Everything Beautiful Is Far Away

I came across this movie on HULU streaming, the description made it sound interesting.

In fact it is very interesting and the two leads are pretty good. They don't explain much but judging on some of the dialog and the strange plant species they encounter, trying to find nourishment, seems like they must be on a planet that is not Earth.

Julia Garner is Rola and she is wandering through the vast desert. When Joseph Cross as Lernert comes across her she seems near death with white foam at her lips. He realizes she has eaten a poisonous bulb that resembles an edible one, he gives her something which saves her.

Each of them is wandering through the desert, and he is searching for a mysterious lake. He is also carrying an intelligent animatronic head that sees and talks. But only the head and part of his task is to find batteries to keep her "alive."

So, even though they have a brief encounter with a lost man it is basically these three characters, and only two of them are alive. It could easily have been a two character stage play, in this case the desert is the stage.

Actually nicely done overall but as a feature movie it doesn't contain a lot of meat on its bones. You have to be in the mood.

This movie does have plenty to say.. and it's clever enough to give you the space to think about it - instead of the usual bludgeoning into submission and acceptance!

It's minimalist for sure - a rare (and worthy) beast in the current cinema-scape of sensory bombardment that we have been instructed to become used to..

Credit to the entire team here for making simplicity cool, enjoyable and refreshing, as well as thought provoking and a pleasure to watch.

A most watchable interplay of performances, music, cinematography and script; this undemanding movie still stimulates - and gives you the space to consider the themes it explores - and there are more than a few, and nicely interweaved; conditioning, programming, the mother, AI, (very clever here) relationships, love, self and other, now.. and zen.. and it doesn't need to resort complexity to do all this.. the sheer simplicity works just fine ;>

Oh, and the soundtrack's yummy!

You've got to be in the mood to just relax and go with it on this movie. I thought it was charming and quite enjoyable. It was very different, but is there anything wrong with that?

The pace is slow. But the music succeeds in creating a strange atmosphere. Acting is impeccable. I agree with other reviewers that say that you have to be in the mood to watch such a movie. Now, can someone explain to me how a girl with milky white skin spend days in the desert without getting sunburns?

It's a minimalist film set in a world outside of the logic and rules of existence/physics we know.

The directing and cinematography are phenomenal and draw you in while the plot moves slowly unfolding in a labyrinth of very subtle metaphors along the way.

All great things said about the directing and photography, it is a low budget film and you can tell at times, whether that is intentional or not it can take the viewer out of the film. With some polishing on set design/wardrobe, lighting/location, and color/look it would make a phenomenal film and a great cult classic addition to indie film.