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DVD The Loneliest Planet
 Run time: 113 min Rating: 5.5 Genres: Thriller Director: Julia Loktev Writers: Tom Bissell, Mikhail Lermontov Stars: Gael GarcÃa Bernal, Hani Furstenberg, Bidzina Gujabidze |
| Storyline An engaged couple’s backpacking trip in the Caucasus Mountains is derailed by a single misstep that threatens to undo everything the pair believed about each other and about themselves. |
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| Plot Keywords: caucasus mountains, backpacking, protective male, female nudity, female frontal nudity | |
| Details: Country: USA, Germany Release Date: 3 January 2013 (Germany) |
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| Box Office Opening Weekend: $15,689 (USA) (26 October 2012) Gross: $128,519 (USA) (14 December 2012) |
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DVD The Loneliest Planet
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4 comments
Never in my history of going to the cinema have I witnessed more people leave a screening while the film continues to meander along. And meander it did.
Basically a three hander with very little dialogue, some of which was in different languages and without sub-title, a ploy I assume to put us in the protagonists shoes of not knowing what is happening and what people are saying, but it was just another issue with a film that was already alienating its audience by being so boring.
Shot in the rugged and sometimes beautiful mountains of the Eastern European country of Georgia. We witness a young couple and their local guide walk and occasionally talk, play, drink and sing. They are happy and at peace until an incident rocks their tranquil trek and there is a distance, tension and edge put through the group as they now walk across the terrain in silence and alone even though they are still together.
I can appreciate the cinematography, the journey, the performances and ultimately what it is saying as a story, but when a film appears to basically not hire an editor and you sit through what is possibly your eighth wide shot of 3 people taking what seems to be 5 minutes to walk across the screen with some searing, but ultimately irritating music playing……enough is enough.
Inspired by a short story, it should have been made into a short film and not one that runs 113 minutes.
At one point the female character sings a horrendously uninteresting song around a campfire, laughs and says "It goes on and on". Yes. It does.
While it does have something profound to say about relationships and how one moment can make or break them, "The Loneliest Planet" takes so long to get to its rather poignant yet elusive point, that it may seem to some as a bit too meandering. BUT, if you can stay with it, independent writer/director Julia Loktev does deliver with a payoff that is hauntingly thought provoking, with a high potential for inducing provocative discussions. Written (adapted from a short story from Tom Bissell) and exquisitely directed by Loktev using a plethora of expressive long takes, "The Loneliest Plant" stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg and centers around a young, adventurous and engaged to be married couple, who travel on a backpacking trip along the Caucasus Mountains, lead by a local Georgian guide. Sounds riveting right? Well, the initial hour does play out like a rather dull, elongated version of a short story, but then something happens that essentially changes the entire relationship dynamic, and more importantly allows the second half of this 2 hour film to slowly blossom into a tragic and quite engaging dissection of the male and female roles in a relationship. At times "The Loneliest Planet" displays thematic similarities to 2012's independent female relationship point of view film "Take this Waltz", but Loktev seems to be able to get her female visual prospective across with slightly more clarity, while still keeping a fascinating air of ambiguousness.
The truth is "The Loneliest Planet" is a hard film to review because it is contingent on one scene (really one physical movement) an hour into the picture, that I can't really talk about. But what I can say is that the latter half of the movie (after the big scene) although consists of Bernal and Furstenberg continuing to walk around the Caucasus Mountains (mostly in silence) is quite a moving piece of cinema that does show off Loktev's Malick-esque directorial skills.
On the other hand, this film is not for everybody. What will ultimately hold this back for many, will be the (at times) too Independent for its own good feel of the entire picture, as Loktev holds on shots for minutes at a time where nothing seems to be going on, and spends a lot of time filming characters ad-libbing their dialogue. Other issues may come down to the free flowing (slow) pacing of "The Loneliest Planet", which may leave many walking out of this movie questioning: Was Loktev's introspective inquiries really worth the journey? Final Thought: In my opinion this sort of Avant-garde piece about a couple under duress is very much a film geared more towards female audiences. That is to say, the main focus is not Bernal. He is only the vehicle that helps show the nature of the male counterpart. The real star of the show here is Furstenberg, who displays the complex prospective of a female outlook on relationships exceptionally well, and thusly what she goes through should be more fully understood by female audiences. That is not to say that men will not enjoy this film, but for most men, "The Loneliest Planet" may be too hard of a pill to swallow. Plus, if you are currently a male in a relationship, this is one movie that may only serve to plant the seed of an awkward conversation (which in turn, probably is the point).
Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland
Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus
Amazing movie. I had absolutely no expectations going in yesterday at the NYC Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall. Even felt disheartened when the director before the start of the movie said " I will see you all after the movie … If you all are still here".
Long story short at the end of the movie I couldn't help it but had to clap and it was involuntary. I have seen an amazing powerful piece with excellent performances by the whole cast. I do not know how to spell the name of the actress, "Jani" sounds like "Honey". She is amazing.
Please give this movie a shot. I haven't seen any movies lately which touched upon the dynamics between a couple so well.
Bravo to the whole team. Sure I will hear more about this movie in the news and hopefully at the awards.
PS: It is rare for me to post on IMDb, but I had to share 🙂
A unique, brilliantly structured art-house film that will definitely go down as one of my favorites from the past few years. It's a film that has, really, only a single plot point, and it's one that happens in a blink of an eye. The film centers on two tourists in Georgia (the country, not the state). Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg play an engaged couple, and the first half of the film establishes quite clearly their dynamics, and the fact that they are very much in love. Halfway through the film, the pivotal incident occurs and it's like a prism that breaks up the way the two look at each other, as well as themselves. Sure, that first hour is pretty slow moving (though the scenery in the film is so gorgeous that I was never less than engaged), but, after the incident, you look backward at every small thing that occurred. That first, sleepy hour I was basically just enjoying the scenery, but during the second hour my mind was running a mile a minute, even though, basically, nothing much was happening. It's a weird and uncompromising picture that will surely drive some crazy, but I was absolutely blown away by it.