U.K. science fiction thriller Coyote (2023) combines current social issues with lo-fi science fiction elements. The result is a film that boasts solid performances and thought-provoking themes.
Partners Ekaterina (Therica Wilson-Read) and Anya (Borislava Stratieva) pay heavily to have one of them instantly transported using cutting-edge tech from Rasskazovo, where a violent crackdown on LGBTQ people is taking place, to a safe house in London for female immigrants. Orla Miller (Ailish Symons), the woman in charge of the safe house, is hospitable at first before she eventually informs Ekaterina that, as an immigrant, she stands to make money more quickly and in greater amounts if she provides sexual services to highly-placed men, which Ekaterina learns that the other women staying there are doing.
Coyote is a lower-budget indie effort that wisely relies on minimal special effects, and the teleportation scenes are well done courtesy of Visual Effects Supervisor Howard Gardner. As with many good speculative fiction films, the focus is on human drama rather than the display of high technology, and writer/director Dustin Curtis Murphy invests his feature with a finely focused eye on social issues such as discrimination against immigrants and LGBTQ people, along with human trafficking, taking things to a dystopian extreme. Wilson-Read, Stratieva, and Symons head up a sizable cast, with its members giving admirable performances. Cinematographer Josh Birch turns in impressive work.
Coyote unfolds in a nonlinear manner that leads to surprises and twists that drive the mystery and suspense quite well. Fans of issue-driven dystopian and science fiction films should find plenty to engage and intrigue here.
Coyote screened as part of Romford Film Festival, which took place in Romford, U.K. from May 24–30, 2023.
