BFI London Film Fest Review: Mars

by Jack Gregson
Score: 1/5

Directed by Geoff Marslett
Starring Mark Duplass, Zoe Simpson and Paul Gordon

I do not have a lot to say about this movie so I’ll make it a quick one. I do not know a lot about “mumble core”, I haven’t seen a film that falls under that banner (unless you count Monsters or Cyrus, which I don’t), but I think this might be the closest thing so far (though it might just be the involvement of one the Duplass brothers that has made me jump to that conclusion). The film is a rotoscope animation based around a mission to Mars with 3 dysfunctional astronauts at the helm of the space ship. We join our main character Charlie (Mark Duplass) in his quest to become a better astronaut (and maybe along the way he’ll become a better man).

I was once invited to a cinema screening of Robot Chicken for 2 hours and for a while it was funny but pretty soon the novelty wore off, I feel the exact same way about this film. Mars is an extended [adulatswim] cartoon that more than outstays its welcome by being dull, unfunny and mumbly for 90+ minutes, at 15 minutes it would have been fine. There is no plot, none of the characters actions have consequences and all the animation looks like rejected test footage from Waking Life. I am impressed that it was made on an estimated $450,000 budget, but I guess you get what you pay for (though there was a bizarre peeing joke that did grind a chuckle from me).