When plans were hatched on earth to carry nuclear waste out into the furthest reaches of outer space, one can assume Andrukha Melnyk (Volodymyr Kravchuk) had little hesitation before signing up for the unusual trash collector work in “U Are the Universe,” looking as if he were the type that would prefer to be left alone. He has company on the four-year mission, a wise-cracking robot named Maxim, whose level of humor he can adjust to his liking, but a solitary man who enjoys his routine, Andrukha would prefer not to be bothered as he does maintenance on the ship, knowing that any call from home is usually a complaint from management that little can be done about.
After breaking the small monitor that he uses to see his co-workers upon one particularly upsetting call, he nonetheless receives a message from earth in writer/director Pavlo Ostrikov’s unexpectedly charming comedy as he can’t ignore the blinding light that floods through his windows on his way to Jupiter’s moon Callisto to drop off the nuclear refuse, finding that his services are no longer needed when earth itself has exploded. Rather than break into tears at this news, Andrukha can’t help but feel free, unconcerned with the mere 16 months’ worth of food he has on hand or the notion he might be stranded without a home, and rejoices accordingly, popping open a birthday box on the ship that Maxim reminds him he shouldn’t unwrap for another five months.
It might be as hard for an audience to imagine an escape plan from this scenario as it is for Andrukha, but Ostrikov uses zero gravity to keep the ball in the air in a compelling way when the garbage man discovers that there is at least one more survivor out in the galaxy when Maxim picks up a radio message and despite his comfort in solitude, he is curious enough to pick up. The film revels in the stumbling blocks to making a connection, both practical and emotional as Andrukha comes to know Catherine, a French woman two weeks from docking her own ship before disaster struck, and as they work past a language gap and transmission issues that prevent them from a more spontaneous conversation, having to wait for each other’s messages like pen pals at first, the two grow closer as they compare hobbies and upbringings in Brittany and Andrukha’s hometown of Kyiv.
Given the horrific tragedy currently unfolding in Ostrikov’s own home country of Ukraine, it isn’t a stretch to read “U Are the Universe” as an allegory for finding hope in an impossibly dire situation, and it’s indicative of the whole enterprise that Maxim is programmed more for humor than any kind of technical assistance to Andrukha when it is believed that could be of more help. The film’s own technical aspects are also quite sound, credibly creating life among the stars with impressive production design for the interior of the ship and solid VFX for the outside of it, allowing you to give all your attention over to a moving performance from Kravchuk as someone having to open up to another just as the walls are closing in on the world as he knows it. Both personally and professionally, Andrukha may be asked to handle heavy lifts in “U Are the Universe,” but the people behind it keep it light on its feet.
“U Are the Universe” will screen again at the Toronto Film Festival at the Scotiabank on September 9th at 8:45 pm and September 14th at 9:05 pm.