Tropic Review: Star-Crossed Family Bonds

French director Edouard Salier takes us on an emotional sci-fi journey with Tropic, co-written with Mauricio Carrasco. Salier is no stranger to intimate human stories, having directed character-driven films like The Unbreakable Bond and Cabeza Madre. Here he brings his naturalistic style to a tale that blends sci-fi with a resonant family drama.

We follow twin brothers Lazaro and Tristan, two young athletes training to become astronauts at an elite space academy in near-future France. They’ve got their eyes on the stars, hoping to be selected for a pioneering deep space colonization mission called Eternity. But a freak accident at a nearby lake changes everything when Tristan gets severely injured after an unidentified object crashes down.

Now disfigured and cognitively impaired, Tristan sees his dreams shattered overnight. Meanwhile Lazaro continues his training, wracked with survivor’s guilt. Their close bond frays, tensions flare with their mother, and Tristan struggles to adjust to his new normal.

While Tropic features the trappings of science fiction, it’s less interested in spaceships and aliens than in using this backdrop to explore universal emotional truths. At its heart, it’s an intimate story about family ties tested by adversity, the pain of crushed potential, and the way tragedy alters relationships and forces us to redefine who we are. More human drama than special effects spectacle, Salier crafts a bittersweet story of letting go.

A Visual Feast

Cinematographer Mathieu Plainfossé deserves major props for crafting a visually stunning sci-fi world with texture and mood. Shooting on location in France, the film has an grounded, organic look that contrasts nicely with its futuristic premise.

Right from the opening frame, Tropic immerses us in crisp, hyperreal imagery. The camera glides through sun-dappled waters as astronauts-in-training perform aquatic tests, bringing an immersive, you-are-there feel. Plainfossé employs precise framing and deliberate camera movement to enhance the graceful athleticism on display.

There’s a cold, clinical aesthetic to the space academy that underscores the rigorous physical and mental prep required. Stark white walls, brutal fluorescent lights, and reflective floors evoke the sterile environment astronaut hopefuls must adapt to. It’s all intelligently shot to amplify the loneliness and isolation.

When we move to the countryside and lush outdoor spaces, a warmer natural palette takes over. Lush green hues in forest scenes provide visual respite while mirroring the theme of environmental contamination. Plainfossé finds beauty in the natural world but suggests creeping decay in the background.

Scenes back home with the twins’ mother Mayra radiate comforting domestic intimacy, with cozier lighting and a relaxed handheld approach. There’s a vibrancy here, with the red and yellow color scheme reflecting traditional Spanish design. It’s a nurturing nest the hyper-competitive Lazaro ultimately must leave.

After Tristan’s accident the visual atmosphere grows more somber and bleak. Cool blues and gray tones communicate melancholic grief, while eerie green hues hint at an unnatural alien presence lurking within Tristan. Plainfossé’s lenses capture each emotional beat with precision.

Tropic may be understated in its sci-fi conceits, but it delivers ravishing imagery rooted in emotional truth. Through light and color, careful compositions and clever camerawork, Plainfossé’s visual craftsmanship makes palpable the characters’ shifting inner worlds.

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Standout Performances

The emotional weight of Tropic rests on the capable shoulders of its talented cast, who turn in subtly powerful work. As twin brothers Lazaro and Tristan, Pablo Cobo and Louis Peres share an easy chemistry that makes their spiraling dynamic consistently compelling.

Cobo brings coiled intensity to hotshot Tristan, capturing his alpha male bravado and the arrogant confidence that cracks after his accident. We believe his macho physicality as an athlete in peak condition before seeing the shocked denial and raging pain in his eyes post-injury. Cobo charts this tragic transformation with care, flashing the vulnerability behind Tristan’s vanity.

As Lazaro, Peres skillfully occupies the shadow of his flashier twin, projecting quiet relatability. We identify with his jealousy and ambition, sympathize as he struggles between loyalty to his brother and realizing individual potential. Peres lets us see the guilt that hangs over Lazaro even as he accepts the mantle passed to him, culminating in a shattering breakdown scene that reveals suppressed emotion.

The nurturing spine of the family unit comes from Marta Nieto’s sensitive turn as Mayra, the twins’ mother. Nieto radiates maternal warmth and pride that curdles to exhausted helplessness as she cares for her now-disabled son. We feel Mayra’s layered sacrifice. Her emotional climax leaves no dry eyes as Nieto confronts fears of abandonment.

Of the supporting players, Isis Guillaume makes an impression as Tristan’s girlfriend Sophia. Primarily a visual symbol of Tristan’s vanished able-bodied identity, Sophia’s presence highlights his loss. Yet Guillaume subtly suggests Sophia’s own difficulty abandoning Tristan completely, flickering traces of their connection.

