The Occupant

“You’ve got so much potential, Abby, and now you’re scrounging for nuclear material on the Russian border.”

“This is the only way we can pay for the clinic, Dad. We’ve gone over this.”

Under the horrible pressure that stems from the impending death of a loved one, many people begin to doubt their previous worldviews, to search for hope right at the edge of what they’re able to make themselves believe. For Abby (Ella Balinska) this goes beyond extending her moral boundaries. Despite her training as a geologist, she has begun to look beyond what is rational. Out here in the Georgian Caucasus, somewhere near South Ossetia, she is looking for something magical, and perhaps she finds it – but then there is the crash.

The crash comes out of nowhere, apparently caused by an errant flock of birds. As the helicopter starts to shake, she gets into the right position, buckles up, controls her breathing. She knows how to give herself the best chance of survival, and survive she does. But now she’s stranded, 60km from anywhere, in mountainous land. She’s strong. She has decent gear. The trouble is that the time remaining for Beth, her beloved sister, is short. If she can get back to civilisation with her precious find – that strange, igneous-looking black rock that feels warm to the touch – then Beth might have a chance.

As she’s preparing to go, frustrated because her radio signal isn’t strong enough to reach help, she unexpectedly connects with someone else: an injured American called John who say that he too has crashed. He’s about 20km closer, albeit in no man’s land. If she can reach him, she should be able to get a signal there, and get both of them rescued more quickly.

Is something in the area causing aircraft to crash? Could it be connected to the mystery rock? Why do we intermittently cut away to an image of a cave, like a hint that we are trying to make sense of Plato’s shadows? The Occupant may seem convoluted, but be patient – the pieces will all come together in the end.

The problem here is that having developed an interesting idea and set the pieces in motion, the creative team doesn’t seem to know what to do with the middle portion of the film. We spend it watching Abby wander round what are admittedly some very beautiful landscapes, facing various physical challenges. There are occasional flashbacks to time spent with Beth (played in a pleasantly down to earth way by Vanessa Ifediora), and we see how much guilt Abby is carrying, she how she’s continuing to push for an unrealistic outcome past the point when Beth wants to let go. Most of the time, however, is focused on Abby’s conversations with John. The screenwriters have clearly aimed for something in the tradition of slightly antagonistic yet flirtatious banter. The trouble is that many women would be likely to decide, within just a few hours, to turn the radio off, return to the original route and leave the obnoxious American to figure out his own means of escape. Guilt complex or not, Abby puts up with more than is really believable.

It’s difficult to say much about the third act without serious spoilers. If you’re paying attention then you will see some of it coming, and on a second viewing you’ll see more. Suffice it to say that after shifting gears, the film deals head on with some very pertinent contemporary issues, and does so in a way that makes interesting connections between them and our recent collective experience of grief in relation to the Covid pandemic. Its ideas are not altogether new to the genre but they are interestingly assembled and timely. This is a film intimately concerned with Abby’s personal experience of grief, and yet it is also a warning, harking back to the work of Harlan Ellison and Greg Bear, with much wider relevance.

A mixed bag, The Occupant is at its best when dealing with the big concepts but struggles with the small things. There’s a pleasingly sinister tone to it, which will settle in more as you reflect afterwards. It’s just a little too tonally and structurally awkward to work as well as it should.

Reviewed on: 08 Aug 2025