Settlers

This debut feature from director Wyatt Rockefeller is set in a future after the human race has left Earth to colonise Mars, though the trappings and mood are frontier western rather than Martian chronicle. Jonny Lee Miller and Sofia Boutella play farmers eking out a spartan existence, while their inquisitive nine-year-old daughter Remmy (Brooklynn Prince) wonders more and more what's beyond their barren settlement. However, a stranger's arrival abruptly disturbs the family harmony, raising questions and propelling the drama into sinister territory, all channelled through the innocent eyes of young Prince, a talent to watch since The Florida Project. It's a sombre affair that even a helpful WALL-E-type droid can't lighten, but the mystery is teased out enticingly thanks to ambient mood music from Nitin Sawhney.