The Survivalist

I overall liked the movie. It didn't try to take on a large topic. It wasn't fun or nice or had a happy ending, just a well told story. Many movies are trying to be more than they are, and this wasn't one of them. It was very well acted and has great visuals. Often times, movie will go for 1-3 minutes without any dialogue, which I found to be an effective way to tell the story.

Main 3 characters didn't have any allusions of hope; they were just there trying to survive day-to-day. I am a fan of the Dystopian genre; however, often times, it ends up being unrealistic or trying to a franchise maker. This didn't try any of it, and just succeeded to be a strong movie.

This film is a prime example of how well researched material can take the smallest of budgets, minimal dialogue and a complete lack of soundtrack and turn this into a masterpiece.

The viewer is given no background story and none of the characters are fleshed out. There is next to no information on anyone in the film apart from the main character, and even with him, there is very little information given. But that is the point. The strength of the film lies not in the story but the idea of what one does to survive when life goes back to basics. The viewer's attention is drawn to the intensity of the situation, the survival skills that are actual knowledge one needs to survive in the wild. The cold and barren undertone of the film should have been the reason for its failure. Instead, it serves to emphasise the stark and bleak situation that all the characters are faced with. The script does not pull any punches and a strong stomach is needed for some scenes. And if you get the gist of the film so far, then you will already know whether there is a happy ending or not...

Extraordinarily well executed, fresh, replete with lots of smart details bring it all to life. The characters are believable; raw and wild, running on their baser instincts, struggling to be civil in a world where gnash-toothed animals survive and civility only gets you dead. They try to be civil! Oh bless their hearts they try.

What I loved the most is the transformation you see in the characters; they go from feral, viciously unlikeable creeps to slowly warming up and right before your eyes they bloom into something like humans again, full of love and empathy and hate and greed and loyalty and all the paradoxes of the human condition. The setting is well fleshed out, with enough mystery regarding the details of society's breakdown to suspend any disbelief you might have about the premise. You feel like it's real. The characters further help you sense the desperation and anxiety of the world portrayed here. It's very somatic; you feel the hunger, the distrust, the anger and the violence of revenge.

I was left feeling grateful for the world I live in, which is the purpose of theme I suspect. It really could be worse. Watch this movie and feel intense gratitude for your humdrum life. Enjoy!

This won't be everyone's cup of tea. I however have watched plenty of absolute rubbish and this film is well acted, filmed and written. I'm a big Walking Dead fan and this reminded me quite a bit on it, although more a slower stronger tequila without zombies than the beery dead. The atmosphere is palpable and a lot is left to the imagination as to the whys and whats however the interplay in a low number of characters is pretty intense. You do need to be able to enjoy this kind of thing and there's a lot of subtext social commentary in here, not much is in your face explicit generic movie script that spells everything out. Shot beautifully in Ireland, intense stuff with no laughs, but I thought pretty fresh.

The Survivalist is BAFTA nominated film about a man who is trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world where food is scarce and where people will kill to take it from you . He comes across a mother and daughter and isn't sure he can trust their intentions. This is Grim to say the least. Not grim in a bad way because the story dictates it should be that way but it is hard watch at times. It's graphic as well. Sexually and violently and the characters on display don't say match. Possibly because they are continuously suspicious of each other or maybe because of what they have witnessed in the past , words are as scarce as the food they crave. Good performances from Martin McCann ( we never get to know his name) and Mia Goth add up to an interesting film that might not be to everyone's taste.