Crew
Director/Screenplay – Stephen Portland, Photography – Akina Van de Velde, Music – Rory Laws. Production Company – Subspin.
Cast
Joe Thomas (Leo), Kelley Mack (Ricky), Rosa Robson (Naomi)
Plot
Leo and Naomi, two British scientists working in the US, have gotten away to a cabin they have rented for the weekend that is out of cellphone range. Leo is planning to propose to Naomi while they are there. Leo has been working on analysing junk DNA but is dispirited and believes his research serves no purpose. Ricky, someone obsessed with code-breaking that Leo has been in email contact with, turns up at the door. He has initially assumed that Ricky was a guy but it turns out that she is a girl. She has come with exciting news that she has analysed junk DNA through code-breaking methods she has devised. He is startled as she shows that these contains patterns that form shapes and objects. Leo and Naomi resent her intrusion into their alone time, but he is sufficiently intrigued by Ricky’s ideas to let her stay overnight and look over her research. In doing so, leo realises she has discovered secret messages that have been hidden inside all DNA on Earth for millions of years.
Universal was the second film for British director Stephen Portland who had previously made the horror film Something (2018).
Universal is the perfect model of a contained film. It takes place inside a single rented cabin – the most it ever ventures outside is a couple of exterior shots looking up at the house from the drive. It has a cast of three. It is almost all dialogue between the three characters sitting around the couches and dining room table of the cabin. (There is no credit for art director or production designer, so your assumption is that the house being used is some kind of Air BNB rental or is owned by the director).
Despite these minimalist limitations, Universal manages to be a highly original story that reaches for epic-sized ideas and quickly gains a watchability as it unfolds. It is a perfect exemplar of the dictum that great things can be conducted with minimal resources and without the need for massive budgets.
The characters come with a wry sense of humour. They are all well drawn and all of the actors feel perfectly at home and natural in their roles. I was immediately drawn to the most interesting character in the show – Kelley Mack as the clearly ASD spectrum girl who bubbles over with enthusiasm and nerdy weirdness. It is a spot on characterisation. The saddest part of this is how Mack passed away just before Universal was released, aged only 33.
What also becomes of considerable amusement is how Universal is a major nerd fest. Stephen Portland is constantly packing the dialogue with all manner of interesting speculations or titbits – the idea of trap streets on maps, discussions about the collapse of civilisation, a rational argument about the possible validity of astrology, how few people have an idea of how much a billion is, and several others. The introduction of the secret message encoded inside DNA has a uniquely original spin and the characters’ exploration and debate about the discovery and its meaning makes for fascinating viewing.
Trailer here