appears to have little outward self worth, and so muddles through life seemingly aimlessly, without ever really achieving anything important. He's living in the basement of Beatrice's (Meghan Heffern) home, his ex girlfriend, while she has a new live in lover. After working hard he gets sacked by his boss, and then meets Phoebe (Cara Gee) who persuades him to apply for a position as an astronaut to go and start a colony on Mars.
So that's the plot, but what's is about? It's about self. Damon's self worth is low, but his self esteem is high. He proves this time and again through the film, although his self worth is lifted somewhat after meeting Phoebe. It's almost a paradox that you can have high self esteem, but that does not allow you self worth. But to watch that in practice is to see someone who thinks nothing is worth bothering about, nothing can be gained, and yet they keep trying anyway. It's almost like they're driven to prove themselves wrong.
The ending of the film proves this point perfectly. What will be good for him would be to pursue the option he has in front of him. But he is instead pursuing a hopeless entanglement because his self esteem allows him to believe that if he succeeds he will raise his self worth. Critical self analysis would prove this to be untrue, but he is stuck in a psychological quest that he can't get out of. Some people might call it 'eternal hope with no likelihood of success.' I've not seen another film that I can recall which looks into this topic, but this one succeeds easily and is a go to for me if you want to understand Freud's definition of ego and superego.
The cast is awesome. Great to see Cara Gee again, she can lend her skills to anything and sings like an angel. But every main cast member does a great job and the pace is great with little wasted time or words in the whole film. I particularly like the way Damon remains pretty much the same character throughout the entire film, underscored by the very end, yet Phoebe is a changeling as is Beatrice. A beautiful film, well worth a solid 8 from me.
