The Rover - A Caçada

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.

The Rover is an anti-blockbuster mainly because of its rhythm : it is very slow, therefore preventing many people to stick to it while watching it.

What you get here is not some amusement but rather gives material to think. We're not escaping from existence, like with e.g. Gravity, Hunger Games or whatever acclaimed propaganda. And it is quite disturbing as the more we go on watching the movie, the more we confront with some reflections about our time : there's no more gods, no more laws and we're getting increasingly isolated. Just the gruesome reality. People are striving to survive and protect what is theirs (always material things), though remains some hints of optimism - and Pattinson is playing quite well on this regard.

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.

What a bleak future this film portrays.

Felt like an apocalyptic Western meets old school Road Warrior. Filmed in the Australian desert, I think they could have financed this film from loose change at starring actors Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson's houses.

Without a doubt the best performance from Robert Pattinson I've seen. Granted, I've not seen too many Pattinson films but he does a really good job of playing the half wit brother of one of the dudes jacked Guy's car.

Mysterious drifter shows up at the filthiest, dingiest outback pub in Australia just for a glass of water. Three shot up dudes in a truck crash outside the pub, steal his car and he will stop and nothing, nothing to get it back.

It's a wonderfully dreary world in which this film is set. Everyone is so dirty. They should get an Oscar for make up when all the actors did was not shower for what looks about three months.

Lots of long shots, tension filled chords supply the majority of the soundtrack.

I really dug it. Most folks are gonna hate it. Very gritty. Very dirty. Very violent. Very non-Hollywood.

It's a nice piece of cinema. And there's a midget.

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.