The Loneliest Planet

"The Loneliest Planet" is about an American couple on holiday in Eastern Europe, Georgia accompanied by a guide they befriend. They face some hardships and determinations, almost like a pilgrimage.

I went to this film not knowing what to expect, So I was pretty open to anything at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

It started out promising and intriguing, some parts were very interesting to the film's setting and the character's experience in traveling across a vast and unknown terrain. The acting is very Mediocre, the woman looks a lot like Jessica Chastain but less talented.

Its very artistic and visually stunning in cinematography, camera-work and editing that really captures the beauty and resonance.

The script however is very shallow and has minimal dialogue thats very incoherent, the character development isn't too good either, a lot more could have been done on most story elements which lets the film down a lot.

I found it dragging halfway through and became disappointed about the film's conclusion. I found it quite satisfying but a bit of a let down, this is also the first film at the festival that no one clapped at the end.

3/5

We all love to see places that seem alien and completely bereft of modernity. The lush mountains, the historic villages that seemingly have no electricity or running water and just the rustic appeal of the supposed third world. Every now and then we have that little itch to explore these places, and that is where the film The Loneliest Planet excels in. Other than that, it doesn't excel at much else.

I guess the problem comes from the trailer, which made this sound like a major issue was going to form between the protagonists Alex and Nica. They seem very much in love and quite comfortable, but it is revealed late in the movie they may have some trust issues. While this is typical of these type of movies where stresses create relationship cracks, it wasn't anything too earth rattling. Even the major moment where the marital bliss is challenged doesn't illustrate this. Another reviewer on this page suggested this would have been a better short film. I would have to agree.

I will say the scenery of the Caucasus Mountains is extraordinary, making me wish I had the means to go out there and experience it for myself. Other than that, a well shot and composed film with little else to really offer.

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.

The Loneliest Planet - The sophomore effort from writer/director Julia Loktev, this film follows a young American couple as they take a trek through the man's ancestral homeland in Georgia (the nation, not the state)'s Caucus mountains. I am unfamiliar with the director's previous effort (2006's Day Night Day Night) but regret to say that The Loneliest Planet did not really inspire me to seek her earlier work out. The problem lies primarily with the screenplay, especially the first hour, which plays more like high quality excerpts from someone's vacation video than like a narrative picture. NOTHING happens. Okay, that's an exaggeration, there are a FEW bits of characterization and foreshadowing that lend to the storyline. However, with a run time of an hour and fifty odd minutes, the movie's first seventy-five could easily have been cut to thirty without detracting from the (minimal) story that the script sets out to tell. Without the lovely cinematography contributed by Inti Briones, the first half of the film would be practically unwatchable.

Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries, Y Tu Mama Tambien) and Hani Furstenberg (Yossi and Jagger) do respectable jobs as the vacationing couple, but are not really given enough dialog or activity to really show us what they are capable of. First time actor Bidzina Gujabidze actually outshines them both as their tour guide, his "local color" helping to bridge some of the more debilitatingly slow passages of the film, but even he is fighting an uphill battle. I can appreciate the point of Loktev's story, but it just didn't constitute a two hour movie. It might have made a nice short film...2 1/2 of 5 stars.

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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 :)