Vesper Chronicles

In a bleak dystopian world, a thirteen year old girl must survive in a world where citadels containing powerful oligarchs live, controlling the seeds that provide food supplies for those struggling outside on the planet. A smart cookie, she has a number of special skills including an understanding of bio-hacking which she must make use of if she is to beat her power crazy uncle, the excellent Eddie Marsan, the oligarchs and keep her father, who operates through a floating android, alive.

Whilst it could be argued that this intelligent almost evangelical sci-fi thriller suffers slightly through lack of budget, it's effects are sparingly used and are all the more impressive because of it. The performances, particularly from the young girl, Raffiella Chapman are strong, but the most impressive element is the clever mix of intelligent and convincing sci-fi ideas. A wildly over the top Hollywood sci-fi epic remake will surely follow.

Less is more with this one. Rather than bog it down with excessive CGI or overblown action sequences, the filmmakers slowed the pacing and gave us a more nuanced tale. And in my opinion, it works.

In a post-apocalyptic future, a gifted girl (Vesper) with a penchant for organic biochemistry learns to navigate the bleak landscape and cope with the even bleaker tendencies of humanity, until an accident presents her with an opportunity to escape her reality and flourish her talents.

Such as it is, Vesper had a lot of creative ideas and interesting story points. As expected, it's a pretty grim view of our future, but it was nice that the CGI was sparingly used, particularly in the spore and plant effects, and her bio-cybernetic floating dad-head. I also enjoyed the bit where Vesper learns of the now-extinct animals from today.

Decent acting, decent music, great cinematography, and interesting story. They lost me a little bit with the ending though. Symbolically, I guess I get it..? But it threw me a little, not sure I get why she'd do that

7/10, would maybe watch again.

I'm surprised at some of the negative reviews. I think they're thinking in terms of what makes a movie popular and successful at the box office, not what is successful in terms of a piece of literature or art. The narrative back story is subtle, not obvious. So if you're going to do social media on your phone while watching it, you're going to get bored or confused quite quickly. This one is like reading a book on the screen. They're not common but I loved the vibe. It's striking and doesn't over do the sci-fi elements as they paint the atmosphere, not the story. Acting is top notch. Some of these younger stars will be seen more of for sure. First thing I did after watching it was searching if it's a book.

I don't want to spoil anything so I will not even mention anything negative.

I thought it was very good, visually, storytelling and sci-fi wise. The lead young actress did a fantastic job, as did the more supporting roles. I also got a very positive feeling of synergy from the movie Brazil. Not the story or plot but more the design of things.

Some reviews mentioned they wanted more of the world- or back-story. I thought it was about perfectly delivered. Sketched in enough that you can imagine and wonder about it but not heavy-handed.

Other mentioned it is slow and I could see ppl. Thinking that in some cases. However I did not think any of it was filler or just padding out for any reason. Every slow and artsy sort of shot tells you something about the story world. And was very pretty or at least carefully presented in disgusting detail.

Perfect? Nah - but yea it's well worth a watch, IMO.

This was a very refreshing movie to experience. It felt like true sci-fi. I don't know what that means exactly, lol, but watch the flick and see if you agree. The acting was great, The world building was awesome. It felt like something that could actually happen with little imagination leaping. The science and technology portrayed in the move were cool and relatively unique. The dystopian elements were captivating, leaving me thinking about it a bit, and the scenes were not overly artistic or trying too hard. Overall, it was a gem with a fresh perspective from typical Hollywood. It focused on the story, featured great effects, and presented innovative ideas while avoiding the typical clichés we often see in movies today. If you like sci-fi in general, I'd say give it a go!