Visitors

A confident young Australian lady Georgia Perry is attempting to sail around the world solo (although her cat Taco is there for the ride too) on her 38-foot-yacht Leander. But the wind has fallen and now she's stuck adrift in a foggy stretch of the Indian Ocean. It's against the spirit (and rules) to use the engines. So she keeps herself occupied by using her two-way radio. However several days have past and her situation is the same, but Georgia's deprived mind is starting to play tricks on her. Where dreams turn into delusions and emotional scars of the past seem to plague her aboard the ship. From talking to her cat to encountering pirates. Now she's trying her best to depict what's a real threat and what's not.

Richard Franklin's "Visitors" is a broodingly ambitious exercise, but because of a terribly flawed Everett Deroche's screenplay (which mixes a variety film's premise together), it becomes one hell of a bumpy sea ride on calm waters. The film plays out like a psychological mood trip, where the alienation of the lone protagonist is beautifully illustrated and manipulated by Franklin that it brings us into her universe (or mind-set). In doing so it makes the ever-increasing delusions and stark reality hard to distinguish. Now who's real? Was it in her head? Or was she payed a visit by spirits? This ambiguity is never quite cleared up. Franklin being a true fan of Hitchcock manages transport that factor to the screen with slick finesse and good timing by stacking one sudden, but effectively subtle jump after another that heavily relies on the anxious intensity and implied sounds. However at times the unnaturally forced script (mostly the family / love life drama side of the story) is hard to digest and can take away from the ominous build up with poor inclusions that only muddle or hinder the atmosphere and narrative. The fear and feelings that are cooked up in the jerky material can be an up and down experience. It just lacks some bite and becomes incredibly too light within its cleansing context that its leads to a blandly unfulfilling payoff.

It's tautly penned out and unpredictably captivating in spots, but it's the arresting visions, Nerida Tsyon-Chew's hauntingly melancholy music score and a suitably acute lead performance by Radha Mitchell that does the job. Mitchell manages to capture all the emotions and portray them in a well-balanced and visually genuine performance that creates empathy. Susannah York who plays Georgia's mother has some striking scenes and manages to give a thoughtfully well layered, but quite chilling performance. Ray Barrett brings a lot hear to the role of Georgia's father Bill. Another well-done element was Ellery Ryan's effortlessly novel cinematography that set up the atmosphere and disorienting air exceptionally well. Even the screeching sound effects and shadowy dark lighting adequately comes together in certain jittery set pieces.

Simply an okay feature highlighted by some impressive aspects and its eerie tone, but with a stronger screenplay it could've been a promising foray rather than a scratchy one.

A fine cast, a cute cat, and a swell premise are given the further benefit of the involvement of director Richard Franklin and writer Everett De Roche, both of whom have proven themselves before. There are problems that start to rear their head kind of quickly, though, and what they all rather boil down to is that the pacing feels overly swift in every regard, and the movie at large is brusque and forced. These issues apply to Franklin's direction here above all but extend just as much to the writing (dialogue, characters, scene writing, narrative, use of flashbacks, and plot development), acting, editing, and cinematography. This would be troublesome no matter what genre space the title played in, but becomes more so considering that there's a significant psychological element to the proceedings - a thrust that necessarily requires a thoughtful, delicate touch, which 'Visitors' plainly lacks.

The film is still enjoyable as we see it, certainly. There are terrific ideas here, as small as a single scene or line of dialogue that could have been latched onto, and all the fundamentals are in place for a spooky good time. The trouble is that every last piece of it is presented so bluntly, curtly, and loudly that it is stripped of a substantial portion of its power: every nightmare, dream, or vision, further illustration of Georgia losing touch with reality, and otherwise incident; so much of the camerawork, cuts, and sequencing; and even too much of Radha Mitchell's acting, under these conditions. I don't wholly dislike this, but it's no more than half the picture it could have been if a more nuanced, tactful, understated approach had been taken toward every component part. As it stands any possible thrills and chills are diminished, and even basic viewer engagement. Entertainment remains, but how much?

I appreciate the production design and art direction, stunts and effects (even the digital ones, if and when used sparingly), and costume design, hair, and makeup. Franklin illustrates a keen eye at times for shot composition. Though the same isn't necessarily true of how it is employed here, I like Nerida Tyson-Chew's music in and of itself. But why is it that the detached voice of Steven Grives is the one facet of the movie to consistently demonstrate a measure of subtlety? Why is it only well within the last act that it feels like the feature at large is firing on all cylinders? Why does the ending, specifically, represent a complete tonal shift? There was potential here, and there were also too many choices made that shoved that potential into a neat, small, useless box. For everything that 'Visitors' could have been, it ends up being no more than middling, and becomes an exercise in discovering all the ways that the title could have been improved upon. Here is another instance where I'm glad for those who get more out the flick than I do, but I'm just rather disappointed. Check it out if you want, and it's surely best suggested for those who are major fans of someone involved, but there are too many better ways to spend your time to bother much with this.

I just found this movie bizarre. Parts of it were spooky and I thought Radha Mitchell did a fine acting job-but the cat was by far the best actor in the movie. What was with the bilge pump? Dead Calm or The Island would be much better spooky boat movies.

Georgia Perry is an ambitious and independent minded Australian woman determined to sail solo around the world. The first several weeks go off without a hitch but as the weeks of loneliness take their toll so do the strangeness. All matters of weird goings on occur such as having conversation s with her cat and dead relatives. But is this just a case of cabin fever or is their something else at play here, maybe something otherworldly?

I'll give the authors credit for coming up with an original SciFi / Drama / Thriller hybrid that works on several levels. The direction and photography is pretty dynamic considering that 90% of the running time takes place on a sailboat. On a film like this the lead actor is a core part of the film since they will be the one holding the ship together and Radha Mitchell fits the bill perfectly. She takes us through all the emotions, from familial tragedy to terror; she does a bang up job. Surprisingly there are even some good tension and a boo or two.

"Visitors" is an excellent mostly-drama that stays interesting and engaging due to a good script and an excellent lead performance.

While facing the challenge of sailing alone around the world in one hundred and forty days, the Australian Georgia Perry (Radha Mitchell) fights against the "ghosts" of her life in her loneliness, including an unresolved relationship with her mother and the engagement with her unfaithful fiancé.

"Visitors" was a great deception for me. Since "Pitch Black", I have been a fan of the actress Radha Mitchell and I have watched many of her movies. Therefore, I expected that "Visitors" would be a great film. Unfortunately, the confused screenplay, using flashbacks to explain the innermost contradictions and conflicts of the character Georgia Perry, begins with a great atmosphere and very intriguing, but does not work well and in the end makes the movie sometimes boring and messy. The idea is good, but the screenplay is horrible. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Visitors"