After a crash landing, female astronaut Cassie (Chantel Frizzell) finds herself stranded on a remote planet with limited options for survival. A rescue operation is underway, but the astronaut tries taking matters into her own hands by befriending HIRU (John Grossmann), a robot left to wander the surface of the sandy world, neglected for over 200 years. Time is not on Cassie’s side, and with the dangerous dust storms closing in, both she and her new friend are forced to make a decision.
An unlikely tale of two explorers never fated to meet, writer/director Kit Wilson’s Missing Hearts has its mind set on dissecting decades’ worth of loneliness in a strangely operatic sci-fi setting. The film is an imaginative blend of practical effects with some occasionally obvious smatterings of VFX (Steve Eation). There are sequences of Missing Hearts that scream screen replacement, and the choice of camera angles does little to hide the digital backdrops. Even still, there’s an artfulness to them. Most indie sci-fis will overwhelm their compositions with poorly rendered spaceships, holograms, and weird lens flares, but Wilson keeps things simple, and in doing so, the short largely maintains its immersion, save for the already mentioned visual hiccups. The practical interior sets and costumes are the obvious standouts, and in a story revolving around those forgotten and discarded, they really feel timeless, even pleasantly retro.
HIRU is another case of good-old-fashioned crafty filmmaking. His exterior might be robotic, but his mannerisms and movement are unmistakably human. It’s not entirely seamless; one minute you are appreciating how the humanoid characteristics play out, the next you are left wishing Grossmann tilted his head a little lower so we don’t see his jaw moving underneath the mask.
Ultimately, it comes down to the characters, and both Frizzell and Grossmann turn in terrific performances as Cassie and HIRU. It’s an oddball dynamic to be sure, but Wilson’s script really brings out the best qualities in individuals going through different phases of their existence. In fact, if anyone here is going to garner sympathy, it’s HIRU, whose tragic backstory serves as the emotional backbone of the film. It’s clever, creative, and might leave you a little misty-eyed.
With appreciable craftsmanship and a strong story to boot, Missing Hearts is meditative sci-fi at its very best.
