Viking

Stéphane Lafleur's 2022 Quebec film turns a science fiction premise into an office comedy. The Viking Society selects five people for the first manned mission to Mars, and none of them will go to space. Chosen for their psychological resemblance to the five astronauts on the mission, they will live at a replica base in the desert and simulate the personal tensions the crew will experience. The aim is to resolve the real crew's conflicts from here. The idea is absurd and the film plays it entirely straight; the comedy comes from people forgetting their own lives while trying to imitate someone else's feelings. Lafleur's static frames and deadpan direction of actors belong to this vein of Quebec comedy. Its limit is not carrying the premise all the way, and a final section that comes apart. Who it's for: viewers who like absurdist comedy and low-key science fiction analogies. Who it's not for: anyone expecting an actual space film, or wanting the plot to arrive somewhere.