‘Tropic’ is Astronaut Body Horror That Never Quite Lifts Off [Glasgow Film Festival 2023 Review]
Speculative fiction doesn’t just detail the ways humanity will change in the future, it also asks what values and ideologies we choose to hold onto as the times were a-changing. Tropic, a French family drama crossed with shades of body horror, imagines a nascent European space force who, in an effort to maximize efficacy on their decades-long missions, recruit from a pool of specially-trained teenage astronaut cadets. For two twins fighting for the top place in a hellishly competitive environment, this results in a punishing and malformed perception of their own bodies, how they exist to serve their country, as well as frustration at not being able to exercise total and uncompromised will over their physicality.
Such ideas brush up against a commentary on the inherent fascistic qualities of nation-states (not to mention the difficulty of separating space exploration from colonialism). But even though Tropic doesn’t engage with these ideas in any proper depth, it shouldn’t be criticized for leaving them to bubble under the story’s surface.
Tropic’s real issues come from focusing on a family drama that, despite moments of thematic and emotional brilliance, doesn’t reveal anything particularly nuanced about human nature or the direction it’s headed—not to mention features some troubling stylistic choices. It’s one thing to identify how the perception of disabled bodies as monstrous has fascist overtones. But Tropic evokes such ideas in such fleeting shorthand, and we’re unsure if the film’s body-horror motifs are meant to be seen as liberating or damning for our disabled protagonist. It becomes unavoidable that Tropic is reluctant to dive deeper than surface level into any of its ideas.
The twins, Tristan (Louis Peres) and Lazaro (Pablo Cobo), are fiercely loyal, even if Lazaro is definitely lagging behind his brother, threatened to be stranded on Earth when Tristan inevitably gets chosen for space travel. But Tristan’s efforts to push Lazaro backfire when Tristan gets burned and infected from rogue meteor residue, rendering him physically and mentally disabled overnight. Lazaro, along with his Spanish mother (Marta Nieto) is submerged in grief and trauma that is difficult to express and live with. Tristan must adjust to his debilitating new condition. When they first lay eyes on Tristan post-accident, it’s his diseased and scarred back in an isolated hospital room, indicating the former athlete is consumed with fear and shame he can’t quite yet face.
Peres and Cobo do a commendable job establishing the brothers’ competitive but loving relationship, but really get to shine after Tristan’s accident. Performing under extensive prosthetics and often a futuristic face mask, Peres communicates Tristan’s anguish at his disability well, particularly in one swelling moment where he escapes a car to run full pelt across a field, chorused by gorgeous organ score. But it’s Cobo who shines the most as a brother who gains a heightened awareness of his physical capability now he’s more able-bodied than Tristan. From there he ends up trying to shed as much of the emotional waste weighing him down as possible.
All of the above sounds very compelling, and perhaps it would be in a film two-thirds the length. But despite capable performers, an attractive score (when it’s not leaning into sci-fi sounds), and a textured visual palate, a lot of Tropic drags, with turning points and dramatic arcs being stretched over too much ground. Claims that the film is “body horror meets psychodrama” have some validity, especially with the film’s attempts to investigate the sociological overtones of deeming disabled bodies as horrific. But, this is confused by the individual moments where Tristan’s body is portrayed as a wild, almost possessed creature. It’s difficult to parse through the muddled thematic attempts of Tropic, and seeing as it doesn’t further commit to its disparate interesting ideas, we’re left with a film that never quite lifts off.
Summary
It’s difficult to parse through the muddled thematic attempts of Tropic, and seeing as it doesn’t further commit to its disparate interesting ideas, we’re left with a film that never quite lifts off.
