Last month, director Neill Blomkamp dropped the first teaser for his new experimental short films under the Oats Studios banner. Today, Blomkamp released Rakka, the first short from Oats Studios Vol. 1, starring Sigourney Weaver and a few other familiar faces.
Rakka takes place in a world where humanity has been decimated by an alien invasion and treated as little more than vermin or breeding stock. Weaver portrays a resistance leader named Jasper, but there’s not much of a resistance left by the time this story begins. Even short-lived victories are met by brutal retaliation, and there isn’t much hope for humanity’s survival. But that’s not to say that all hope is gone.
Arrow fans may recognize Carly Pope as Sarah, a woman who bonds with Amir, as played by Eugene Khumbanyiwa from District 9. Amir is one of the rare survivors of the alien experiments, but it’s an open question of just how much humanity he still retains after his ordeal. The short film is ambiguous about Amir’s state of mind all the way through the end.
If you were hoping for closure from this short, there’s none to be had. Rakka feels like it is the first chapter of a longer story, and it’s not clear if Blomkamp will keep the narrative going if Oats Studios Vol. 2 goes forward. But as a standalone short, it’s an intriguing glimpse of what Blomkamp can do when freed from conventional film constraints.
What did you think about Rakka? Let us know in the comment section below!
Image: Oats Studios
