The Canadian couple has their second success: the sci-fi thriller “Radius”, thoughtful and emotionally hard-hitting.

☆☆☆☆☆

Written by: Marta Vezzani

Radius review by the Drm.am team

The lifelong Canadian writer-director team/couple, Caroline Lábrèche and Steeve Léonard, produced their second feature film Radius, following the French language movie Lost Cause (2009, original title: Sans Dessin). On of the many amazing films shown during the Horror Channel FrightFest 2017 .

This Memento-style sci-fi thriller starts with Liam (Diego Klattenhoff) waking up from a car crash with no memory of who he is. As he makes his way into town to look for help, he finds only dead bodies, all with strange pale eyes. Liam’s first thought is that a virus is present in the air, but he soon discovers the horrible truth: anyone who comes within a 50-foot radius of him dies instantly. Even birds drop from the sky whenever he passes.

After his discovery, a second amnesiac character, nicknamed Jane (Charlotte Sullivan), who is able to approach Liam safely, comes into the scene. They quickly find out that their situations are interconnected, but working out how is a much bigger challenge.

Despite its low budget and the extremely short amount of time available to shoot, Radius is a very high-quality movie. Which also involves some deep issues such as the inability to approach people, past sins, and redemption.

One of the most important themes in the film is the concept of not been able to approach people and how this condition can affect a human being. The idea is taken from  Superman,  when he is stuck in space and cannot reach Earth to save Lois Lane. A topic which also rises discussions about (self-)exclusion.

Moreover another key aspect of the movie is about mistakes or sins which are part of our past, and the most spontaneous question that lies behind it: should we judge a person for his/her past even if (s)he’s trying to redeem him/herself? Unfortunately, Radius doesn’t give us the answer, but for gives us a point of view in order to make up our own mind.

In conclusion, Radius is not just a sci-fi thriller, it’s much more than that! It’s a movie that makes you think, seasoned with some sci-fi elements (which are of secondary importance). Of course, there’s something supernatural and extraterrestrial affecting our main characters, but it has no relevance knowing what or why. And this makes you think even more!

Distributed by Epic Pictures