The Empty Space
Written and Directed by Andrew Jara
Starring Joe Sinclitico, Valerie Alene, Rachel Olsen, Pablo Medina
Unrated
Runtime 78 minutes 
Available now on Tubi

by Tori Potenza, Staff Writer

When it comes to grief, trauma, and mental illness, it can feel impossible to relate to the outside world. Your mind can become a world of its own; filled with flashing images, intrusive thoughts, and fears about what lies outside yourself. On the outside, it can look like nothing is going on, while a war rages within your mind. Many horrors come from within, while on the opposite end, the vast and infinite universe provides a plethora of cosmic horrors. With his unique tone and voice, writer and director Andrew Jara manages to take these two opposing kinds of horrors and bring them together in his newest feature The Empty Space, now available on Tubi. 

The film centers around Amiee (Valerie Alene), a young woman who is struggling to cope with the tragic death of her partner Noah (Joe Sinclitico). She has difficulty holding down a job, leaving her home, and even building connections with other people. Things begin to change when she finds community in a local support group, but as she begins to open herself up to the outside world, Noah suddenly reappears in her life. Unfortunately, what looks like a miracle on the surface could be a sign of something sinister either from the “ethereal plane” or something from within. Only she is able to figure out what is going on. 

For such a small indie film it is impressive how many complex ideas Jara attempts to juggle. As Amiee opens herself back up to the world, she also opens herself up to new ideas, philosophies, and even cosmic horrors. It is interesting to see how Jara matches this by opening us up to new story elements as the film progresses. These ideas may not always come together but they are all so interesting that it makes you excited to see where it is headed. It also means you are never quite sure where the story will ultimately end for Amiee. There are plenty of unique concepts that are being worked through, it will be interesting to see how these ideas evolve in Jara’s future work. 

The one area is struggles with is pacing. Unfortunately for a film with a 78-minute runtime, at times it feels like it moves at a snail's pace. At times, it meanders enough, which also makes it difficult to stay on track with the story and where it is going. It has plenty of strong pacing and editing in the beginning, especially in relation to how they show Aimee’s ongoing struggle with PTSD. Aimee is inundated with intrusive images and memories from the night her partner was killed, which make her feel completely out of control. It would have been interesting to see more of this as the story moved along. 

One of The Empty Space’s biggest strengths comes from its various performances. The characters all seemed to have great chemistry and really gel, even its smaller side characters. The members of the support group are quirky yet loveable and they all bring something completely different to their story. For such a short movie it does a good job of giving us insight into who these people are. In particular, Mel (Rachel Olsen) and Jamie (Pablo Medina) are a lot of fun to spend time with. Valerie Alene also brings a lot to the role of Aimee. She manages to be funny, awkward, and interesting even while dealing with so much. The way she relates to the world and copes with her anxiety feels grounded in reality. The way she struggles over saying the right thing, or worries about answering a phone, and that nagging voice that makes you feel like you are the craziest person in the room. There is a lot of nuance in the performance that makes you care about what she is going through. 

As a meditation on trauma and healing, The Empty Space takes care to showcase the real struggles that come along with it even when it gets into the territory of science fiction. Watching Aimee’s psychological battle become a physical one is fascinating, and seeing how someone can continue on and move on with their trauma is inspiring. It is always inspiring to see smaller-budget movies try to take on big concepts and find unique ways to showcase them with those constraints. Andrew Jara has a unique voice, and takes big swings with his story. We can only hope that he continues to make such unique and interesting stories.