El Cazador

THE ROVER is a quirky and interesting little Australian movie detailing the collapse of society after a major economic collapse (thus making it an extremely timely movie in these financially-wary years). That it manages to successfully depict a post-apocalyptic world of sorts on what is obviously a limited budget is testament to the skill of the director and his crew, particularly the location manager and set designer.

This is a slow and sombre production with shades of SNOWTOWN and THE ROAD, although unlike MACBETH, which I watched the day before, it's never boring or dull. The story is sparse and drawn out, as this is a real slow burner of a movie, and yet at the same time it keeps you gripped to the screen. It helps that the ever-underrated Guy Pearce is cast in the lead role and gives a typically engrossing portrayal of a flawed man with a single-minded purpose.

There are some brief action sequences in this film and even something approaching a car chase, but it's not really an action movie. It's more of a suspense thriller with the tension gradually building as things approach a devastating climax. And, it surprises me to admit it, by far the best thing in the film is the acting of the young lead, Robert Pattinson. This guy is completely unrecognisable as the guy who played Edward Cullen in the TWILIGHT series. He's quite brilliant, giving a wonderfully mannered and sympathetic performance of a simple man who ends up being used and abused by everyone around him, and his performance comes out of nowhere. It's as though Pattinson was bored with the plastic TWILIGHT films and wanted to do something the polar opposite in order to prove his worth as an actor. Well, he successfully does that, and then some; his performance is outstanding, and made the film for me.

This film tells the story of a desperate and lonely man whose car is stolen. He goes to extreme lengths to recover his car, killing many people along the way.

"The Rover" is compared to "The Road", which I really enjoyed. "The Rover" tries to create the desolation and desperation in "The Road", but it doesn't quite work. Where the story is going is not clear in the film, and hence it looks as if Guy Pearce's character is a mad man going on a killing spree because someone has done him a little wrong. The pacing is super slow, and therefore it doesn't captivate my interest. Do the characters really need two minutes to walk from a car to a house? That is really dragging screen time unnecessarily.

The only redeeming feature is the performance of Robert Pattison. I thought he was just a pretty face that made it big because of a wildly popular series of films. In here, he gives a memorable as a mentally challenged young man. If only the rest of the film is as good as his performance!

The reviews for this weren't exactly bad, or even mixed. But it did seem to get a lot of negative ones, and a lot of neutral, unpassionate ones. To my surprise, this is a fine film. Sure, not all that original, but the directing is really strong, as is the acting, Robert Pattinson, in particular, really shines and the best I've ever seen him be. Who knew he had this sort of performance in him, I certainly didn't, and it makes me interested in what he can accomplish in the future. Guy Pearce was strong too, with a pretty subdued, but very intense, character to play. The rest of the supporting players give some nice work too. Overall, I recommend this.

A disheveled loner (Guy Pearce) trails a trio of thieves who stole his car. Along the way he picks up the slow-witted brother (Robert Pattinson) of one of the thieves. Dystopian future or post-apocalyptic movies kind of blend together after you've seen a lot of them. So when one comes along that feels fresh like this one, it deserves praise for that alone. The acting is excellent. Guy Pearce has long been an actor whose work I enjoy but the big surprise here is Robert Pattinson, who ensures with this performance that he will be remembered for more than the Twilight movies. Taut direction with quality acting, writing, and music. It's a good movie but not for everybody. Dark, gritty, often slow and certainly violent. But it's also very rewarding if you're wiling to give it a chance.

Screened out of competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival David Michôd's second feature The Rover is not as fascinating as his Oscar nominated Animal Kingdom. Nevertheless it is an interesting picture and a respectable effort from the promising director.

The film opens to the Australian outback and says at the very beginning that it's been ten years after the collapse. People have suffered an immense economic crisis which left them in the vacuum of authority, lawlessness and banditry. Every single being on screen is desperate. A robbery gone bloody wrong, three men run away from the scene of the crime leaving a wounded brother behind. As their car breaks down along the way they steal another. It belongs to Eric and he is madly determined to get it back. What makes it more interesting is Eric and Rey, the man the gang left behind, come across each other and build up bonds.

At one point of their wearing journey Rey says "Not everything has to be about something" This stuck with me throughout, I took it as a way of saying the contrary -everything has to be about something-. Michôd's film works both as a post- apocalyptic nightmare and an absorbing contemporary western with something to say. Yes, the social commentary were a bit blatant at times (especially that talk between Eric and a soldier) but I like the whole aim of the film as to me it tried to look and find remnants of something human in its lost wanderers. Still though I find the finale to be infuriating, maybe that was the intention, but at least we get to learn why Eric is so inexorable about taking his car back. The reveal was heartbreaking and showed that one would still cling to love in the direst of circumstances.

As for Eric and Rey, I find their relationship intriguing. Eric is like the needed older brother, the father figure to Rey. Right after his singing "Don't hate me cause I'm beautiful" in the car, Rey goes and sits next to Eric. And at that moment I felt Rey wanted to come closer but Eric prevented it saying "go to sleep". I don't know, there was something there and I liked it.

The film is beautiful to look at, it's technically impressive and well directed. One should also mention the commendable work from its actors Pearce and Pattinson. Especially the latter who has never been better. While his face was distractingly over expressive on some occasions, Pattinson still gives a consistent performance as the half-witted Rey.