Universal

Universal is an intimate film yet expansive, minimalist yet dense, theatrical in sound yet cinematic in suggestion. With a cast of just three and a single woodland location, Director and Writer Stephan Portland achieves economy and philosophical depth in a film more akin to a play than a traditional movie. The log cabin, a serene and unassuming setting nestled in the quiet woods, becomes a forum for high-stakes ideas and tension, much like the real estate office at night in Glengarry Glen Ross. The setting is also like the forest clearing in Lee Blessing’s A Walk in the Woods, where Soviet and American diplomats discuss nuclear disarmament. The cabin in Portland’s film hosts its negotiation: the collision of scientific ethics, romantic loyalty, and dread.

A rare moment of calm between Leo, Naomi, and Ricky in Universal

“…claims to have decoded something hidden within human DNA…”

Shot on a shoestring budget in a single location, Universal makes visual austerity its ally. The cabin becomes both sanctuary and prison. The surrounding woods—placid but encroaching- mirror the film’s themes of truth and creeping madness. Lighting shifts subtly to reflect emotions, and Portland’s camera lingers not for exposition but for effect.

Joe Thomas delivers a performance of surprising articulacy yet wordiness with Leo, a U.S.-based DNA researcher seeking a holiday with his girlfriend Naomi (Rosa Robson). Thomas, who may suggest Jim Parsons’ role of Sheldon in the Television series The Big Bang Theory for today’s audience, controls his charm into something introspective, perturbed, and ultimately destabilized by the unexpected arrival of Ricky (Kelley Mack).

Mack’s Ricky, a former follower of Leo’s academic work, introduces herself not as a fan but as a catalyst. She claims to have decoded something hidden within human DNA, an area of study at an unnamed University.  This breakthrough is something momentous, mysterious, and possibly divine. From this moment forward, the film sheds its romantic leanings and drifts into speculative philosophy, idea theft, integrity of work and sudden terror. Ricky, who is her nickname, takes control of the vacation. Rosa Robson’s Naomi, meanwhile, becomes the grounded voice of reason, increasingly overwhelmed by the odd aspect of the situation. She is at first Leo’s partner to then an outsider, later a reluctant observer of Leo’s descent.