The Loneliest Planet (2012)
Starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Hani Furstenberg, and Bidzina Gujabidze
Directed by Julia Loktev
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix****
Boyfriend and girlfriend Alex and Nica (Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg) are traveling through the former USSR with nothing much more than two backpacks. In the film's initial moments, it's obvious they're in love and director Loktev does a nice job of establishing their relationship with even the simplest of hand gestures or knowing glances. The two decide to trek through the Caucusus mountain range and hire Dato (Bidzina Gujabidze) as their guide. And the next 105 minutes is just them walking and talking and walking and talking. About halfway through, "an event" happens that is so quick that you could blink and miss it. After the event, there's more walking and decidedly less talking, but it's obvious that the mood has decidedly changed amongst the trio.
Experimental is definitely the wrong word to describe The Loneliest Planet, but the lack of dialog or any real substantial story to follow makes it stand out from other films and at first I found it an admirable quality. However, after "the event" happens, I just wanted some conversation to be had or some emotion to be expressed and instead we get silence. While there's part of me that applauds the decidedly un-cinematic quality of the film, there's another part of me that says there was no need to capture this story on video. I don't necessarily watch movies for a cinema verite style and this film somewhat tries to achieve that quality.
For what they're given to work with, all of the actors do a decent job, but I wished they had a little more to bite into here. The Loneliest Planet is an interesting experiment, but it ultimately doesn't make for a very exciting film.
The RyMickey Rating: C-
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