The Loneliest Planet (2012)

Foot travel in the mountains of a strange country with a guide. Not your romantic espade! Great bodies in shape, great panoramas, not much of a story though. Another I watched the second half in accelerate. Good if plenty of time.

This is a minimalist movie. It is a movie made up of little moments, little facial expressions, simple dialogues. And, of course, "the" event which is pivotal for the movie.Having watched "Force Majeure" before this, I knew what to expect and what to look for in "The Loneliest Planet". I was expecting a movie about the dynamics in a couple, and how this dynamics is easily and severely disrupted by one single event. I knew I had to look for the small details, for the things unsaid, in order to understand and to appreciate the movie.The physical majesty of the mountains, which are always visible in the background, creates a dramatic atmosphere. In this naturally dramatic set, powerful emotions are lived by the two main characters, and eventually by their Georgian guide as well. However, these emotions are mostly lived inside each character: there are no arguments, no fights, no physical expression of emotions; only looks and (some) words.Overall, I enjoyed the movie. Just be prepared, this is not your usual movie. Don't expect elaborate plot twists (aside from that one event...). Expect it to unfold at its own pace. If you approach it with an open mind, you will enjoy it.

It starts with a girl with mismatched rug and curtains bouncing up and down without needing to dampen any chestal oscillation. Neither was there any plot or characterization to speak of or write about, so I decided to focus on the scenery, which I confess is usually my favorite part of any movie. The scenery in Georgia consists mostly of rocks and grass. No trees or shrubs or anything. Mostly rocks, actually. In fact, one of the male characters tries to offer the female character a rock as a present. It was a grayish, irregularly shaped rock and did not seem to impress the girl at all. Then they walked for several days, albeit not long enough for the ginger girl's black roots to emerge. Regarding the grass: I wonder if it might not actually have been sedges, (cyperaceae) owing to the visibly poor soil of the region. On the other hand, my knowledge of Georgian flora is meager, so don't take my word for it. Imagine my review going on like this for three- or four- hundred pages and you have a good approximation of this movie. You're welcome.

The first 20 minutes, we gave this movie a chance, then I started fast forwarding.. By 50 minutes, it was clear we didn't miss anything... continue fast forwarding. Throughout the film there are maybe 3 5 minute scenes which basically ARE the movie. The rest is just people walking, eating, talking about nothing, sleeping, making out, etc. The two hour film could have been condensed into a nice 25 minute movie, but as it is, I found it incomprehensible and senseless. Also the girl is not very attractive. It's hard to write 10 lines of text about this movie. I will just say that the scenery is nice, but gets repetitive, and basically is at times little different from just looking at still photos. I also found the film quite predictable, in terms of what might happen and even how it's filmed. Basically its rather shallow and unsatisfying, kind of like chewing gum rather than eating something real.