Das letzte Land

Feels more like a surreal theatre play by Beckett than like the scifi action b-movie you maybe expect. It's dark, it's an entertaining arthouse drama (which is a rare combination), it looks cool (reminded me a lot of "Alien") and it's acted pretty well.

It also has something to say. I just don't know what, yet. But I'll watch it again. Definitely.

Wait, they constructed all the sets and the miniatures in their garage??? Consider my mind blown. 😍

I'm so grateful for films like this in times of stupid corporate franchises like Marvel or DC films, which pretend to be science fiction but are just empty shells of repetitive plot points and shallow characters.

In "The final land" (or "Final Voyage" as it has been called now) you won't get any of this. But instead you are confronted with deep philosophical questions about who we are and where we are heading. And ladies and genlemen, THIS is what SCIENCE FICTION is about. If you don't like this, go watch the 37th installment of "Iron Man".

The passion that went into this film is incredible. They built the ships interior, the models and space itself in years of hard work, locked themselves in with the actors and accomplished something that most big Hollywood studies failed to do for decades. A good, interesting and fascinating science fiction film!

...you order a high-tech modern advanced space ship - online, and they send you a used junkyard rust-bucket with 80's analog tech? Ya, me too.

This is amateur writer, director, producer, editor, cinematographer, sound, set designer, composer, S&VFX (whew) Marcel Barion's first main film project. It's a heck of a risk to wear pretty much every filmmaking hat, and not flop, especially by a new filmmaker. But I have to say, he was very close to pulling it off.

I joked about the old tech clunker spaceship set, but in reality, it was awesome. I'm sure he had a limited budget for this indie film, but somehow he made it work, and I felt I knew every part of that ship. The cinematography, S&VFX were absolutely stunning and perfection... better than some seasoned filmmakers movies I've seen lately. The score was also perfect, especially for a B grade film, where they are usually loud, overbearing and unfitting. The two cast members gave decent performances.

BUT, where this film drastically failed, was in the long dragged out and convoluted story (especially the lame ending), the slow pacing that made the already too-long 113 min runtime feel like 3+ hours, and the constant long camera shots that felt like someone paused the film. I think Barion must've misplaced his editor's hat, because this film needed at least 30-45 mins cut out to make the story and pacing bearable. The story started off well, but once they were flying, the conversations were just dumb and insignificant. It's like a 5th grader wrote the dialogue, and got bored towards the ending. The story never really switched gears until the last 10 minutes. So basically, take the first and last 15-20 mins, get rid of the useless middle filler, and this would've been a great short film.

What's really sad, is that all Barion had to do, is have his screenplay proofread and edited by a seasoned writer, and everything would've fallen into place, and this film would've been outstanding. Nevertheless, still an impressive production by an amateur filmmaker that put this entire film together by himself. Sadly, it's only a 6/10, but could've easily been at least an 8 or more. Hopefully Barion will learn from this for his next project. Still, bravo for his first attempt.

Science Fiction movies with a low budget and practical effects are a hard sell. Especiall when they took almost a decade overall to complete. And even more so when whoever releases the movie compares it to Alien and Kubricks 2001. That is quite bold to say the least.

On the other hand some may feel there is merit to that. I personally did not feel many connections to said movies. Apart from them all being in outer space (not on Earth) and in the Science Fiction genre. Well and maybe having a bit of mystery attached to them. But don't expect anything as close as bloody as Alien or as close as philosophical and life altering as 2001.

Having said that, the movie is well done and you mostly should not notice the small (crowdfunded) budget this was made on. I was lucky enough to catch it on a big screen, but most will stream it - fairly certain of that. They probably will be distracted by other things (has happened to me too) - especially in the slower moments ... and there are lots of them.

Definitely give this a watch! If you love arthouse Sci-Fi, you'll love this :)