El desierto

When I purchased "What's Left of Us" (aka "El Desierto") from Amazon it was solely because of it being a zombie movie. However, now that I have seen it, I must admit that I am more than sorely disappointed. This movie failed both at being an entertaining movie and also at being a zombie movie.

The synopsis of the movie does not really reflect the movie in any proper way, especially because it does make the movie sound like it would be interesting.

"What's Left of Us" turned out to be nothing more than a love-triangle-drama set in a pseudo zombie apocalyptic world. You see but a single zombie, and that is just a young man in questionable make-up. No rot, decay and decomposition in any way. Gray Foundation make-up and such. Can we say classic low budget zombie make-up? The story revolves around Jonathan, Ana and Axel, whom are trapped in a small, boarded up apartment with the world falling to pieces around them. Jonathan is obviously in love with Ana, and so is Axel, albeit secretly. And Ana is flirting heavily with both of them.

Right, there is very little of any interest to this story, and I must admit that I dozed off two or three times throughout the course of the movie. And nothing really took a turn for the better. The movie just trotted ahead at a mind-numbingly dull pace.

The acting in "What's Left of Us" was adequate, although nothing outstanding. And I can't say that any of the stars in the movie put on particular memorable performances. However, it was uncanny how much William Prociuk resembled a young John Savage.

The entire movie was permeated by a very annoying sound set, which was more of a nuisance than it added to the atmosphere of the movie. I am of course talking about the sounds from the speakers that the survivors had set up to keep track of the happenings outside the building. I am sure that the idea seemed good on paper, but it didn't work in favor of the movie on the screen.

"What's Left of Us" will now go to its final resting place on the DVD shelf, to slowly fade away into oblivion. This is definitely a movie that cannot sustain more than a single viewing, if you can get through a whole viewing that is. If you are going to sit down for a Spanish language zombie movie, then your money is better spent on "Juan of the Dead", for example.

It could be a theater piece too. There is not much of location changes and the end of the world suspense feeling is underlying. What really is at the heart of this movie is the relationships between the characters. It's also looking at gender and what special circumstances might do to somebody.

While this character study in the disguise of science fiction movie, it doesn't work all the time. Which is not entirely the casts fault. The script could and should have been a bit wittier and have more finesse to it. I generally like Spanish (language) movies and this had the makings of something bigger (budget restraints might have played a role), but this is undercooked ...

Intelligent, thoughtful, super low budget post-apocalypse film. Yes it's a 'zombie' movie, in that turning into zombies seems to be what's happened to almost everyone in the world – maybe everyone besides our 3 characters. But it's far from a horror film. It's much more a study of a love triangle, of 3 human beings, two men and one woman, living under tremendous stress.

While the film's scope is very limited (we basically never leave the small house the three have barricaded themselves inside), it remains visually interesting, and the claustrophobic qualities of the story are put to good use. The acting is also very solid, key for a film that is ultimately all about behavior. And I really appreciated the lack of exposition. The writer/director trusts his audience to piece together what's happened to both the larger world and our characters, instead of laying it out in lengthy dialogue, or flashbacks. We're simply there with them as their relationships continue to evolve. The film also isn't afraid of quiet moments, letting us "get" things from actors' faces and body language, instead of always using words.

It never quite transcends from 'interesting and engaging' to 'great'. There's not enough emotional or intellectual power for that. But I was happy to take what this unique little Argentinean film had to offer.