The Abandon is a film that abandoned the conventional thrills of cinema to tell a visually simple but narratively complex story. Employing a hefty amount of mystery, The Abandon also blurred the lines between science fiction and surrealism and revealed its rich tapestry thread by thread. Directed by Jason Satterlund and written by Dwain Worrell, The Abandon is a top selection from the 2022 Cinequest lineup.

The Abandon follows Miles (Jonathan Rosenthal), an army man serving during wartime in the middle east. When he witnesses a missile launch, he is blinded and blacks out, awakening in a room with no windows, doors, or other people. Though he calls out to his captors, no one answers except for mysterious messages scrawled on the walls in different languages. The only sign that he is not alone is that the room begins to rotate and throw him around, change to extreme temperatures, and do other tests. A lifeline in the form of a phone call from a fellow captive named Damsey (Tamara Perry) gives Miles a glimmer of hope as together they try to solve what their captors want from them.

I would liken The Abandon to being a cross between 1997’s sci-fi classic Cube and perhaps 2010’s Buried — in short, it is an amalgamation of familiar storylines, however, it is a great update to these types of films for viewers that enjoyed them. Besides approximately five minutes of the film, the story of The Abandon unfolds within one room, where the audience spends the entirety of the film only perceiving the events through the eyes of the main character, Miles. Jonathan Rosenthal was an excellent lead, portraying the psychological turmoil of torture as well as flashbacks of an unhealed childhood in intensely emotive scenes that required him to cry, bleed, and scream his way through the film.

Rosenthal’s expressive performance was necessary to a film that primarily took place in the singular setting of a clinical-feeling cell. Director Jason Satterlund and writer Dwain Worrel, however, somehow made the story feel bigger than the room it is contained within. In the film’s first half, I felt the pacing was rather slow, belying The Abandon‘s thrilling storyline to come. The introduction of additional characters in the second half helped to reveal clues as to the purpose of their imprisonment and stopped me from abandoning The Abandon — as the mystery of their whereabouts and purpose unravels, the story becomes more emotional due to the dynamic between the captors, the film builds more terror from the escalation of torturous “tests,” and the pacing picks up as anticipation for the next test builds.

The Abandon is worth a watch for any fans of Cube and similar science fiction mystery thrillers. What may initially seem like a kidnap and torture film set against the background of a middle eastern war quickly turns into a highly intelligent, deeply layered, and increasingly intense sci-fi. Without ever visually revealing a villain, The Abandon terrifies and presents a formidable foe to human existence. The Abandon is full of surprises and stands out among the other 2022 Cinequest sci-fi features.

7.75 out of 10