The Loneliest Planet (2011) Reviews

• so many people walked out....

  ffuuut2012-06-14

  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.

• Poor Guy

  ghost_dog862013-01-22

  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

• Not worth the time

  Mainer782012-12-19

  I decided I had to watch this movie after so many critics raved about it and the "pivotal scene". What a phenomenal disappointment! I felt like the writers came up with the aforementioned scene and then couldn't really figure out how to build an entire movie around that. The movie is just one long shot after another of the leads walking or eating or frolicking in bed. By the latter part of the movie I was ready to pull my hair out watching yet another minutes-long shot of the three leads walking across yet another landscape. The pivotal scene was only mildly interesting, and the reaction of the main characters to that event slowly goes from mostly reasonable to slightly bizarre by the time the film finally reaches its completely unsatisfying close.

• Brilliant, though not easy

  zetes2013-01-27

  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.

• Yawn.

  camerons_here2012-06-14

  This is a movie you're either going to love or hate. I was not a fan at all. I had so much hope that something was going to grab me and make me fall in love, but sadly nothing did. The film had a similar feel to Tree Of Life. It was long, hardly any dialogue, with long scenes of the landscape - which was beautiful, but not enough to rate the film. The only present story was the relationship between the engaged travelers. But with the abrupt ending to the film their story didn't seem relevant at all - so I am struggling to find the point to the movie. The scene towards the end of the movie when Nica and Dato are talking around the fire dragged on for so long I was struggling to keep my eyes open in the dark cinema, only to be blinded by the following scene the next morning. Waste of time. Also, if anyone can explain the purpose of the opening scene, please do!