Girl from Nowhere

A couple from Cape Town traveling to their desert getaway (Scot Cooper & Tamryn Speirs) picks up a beautiful girl curiously hitchhiking the remote highway (Christia Visser). They invite her to their hideaway, but might regret it.

"Girl from Nowhere" (2017) is an Indie psychological drama from South Africa costing $203,000 (converted). Aside from the mental dramatics, it proficiently focuses on the beauty of the South African desert wilderness and that of Liza (Christia Visser) mixed with quality eclectic folk/rock reminiscent of stuff by the likes of Orenda Fink and Ane Brun.

It explores the same theme addressed in "Afternoon Delight" (2013), the spellbinding power of a beautiful woman who might be a devil within. Liza has a body sculptured by God himself, and this is a highlight of the flick, but her attitude is a big red flag, not to mention a turn-off.

The acting isn't great, but it's serviceable for a low-budget Indy. The positives noted above made me appreciate the flick, but the last act is too freestyled, like director/writer Mark Jackson & the cast made a lot of it up as they were shooting. Nonetheless, the ending makes a powerful point that's true to reality.

The film runs 1 hour, 25 minutes, and was shot in Cederberg, Western Cape, South Africa, about 2 hours' drive north of Cape Town.

GRADE: B-/C+

I had a good time, it hink i can overlook to the flaws for a once.

The story, pacing... everything except the cinematography is terrible. Nothing ever happens but the filming location is nice. So bad.

The story goes in a lot of very weird directions, the writing is abysmal, and the characters are one-dimensional, but it's still an okay way to spend an hour and a half. Liza gets a little more interesting as she opens up, but the story itself is disconnected and clearly has absolutely no idea what it's trying to say. Great eye candy in the landscapes, at least; rolling hills, rocky crags and beautiful veldt as far as the eye can see. And Liza isn't that bad to look at either.

It's rare that I encounter an utterly useless film with no redeeming qualities to justify spending valuable time on it. Bad acting, bad script, bad ending, bad everything. Amateurish filmaking at its worst. I don't even know why it's on Amazon Prime.