By keeping the cast intimate, performances become more affecting. These wounded relationships between mother, sons, lovers and siblings achieve universality through the actors’ truthful work. Their chemistry combusts at critical moments, channeling the love driving them apart.

An Intimate Epic

Unfolding at a deliberate pace, Tropic takes its time enveloping us in each story beat and emotional shift. The stately tempo aligns with the movie’s grounded intimacy even as the cosmic stakes suggest an epic scope.

In the first half, Salier establishes context through quiet character moments, allowing the central relationship between Lazaro and Tristan to solidify. We observe their competitive camaraderie, their subtle codependence, and the textured family dynamics with mother Mayra.

The freak accident at the midpoint ushers in creeping dread as the devastation to Tristan unravels. The film slows down further here, steeping us in the agonizing aftermath through every stage of Tristan’s grief and adjustment. Each scene sits with the characters’ pain.

While some may argue this middle section gets draggy, the patience pays off. By fully experiencing Tristan’s arduous mental and physical therapy, his stumbling attempts to retrain his mind and body, we are utterly invested when Lazaro reaches his emotional tipping point much later. The time devoted earns the big melodramatic catharsis.

Salier shows confidence in stillness and reflection, often resting on his characters’ silent anguish instead of cutting away. He trusts the actors’ raw expressiveness, and this makes moments land hard. When connections fray and the family fractures, we feel the rupture profoundly.

What’s paradoxically both sprawling and tight about Tropic is how it fuses a momentous situation — selecting Earth’s interstellar emissaries — with granular emotional texture. This story taps into the enormous through the specific: the wonder of space exploration through the lens of human intimacy. The final shot crystallizes everything encapsulated in one poignant frame.

Room to Grow

As strong as Tropic is emotionally and visually, there are times when the story beats feel familiar or could have used some finessing. While hardly dealbreakers, a few creative choices lend themselves to questioning.

For one, the actual sci-fi anomaly causing Tristan’s accident is vaguely defined and plays better as metaphor than concept. While keeping exposition minimal can work, a tad more clarity around the meteorite or parasite might have helped it feel an integrated part of this world. As is, it borders on easy dramatic contrivance.

Similarly, the rules of this future space training program stay fuzzy. Besides some basic tests and evaluations, we never get an concrete sense of the criteria for being selected to the Eternity Mission. Leaving this backdrop suggestion can work, but deeper immersion into Lazaro’s high-stakes competition might have raised the stakes.

There are also moments that flirt with melodrama without quite earning the dramatic payoff. In particular, an intense confrontation scene between the brothers in the final act feels slightly disconnected from the otherwise reflective tone. While packed with explosive emotions, the sequence leans into hysterics that aren’t set up effectively.

Ultimately though, Tropic succeeds more than it stumbles. For those wanting a truly innovative spin, Salier plays it safer than he might have. But as an intimate slice of sci-fi humanism, it provides affecting and beautifully crafted drama.

Reaching for the Stars

Tropic reminds us that riveting sci-fi can privilege emotional truth over flashy spectacle. While set in a futuristic context, it keeps celestial ambitions grounded in raw human intimacy. At its core, this is small story about enormous themes.

Driven by the magnetic leads Pablo Cobo and Louis Peres as rival siblings split apart by fate, director Edouard Salier orchestrates their micro drama against the macro backdrop of France’s space colonization hopes. Visualizing the vastness of infinity starts with a microscope on two brothersfeeling infinite loss.

It’s this tight focus that makes Tropic stick with you. The film takes its time nurturing empathy for Lazaro and Tristan before trauma strikes. When it does, the vivid portrayal of grief and slow rebuilding process afterwards spotlights resilience in the face of radical change. Rather than fixating on the ripple effects across society, we zoom in on the interpersonal—how personal identity and relationships mutate.

Tropic marries the otherworldly promise of the stars with earthly matters of family, loyalty, and sacrifice. And while light on plot, it offers richness through elegant filmmaking and raw performances. Cinematographer Mathieu Plainfossé deserves special mention for realizing a sleek, hyperreal sci-fi atmosphere that still feels intimately lived-in rather than detached.

If you’re seeking a cerebral edge-of-your-seat thriller, Tropic won’t quite satiate. The pace lingers in stillness and reflection. But as an artful, emotionally immersive character study covertly disguised as a sci-fi drama, its reflective humanity resonates. Salier movingly reminds us that even in distant galaxies, human connections remain essential. Wherever we roam, we can never escape the heart.

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