A long-established and familiar circumstance encountered by those watching a film for, say, 90 minutes and not actually being sure what has been going on at all is that this can equally well reflect the fact that: a) this has been a bad film, or b) this has been a good film! Those watching "400 days" for its first 15 or so minutes are not going to be in much doubt as to which of these two categories it falls into. As the storyline involving a prolonged underground simulation of a space mission is being set up, and as the "module" is first entered and "blastoff" takes place, this piece continues to wear its cheapness like a suit of armour...
However, beyond that (as the days leading up to that magic figure of 400 continue to pass), things (notably interactions between the 4 reasonably well-portrayed crew-members) start to get a bit more interesting, though they remain relatively predictable. If one doesn't look too closely, the model ship seems authentic enough, and characters even interact reasonably well, if with occasional lapses in logic visible.
But there then follows a quite impressive plot twist in which we (like the crew) become extremely disoriented as to whether we are witnessing a simulation, a mass hallucination or example of "space sickness", or a real catastrophic happening on a planetary scale. At this point the film starts to seem like some kind of cross between "The Road" and "10 Cloverfield Lane" (with a touch of "Solaris" thrown in), and while "400 Days" is nowhere near as good as any of these, it does nevertheless - in its way - achieve an eerie, claustrophobic and really pretty unique feel that is in a very real sense terrifying.
Thus, close to the film's ending, it is quite remarkable how the viewer can feel when a return to the underground "spacecraft" finally proves possible for members of the crew. When does claustrophobia inside become less severe than that outside? Well, right here in this film, in fact. Somewhere down the line the makers (for the record that's mainly one Matt Osterman) must be doing something right to engender such emotion.
Sadly, like literally thousands of films we have seen before, this one refuses to enlighten us fully as it reaches its end (notwithstanding superficial appearances to the contrary), and that is annoying indeed. Though again, the fact that I still find myself speculating and pondering (and convincing myself as to the real situation) two days after watching, suggests that this effort does have its "certain something", notwithstanding its mainly low production values.
On the whole, then, my advice (and certainly my advice to sci-fi fans) is give it a go - while not of course expecting too much.
However, beyond that (as the days leading up to that magic figure of 400 continue to pass), things (notably interactions between the 4 reasonably well-portrayed crew-members) start to get a bit more interesting, though they remain relatively predictable. If one doesn't look too closely, the model ship seems authentic enough, and characters even interact reasonably well, if with occasional lapses in logic visible.
But there then follows a quite impressive plot twist in which we (like the crew) become extremely disoriented as to whether we are witnessing a simulation, a mass hallucination or example of "space sickness", or a real catastrophic happening on a planetary scale. At this point the film starts to seem like some kind of cross between "The Road" and "10 Cloverfield Lane" (with a touch of "Solaris" thrown in), and while "400 Days" is nowhere near as good as any of these, it does nevertheless - in its way - achieve an eerie, claustrophobic and really pretty unique feel that is in a very real sense terrifying.
Thus, close to the film's ending, it is quite remarkable how the viewer can feel when a return to the underground "spacecraft" finally proves possible for members of the crew. When does claustrophobia inside become less severe than that outside? Well, right here in this film, in fact. Somewhere down the line the makers (for the record that's mainly one Matt Osterman) must be doing something right to engender such emotion.
Sadly, like literally thousands of films we have seen before, this one refuses to enlighten us fully as it reaches its end (notwithstanding superficial appearances to the contrary), and that is annoying indeed. Though again, the fact that I still find myself speculating and pondering (and convincing myself as to the real situation) two days after watching, suggests that this effort does have its "certain something", notwithstanding its mainly low production values.
On the whole, then, my advice (and certainly my advice to sci-fi fans) is give it a go - while not of course expecting too much.