| Love | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | William Eubank |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | William Eubank |
| Starring | Gunner Wright |
| Music by | Angels & Airwaves |
| Cinematography | William Eubank |
| Editing by |
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| Studio | |
| Distributed by | National CineMedia (theatres), RED/Sony (home media) |
| Release date(s) | February 2, 2011 (SBIFF) August 10, 2011 (United States) November 1, 2011 (International) |
| Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $500,000[1] |
| Box office | $1,495,102 |
Love is a science fiction film produced and scored by the alternative rock band Angels & Airwaves. The film is the directorial debut of filmmaker William Eubank. The film's world-premiere took place on February 2, 2011 at the 26th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the film was later featured in the Seattle International Film Festival, FanTasia 2011, and a number of other festivals around the world. The film was screened in 460 theatres across the United States on August 10, 2011, in the Love Live event.[2]
Love portrays the personal-psychological effects of isolation and loneliness when an astronaut becomes stranded in space and through this, emphasizes the importance of human connection and love. Additionally, it touches on the fragility of mankind's existence (explored through a dying Earth-apocalyptic doomsday scenario) inspired by the cautions of Carl Sagan in Pale Blue Dot and considers the importance of memories and stories as humanity's legacy.[3]
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During an 1864 battle of the American Civil War, a lone Union soldier, Captain Lee Briggs (Bradley Horne), is dispatched on a mission to investigate a mysterious object reported to Union forces. 175 years later, in the year 2039, United States Astronaut Lee Miller (Gunner Wright) is sent to the International Space Station as a one-man skeleton crew to examine if it is safe for use and to perform necessary modifications after it had been abandoned two decades earlier. Shortly after arriving on-board, tumultuous events break out on Earth, eventually resulting in Miller losing contact with CAPCOM and finding himself stranded in orbit alone, forced to helplessly watch events on Earth from portholes 200 miles above his home planet. Miller struggles to maintain his sanity while in isolation by interacting with Polaroid pictures of former ISS crewmembers left aboard the ship. When the station has some power glitches, Miller journeys into an unpressurised module of the space station to perform repairs and discovers the 1864 journal of Briggs. Miller reads Brigg's account of the war and becomes enthralled by the mysterious object he is searching for, not realizing he will soon become more familiar with the very same object, and not by accident.
Reviewers have also noted the production design, with the space-station set reportedly being built in William Eubank's parents' backyard.[4] In a making-of video uploaded to his Vimeo account, Eubank details the construction of the set and lists materials such as packing quilts, MDF, pizza bags, velcro, insulation, Christmas lights, and other salvaged material as components to the ISS set.[5] According to Tom DeLonge, the production was going to rent the space station from the movie Apollo 13 but instead opted to construct it from salvaged materials for budget reasons.[1]
Early teasers were released in 2007 and 2009. On January 10, 2011, the film's final trailer was released on Apple Trailers. The release of this trailer saw coverage on several industry websites.[6] Based on the style choices seen in the film's trailer, reviewers have mentioned similarities to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Moon, and Solaris.[4]
I can tell you, honestly, the movie is ten times better than I thought it would be. But it’s not meant to compete with Transformers. This is an art-house film and no band has really done this in a very long time. So we’re hoping that we catch some people off guard and we’re also hoping that we do something that is very credible as far its artistic acumen goes.[7]
The film's world-premiere took place on February 2, 2011 at the 26th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, with additional screenings on February 3, 4 and 5 at the Metro 4 and Arlington Theater. The film was screened for free on February 11 at the Riviera Theatre in Santa Barbara as one of eleven films chosen as "Best of the Fest".
The 2011 Seattle International Film Festival featured Love in both their Sci-Fi and Beyond Pathway and their New American Cinema program. The film played on May 21 at the Pacific Place Theatre and May 22 at the SIFF Cinema. The film played a third time, June 11, at the Egyptian Theatre.
Love was accepted into the 2011 Fantasia International Film Festival held in Montreal, Quebec. Its FanTasia screening on July 18 in Hall Theatre, as part of the festival's Camera Lucida Section, marked the film's international premiere. The film also screened in Athens, Lund, London, Nantes, South Korea, Spain, Israel, and elsewhere.
Love was shown at 460 select cinemas nationwide on August 10, 2011.[8]
Angels & Airwaves planned to release a box set containing the film Love, the soundtrack to the film, Love Part I, and the band's fourth studio album Love Part II on November 8, 2011. The released date was changed from November 11 to November 8.
Love's precise point remains as cloudy as its deliberately ambiguous narrative. But the packaging is so intelligently resourceful that most viewers will enjoy the ride regardless of its enigmatic destination.[9]
At the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the film was originally slotted three showings but two additional showings in the Arlington Theatre were added after some original showings sold-out.
Dennis Harvey, for Los Angeles-based magazine Variety, wrote "[The film's] spiritual abstruseness and the script's myriad other ambiguities might infuriate in a film less ingeniously designed on more tangible fronts. But Love delights with the detail of its primary set as well as in accomplished f/x, consistently interesting yet subservient soundtrack textures (the sole original song is reserved for the closing-credit crawl) and a brisk editorial pace…" [9]
Dustin Hucks, for Ain't It Cool News, wrote "Love can at times get very broad with scenes, dialogue, and flow… if you’re keen on clarity and the linear, Love is going to leave you frustrated. For others, however–the challenge of understanding what is what may lead to a desire for repeat viewings, which for me – is a lot of fun… This is a film that’s clearly not for everyone – but has a lot to offer the Inception and Moon crowds."
Hucks continued to say Love was one of the most visually exciting low budget films he'd seen in some time and concluded with an overall endorsement: "Love is well worth seeking out in theaters – but don’t miss it on DVD if you don’t get the opportunity to view it in theaters."[10]
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