Vesper Chronicles

A very watchable dystopian movie from Bruno Samper and Kristina Buozyte.

The most interesting aspect of the film is that either the two directors who also wrote the script of the film or the production designer Henrijs Deicmanis and Raimondas Dicius were heavily influenced by Miyazaki.

The characters in the movie look like they came straight out of the obvious Miyazaki anime.

This is not a bad criticism, it is a choice that fits the texture of the film.

The duo, who had previously filmed Vanishing Waves (2012) together, spent six years on this project and decided at the last minute to shoot the movie in English in order to attract more viewers.

Cinematographer Feliksas Abrukauskas drew on paintings by Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt for inspiration.

Most of the movie was completed without using the green/blue screen, but the drone used in some scenes was helped by cgi... Because the drone used on the set made a lot of noise and the actors and actresses could not focus on their roles.

Vesper is a very special film. The sort of sci-fi you rarely see - one with heart, meaning, social conscience and an important message about earths future wrapped in emotional drama, stunning visuals and originality aplenty.

At the centre is Vesper herself and the whole movie hinges on the shoulders of its thirteen year old star. Raffiella Chapman turns in a nuanced performance at once both the brave heroine and fragile child. It is so accomplished a performance it's hard to believe this young actor was indeed just thirteen at the time of filming.

There is a wonderful scene where Vesper forgets her adult responsibilities and howls like a wolf with all the vigour and lack of self consciousness of a child and it's both poignant and incredibly emotional. Moments like this might feel out of place to sci-fan fans used to the action obsessed Hollywood mainstay of the genre but it is these unusual touches that make this film so unique.

Eddie Marsan is wonderful as Vesper's sinister uncle and Richard Brake terrific as Vespers ailing father, his voice given life within a drone in yet another original touch.

I've never seen anything quite like Vesper and the incredible imagery and performances will stay with me a long time. If you like your sci-fi cerebral and challenging with superb characters and world building then this is a must watch. 10/10.

It's a pretty ambitious attempt, imperfect but I loved it. Most important thing is it needs a sequel to explain everything, because you're just thrown into it with a vague introduction to this dystopian future, you don't get to explore the vastness of this sci-fi world. It's not so unfamiliar though, there hints and cues to help you imagine what life is like outside of those the niche story focuses on, there's so many little side plots that you wouldn't usually pay attention to. When you hear sci-fi especially if you usually only watch movies you might think more of flashy, space travel or aliens, light sabers... but this is the gloomy type that's more accustomed to in tv series, for me at least. So you might be disappointed if you're expecting that. Cinematography is great, despite the bleak setting there's still so much beauty nature offers.

Biggest problem is we don't learn much and there's huge lack of details, but it's a well made low budget sci-fi that deserves a sequel for that reason. To explore the work it's based in. Love dark science fiction.

It's nothing like game of thrones but I'm trying to think of an analogy that'd be widely accepted, so imagine instead of focusing on Westeros affairs, it focuses on a little girl and her father, living on their own in a village in the middle of nowhere. You don't get a picture of the grand scale of things, just a really small piece of a puzzle. That's why I think turning this into a franchise has great potential, because their dystopian future has so much more to explore. The problem is this doesn't feel like a first movie. More like a solo entry to an already established film franchise.

It's something new, a breath of fresh air(gloomy one) and for that I fear that it'll land in the same shoes as Mortal Engines which I loved, because it won't be as widely appreciated by audiences enough to warrant a franchise or even a sequel to explore everything this dystopian world has to offer.

This was a very refreshing movie to experience. It felt like true sci-fi. I don't know what that means exactly, lol, but watch the flick and see if you agree. The acting was great, The world building was awesome. It felt like something that could actually happen with little imagination leaping. The science and technology portrayed in the move were cool and relatively unique. The dystopian elements were captivating, leaving me thinking about it a bit, and the scenes were not overly artistic or trying too hard. Overall, it was a gem with a fresh perspective from typical Hollywood. It focused on the story, featured great effects, and presented innovative ideas while avoiding the typical clichés we often see in movies today. If you like sci-fi in general, I'd say give it a go!