Starring Pablo Cobo, Louis Peres, Marta Nieto, Marvin Dubart and Alana Delhaye

Directed by Eduoard Salier

On digital platforms now

In France in the near future, the Guerrero twins are rising stars at an academy training astronauts to evacuate the planet and start anew in space. Until an accident scars Tristan forever and forces his brother Làzaro into the impossible position of caring for him, helping their mother, making his own career and somehow coming to terms with what’s happened.

Eduoard Salier’s measured, calm style serves some surprises here. Divided into five chapters, the movie is fascinated by water. We open and close on a breathing exercise for the astronauts, Tristan’s exposure to a (possibly alien) substance occurs during a swim and the title cards are all a body of water. One that’s revealed, in a subtle closing act gag to be unusually important to Làzaro. There’s also some fun moments where the movie trusts you more than the characters. The twins drive past a checkpoint near the lake where the accident happens and watch an industrial military transport haul… something… away. Tristan’s mutating features hint at genetic reprogramming as do his occasional growls. There’s some subtlety and ambiguity here that works tremendously well.

There’s also a lot of heart. Pablo Cobo is fantastic as the not-quite lesser achiever of the brothers and shows us every inch of his struggle on his face without saying a thing. The movie pulls no punches in exploring the challenges of caring for a relative with a long term injury and Cobo is unafraid to go to some very dark territory. Làzaro circles his brother like prey for much of the movie and the way he processes his emotions is complex, difficult and rewarding. Likewise Marta Nieto as their mother and Louis Peres as Tristan. There’s one scene in particular where Tristan’s explosive decisiveness resurfaces and a race between the brothers becomes a metaphor for how the power between them has shifted, as well as their reconciliation. It’s good, subtle, kind stuff.

Unfortunately not everything works so well. The extended detour in the middle where Làzaro befriends Tristan’s disabled classmates ties into the small d dystopian setting in a way that feels pretty unpleasant to watch. It feels intentional, as a comment on the world the twins are trying to escape, but that doesn’t dispel the sour aftertaste. Especially as one of the last major scenes has Tristan become almost bestial in a manner which is profoundly stereotypical and vastly outdated. If the SF elements had come to the fore more, this could have been avoided. As it stands, it evokes The Grapes of Wrath and not in a good way.

Verdict: Tropic has five great central performances. Nieto is fantastic, Alana Delhaye transcends the material as Oscar, Tristan’s new friend and Marvin Dubart is excellent as the twins’ rival. But the script doesn’t match the talents driving it forward and for all its intelligence, it never quite gets where it needs to be, despite working as hard as its leading men. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart