Pendant ce temps sur Terre

No pun intended - a few things I was struggling with before writing this review ... talking about the ending in a way that may give away certain things ... rating, because of the great ending (at least in my humble opinion) ... should I go at least 8? Well I may change my mind and it really is tough for me to make up my mind I reckon overall.

All that said, the lesser you know about the movie the better it probably works. One thing you should know for sure: it is a slow burn. It may get stuck in your head (sorry for the pun) ... and it is tough to imagine "what would I do?" ... because our main character is in a tough spot to say the least.

So to decide what to do ... and to "obey" because of love ... well you'll understand. What you may not understand ... or at least is not entirely clear I think: the ending. If what we know up to this point is true ... it would point to one thing ... but then again, maybe it wasn't all as it was said it is(?) ... the animation is well done and sparsely used (and that is a good thing) ... a movie for the thinking minds ... no right or wrong here ...

Saw this at the Imagine 2024 film festival in Amsterdam. It is not for the SciFi elements that I rank this movie 7 out of 10, but for the human dilemmas posed. Actually, I wanted to rate 8 out of 10, but it takes too long before we reach the core of the matter. It will let people lose interest before the real issues become clear. Not good, storytelling wise.

In essence, it is about how many lives of living humans you don't know you can take, when needed in exchange for the live of one man you know (your brother) and persistently want to get back. It starts easily when someone conspiring to rape our main protagonist Elsa, becomes the first candidate to be sacrificed in the race to obtain 5 living persons to trade for her brother lost in space. (Elsa severely damaged the attempting rapist with a chainsaw, rendering him unusable to host an alien.)

The next 3 are elderly people from the nursing home where Elsa works, most of them demented, so in some way a defendable act as a humane way out. So far so good. However, still three hours from the deadline, Elsa lets a man go who she picked up from the street (pushing a defective motorbike; offering to bring him home). While underway, the man spoke enthusiastically about his plans to open a restaurant, obviously a potentially useful member of society. It is a merciful thing to do, despite the narrow timeline for rescuing her brother...

The only SciFi involved is the sparse communications Elsa has with her brother in space, and with the five aliens around him. And related visuals showing where the brother is now. The brother seems genuine, as he tells a story out of their common past that only they know. The transfer of all five aliens is a prerequisite for bringing her brother back to earth, hence the chase for five humans to sacrifice, to be used as carrier for the aliens.

All in all, the slow burn may annoy some people, in addition to the fact that hardly any SciFi is involved in a story announced about a man lost in space. That raises expectations this movie won't satisfy. It takes some patience and some time, like what happened to me, to find out where it is all about.

I just barely found out about Meanwhile on Earth a few hours ago and decided to buy a ticket and go in blind. As unorthodox as this film was, the overall atmosphere is mostly what i expected. That's not to say it was predictable or bad. I just had an inkling this would be way more soft science fiction rather than something crazy and epic. I wasn't fully enthralled by the story, which sometimes felt meandering and lethargic but the visual style for the film deserves all sorts of praise and accolades. My lord, it was beautiful. I also quite enjoyed the relative originality to the story at the very least. It's not a perfect film but it definitely a low key and singular exercise that succeeds on a small scale. I have a feeling that I'll revisit it when it comes to streaming.

B-

Pendant Ce Temps Sur Terre (or Meanwhile On Earth for the English title) is a French/Belgian movie from writer/director Jérémy Clapin, certainly worth a watch if you like good cinematography, accompanied by a good soundtrack and decent acting. I would have scored it with a seven if it was not for the ending that I found a bit disappointing. For that alone I score it lower, as it was, in my opinion, not satisfying enough. But for the rest it's an interesting story, easy to watch and to understand. A bit of sci-fi fantasy without special effects, just a solid story. Too bad the ending wasn't better.

One actress here and very good she is too at expressing emotion; great presence

Great landscapes. But the storyline .... dear this goes nowhere there are clever little bits the little bro the seed in her ear to communicate with the aliens all nice

But no ending .... like a river which dries and disappears in sands

When you tell a story you need a story and often these days there is not. All is done well elegantly but without a complete story you have nowt and frankly no one will remember this one i will not

I gave it it a 4 could have given it a 6 maybe for the originality contained here but i felt cheated at the end as in what happened .... it could not be completed .....

Watch it tho if only for the acting.