IO (2019)

Margaret Qualley: Sam

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Quotes 

• Sam : Do you think it's absurd to love someone that's millions of miles away?

  Micah : Not at all. So ancient is the desire for one another which is implanted in us. Reuniting our original nature, seeking to make one of two and healing the state of man.

  Sam : What's that?

  Micah : Plato. Symposium.

  Sam : What does it mean?

  Micah : He says, humans originally had two faces. Four arms, four legs. And they were happy like that. Complete. Then they defied the gods, so the gods split us in two as punishment. Tore us away from our other halves. He said, each of us, when separated, is always looking for our other half. It's our nature. But when one is met with this other half... the pair are lost in an amazement of love, friendship, intimacy. And one will not be seen out of the other's sight. See, the reason is, human nature was once originally one. And we were whole. And the desire and the pursuit of the whole... is called love.

• [last lines] 

  Sam : We have learned to fear our planet and fled to the stars in search of a new one. But the fascination for other worlds could not turn my eyes away from the beauty of our home. The waves are crashing on the shore... and the wind is blowing in my hair. Tell them it feels good. Tell them the dark clouds have given way to the ocean mist. Tell them a new world awaits us. Tell them we're waiting for you. Waiting for you to come back.

• Henry : Sam... Don't underestimate the power of human connection. That's all there is. There is no bigger meaning. Just human connection.

  Sam : You used to say that about science.

• Sam : [in a letter to Elon]  Earth is not dying, it's being reborn. I know things aren't easy on the IO Colony, but... please write back soon. I love you, Elon. From Earth until the end of the universe. -Sam.

• [first lines] 

  Sam : [narrating]  It's like we were doomed to destroy our planet. Some say it was because of the increasing pollution. I just call it human nature. A few scientists predicted what would happen. They started working on a power station that could be sent into space to harvest geothermal energy from other planets. But it was too late. People would start dying in their sleep... suffocating in the streets, the blood in their veins turning black. "An unexpected change in atmosphere composition," they said. To me it was just our planet desperately trying to survive by kicking us out.

  Sam : So one day, a hundred ships flew off into the sky.

  [numerous glowing dots across the planet] 

  Sam : It was the Exodus mission. They turned the power station into a colony, like a lifeboat floating above Jupiter's volcanic moon, also known as...

  Title Card : IO