Like everyone else in Egypt, I was introduced to Margaret Qualley with the over-the-top The Substance (2024), and she does a very competent job there. Little did I know that she had a sci-fi outing before that in a little-known Netflix feature, IO (2019), and practically the whole weight of the movie lies on her shoulders. Here, pollution and oxygen shortages have killed off most of the animal life on Earth. Most of what is left of humanity heads off to Jupiter’s moon Io to stock up for a journey to another star system.

By Emad Aysha
One scientist, however, says we owe it to the earth to make it habitable again and stays with his family. Enter his daughter, Sam Walden (Margaret Qualley), who is trying to find a way to adapt honeybees to the new atmosphere. In the meantime, she receives emails from her boyfriend, Elon (Tom Payne), on Io, begging her to join him on the new world mission.

ATMOSPHERIC CONTRAST: Margaret Qualley can turn the volume down, 'or' all the way up, as need be. Nothing like the power of an equal 'opposite'.

A storm finally hits, scattering the bees. With things looking bleak, the broadcast finally comes out to prepare for the shuttle ride to Io. Enter a mysterious survivor riding a hot air balloon: Micah (Anthony Mackie).

Both have secrets, but she agrees to go with him. Even more so after Elon tells her he’s leaving for the new star system, giving him a head start over her of about 4 light-years!

The movie is depressing and slow, as you might expect from a non-action post-apocalyptic flick, but well handled by the French director Jonathan Helpert. He uses retro-tech, with old-fashioned cassettes and tape recorders, along with mythological references from mankind’s soon-to-be-forgotten past.

The cinematography is very European and doesn’t have too many close-ups for the punny cast, with heartbreaking performances by the unlikely duo of Sam and Micah. Even so, Margaret Qualley really steals the show.

It’s not just her chipper performance giving way oh-so-subtly to the impending doom, but also the camerawork, which brings out just how beautiful, sexy, and vulnerable she is. Stranded in the wilderness limits the cleanliness of her clothes and facial makeup, which only exaggerates her beauty.

It’s the life-force you see inside her, her tenderness, along with her lovely tummy and maternal hips. Her complexion, pale but very pinkish, and her pasty blue eyes, really contrast nicely with her hair and bring out her emotive core.

That being said, her performance improves as the story moseys along. At first, you are annoyed at how cutesy her voice is and feel she’s showing off her body a bit too much.

The morose, guilt-ridden Micah showing up changes things. That’s the key, as I alluded to in my Atlas and City of Ember article—the proper pairing of opposites.

Now that I think about it, you also find that in the Paul Thomas Anderson's semi-science-fiction flick One Battle After Another (2025). It comes out most brazenly with the contrast between the racist antagonist Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) and his illegitimate mixed-race daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti).

CULTURAL DNA: Chase Infiniti forced to confront her white supremacist father (Sean Penn), in a church of all places. Who's making fun of religion now?

Sean Penn, always a great actor, really excels here, even at the level of body language. He walks in a goofy way to hide some deformity in his feet. His puffed-up chest and flushed skin give away his inner rage and hypocrisy every single time.

Chase Infiniti, by contrast, is a rebel born and bred, and you positively fall in love with her as soon as you see her!

It’s at Karate class. You see her smiling from the corner of her lips. She’s trying to do her best in class, but you can tell she’s laughing on the inside and barely keeping it in.

Note that the actress is playing a teenager here, but she’s actually 26 and very tall, and she convinces you that she’s that young. (Like Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz.)

Chase Infiniti is as natural as they come, dressed like a rebel ballerina, both breaking down emotionally and keeping things under control when the director needs her to.

You’re also impressed by how smart Willa is, defeating an expert assassin sent off by a racist secret society called the Christmas Adventurers. Lockjaw is after her because he’s struggling to join the group.

He has a lower-class background. And she’s a stain on his otherwise sterling reputation. A white stain!

Both these movies are conceptually loaded and need decoding. Elon is obviously a reference to Elon Musk, the capitalist who wants to go to Mars after messing up the Earth. He’s also white, compared to Micah.

Micah’s wife was likewise white, and he was responsible for her death. He hid food rations to keep himself alive to escape from the planet. Having Sam as a beekeeper is a classic motif of a caretaker, a guardian/provider like ex-Inspector Mendel in John le Carré.

Look at the names Lockjaw and Toejam, contrasted to the rebels Perfidia and Junglepussy and the name Beverly. Both sides are actually hypocrites, with Willa’s mother ratting out her mates when she’s caught.

She’s on a sexual high when she’s on a mission, but when she gets caught, she crumples to nothing. Nobody gets tortured here, not even yelled at, an obvious allusion to the war on terror.

The message of the movie is not to focus on politics, let alone political violence, but to preoccupy ourselves with the literal home front – bringing kids up right. They can change the future, cumulatively, in a way that the much better-organised authorities can’t block.

SPACES BETWEEN THEM: Anthony Mackie in the foreground giving a 'Marvel' of a performance up against Margaret Qualley, who is still dreaming of her non-comital, long-distance-boyfriend 'Elon'!

The cinematography is also a component of the story, with colours and fashions from the 1970s-80s, along with Christian and Islamic decorations.

Lockjaw, by contrast, talks about good manners and respecting religion. A guy who literally gets a boner from detaining illegals.

But even Sean Penn acts better when he’s up against Chase Infiniti. Hollywood is finally digging itself out of the pit it dug itself into.

And these young sci-fi starlets are the reverse gravediggers!