DEFA Studios’ In the Dust of the Stars was a pleasant enough surprise that I decided to have a go at another of their low-budget sci-fi flicks, Eolomea (1972). The story involves the mysterious disappearance of a number of spacecraft from a sector of space. Investigating, Dr. Maria Scholl (Cox Habbema) grows suspicious of Dr. Tal (Rolf Hoppe), whose shifty behavior suggests he might know more than he’s admitting. Meanwhile, at space outpost Margot, Dan Lagny (Ivan Andonov) works a dull job with old-timer Kun (Vsevolod Sanayev), who may or may not know something about the recent disappearances.
Eolomea is another mildly interesting glimpse of shoestring cinema from behind the Iron Curtain, but it’s not terribly enthralling stuff. Like In the Dust of the Stars, it has a well thought out thematic turn to its story, but it lacks the surprising weirdness, eye-catching fashions, countercultural shenanigans, and politically subversive subtext. It’s talky and generally unexciting, given life only by a groovy psychedlic score and the odd visual non sequitur (a random costume party, for example). Note: I watched Eolomea while more or less completely healthy. That said, I still don’t think it’s nearly as fun as In the Dust of the Stars.
