The Survivalist

The opening shot of 'The Survivalist' cleverly sets the situation in which the film is set: the camera follows two lines on a graph, one showing oil production, the other world population. While the oil one starts to reduce, the population one continues its dizzying climb (appropriately, the film is set in Ireland, home of the European Union's highest birth rate!) until suddenly plummeting. Thus the scene is set.

An unnamed man (Martin McCann) lives in a forest, protecting his vegetable garden from occasional marauders with his rifle, his knife, and his totally naff haircut. This hand-to-mouth existence is disrupted one morning when a mother and daughter appear, seeking to barter the sexual favours of the daughter (Mia Goth) for food. The two women stay and, although suspicious, the man gradually, slightly, lets down his guard - but are the women as innocent as they appear?

Essentially a three-hander, at first glance this could make a good play, although live audiences might find their attention wandering during the long periods where nobody speaks as they tramp through the forest, do gardening, or irrigate the crops by urinating on them. But on film these sequences have a quiet beauty (well, not the urination) and, crucially, writer/director Stephen Fingleton - who has won several awards for this work - doesn't over-play them, or drag them out - something of which certain other directors of far more experience would be guilty.

The acting is good, with all three leads providing low-key but believable - as far as the circumstances allow - performances. Olwen Fouéré is especially noteworthy as the older woman seeking to manipulate things in order to survive, and McCann provides some good facial expressions that well convey emotions that would otherwise remain unexpressed, such is the monosyllabic speech of his character.

Combining human interest with tension and threat, this is a low-budget gem that is well worth seeing if you get the chance.

The Survivalist is BAFTA nominated film about a man who is trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world where food is scarce and where people will kill to take it from you . He comes across a mother and daughter and isn't sure he can trust their intentions. This is Grim to say the least. Not grim in a bad way because the story dictates it should be that way but it is hard watch at times. It's graphic as well. Sexually and violently and the characters on display don't say match. Possibly because they are continuously suspicious of each other or maybe because of what they have witnessed in the past , words are as scarce as the food they crave. Good performances from Martin McCann ( we never get to know his name) and Mia Goth add up to an interesting film that might not be to everyone's taste.

This was a very good survival film, there were a dozen ways it could have gone and the story explored more scenarios then your average film without the rookie mistake of becoming chaotic.

There's empathy, rawness and a silence that makes you contemplate which way the story will flow as well as characters that you grow to really root for.

I hated the ending as I felt it was unnecessary, the ending really should have ended with the rabbit (don't worry not a spoiler at all)

Sometimes movie endings go for the shock factor and unfortunately that's exactly why the ending fell flat for me. Regardless it was a great movie all the actors were amazing and convincing.

Your heart will race and you will bite your nails because you will grow to root for atleast one of the characters and May even start to feel protective over them. Due to the silent moments, incredible cinematography and survival atmosphere you'll enjoy if you like thrillers.

However if you're interested in movies with a lot of dialogue this isn't the film for you.

The title reveals everything, but still you must watch this to know how everything going to take place. Life on earth is meant for survival of the fittest, but the human evolution changed that idea and again, what happen when the rules we are used to have changed back to the original? This is a post apocalyptic theme set in somewhere in the Britain and revolves around three people who are fighting for their survival, everyday.

The feature film debut for the director, who also managed the screenplay quite superbly. You can find many similar films, but everyone of those has its own story with the backdrop of various threats and other issues to deal. Also, when the circumstances differ, the following events take a different lead. Thus giving the viewers a new perspective and entertainment.

This is nothing like those I had seen. It was too rough and tough in revealing stuffs to the facts of its state of condition. I mean the humans have lost the trust between one another. You might say that is common in all the post-apocalyptic films, but this is very good at details. A silent film, like background score was almost zero, so the appeal was stronger in every those thrill scenes like it was real or some kind of a documentary film.

A man is living alone in the middle of the forest, grows his own vegetables and always be an extra careful from any outside threat. Then one day a woman and her daughter comes looking for food to trade with their valuables. The deal does not go well between them, but somehow they all manage to gain trust and start to live together. Obviously there's always an issue of food shortage, so how they are going to handle and followed by many other troubles brings an end to the tale.

"The only thing I have caught in there walked on two legs."

A minimal cast film with less dialogues, but totally a visual storyteller. I liked the film, but not my favourite, just a fine thriller. The actors are not very popular, but still they are familiar faces and I liked the film because of them. Critically acclaimed and well received by movie goers, but the common people who are vital for the commercial success let it down. It was nominated for the BAFTA awards in the newcomer writer/director category, but did not win.

The film's main plot is the food. The human population grown so fast during entering the twenty first century and again fallen rapidly due to the shortage of food which is obviously directly affected by pollution and other issues. So the theme was right, but not everybody gets that message. Because most of who watch it expects entertainment and nothing else. I hope that would not be your excuse to ignore it.

The film was shot in Northern Ireland, in a couple of places and its surroundings. It is slow, but steady in what it wanted to tell us. It's not a question about how familiar the theme is, but how different and obviously how different people tackle such situations is what this film focused to tell us pretty dramatic way.

When I say the poster, I thought it was like a native American or south American's story. Mainly because of the haircut that gave the impression like that I saw from other films. The synopsis gave a different perspective, so I found it more interesting than before. Then I watched, with a low expectation after knowing it was not received well. But I surprised and come to know this is not a bad film as they have said. In fact a very interesting perspective on how these three people struggle with what they have got in front of them. I am not saying it's a must see, but definitely not the worst, so I suggest you to do small research if you are confused to try this title. If you ask me, I would say just go for it.

7/10

Extraordinarily well executed, fresh, replete with lots of smart details bring it all to life. The characters are believable; raw and wild, running on their baser instincts, struggling to be civil in a world where gnash-toothed animals survive and civility only gets you dead. They try to be civil! Oh bless their hearts they try.

What I loved the most is the transformation you see in the characters; they go from feral, viciously unlikeable creeps to slowly warming up and right before your eyes they bloom into something like humans again, full of love and empathy and hate and greed and loyalty and all the paradoxes of the human condition. The setting is well fleshed out, with enough mystery regarding the details of society's breakdown to suspend any disbelief you might have about the premise. You feel like it's real. The characters further help you sense the desperation and anxiety of the world portrayed here. It's very somatic; you feel the hunger, the distrust, the anger and the violence of revenge.

I was left feeling grateful for the world I live in, which is the purpose of theme I suspect. It really could be worse. Watch this movie and feel intense gratitude for your humdrum life. Enjoy!