We've Forgotten More Than We Ever Knew

The plot of the film could probably be written on less than one page. It's very slow. Despite, or perhaps because of that, what does unfold on the screen is strangely upsetting. The film is definitely thematic and is seeking answers to what end up being very complex questions, and it wasn't until I saw this movie that I fully realized that the more plot there is unfolding on the screen, the harder it is to engage the audience in the asking of these questions. Examinations of the way human souls interact with each other are difficult enough when there's just a single question without more action raising more questions. The things that this film makes you think about, you can think about them for hours, probably days, and although many will be put off by the lack of action and plot, and others will be put off by how uncomfortable the answers to these questions make us, it is still a very interesting watch for the thinking sci-fi fan.

Although I want to say that the film seems ultimately to be about the difficulty of not only connecting with another person, but maintaining that connection, there is certainly another level, perhaps about how easy it can be to be lonely without being "alone." Why are human beings more comfortable interacting with inanimate objects than with each other? Is it just because those things can't contradict us or challenge us?

While the film wasn't what I would call entertaining, and while I can scarcely imagine who I would recommend it to, I appreciate that it has made me ask so many questions and that I'm still finding new questions to ask, not about the film and the bizarre things happening in it, necessarily, but about our species in general.

Unfortunately, this attempt at something creatively and emotional brilliant never succeeds. The audience is instead bombarded at the start with too many puzzling questions: Cannot snow be melted for fresh water? Cannot deer tracks be followed instead of running after a live animal to find water? What smoke makes one cough? A woman not noticing someone missing? Tall structures that are not able to be seen? An impossible search "everywhere" in so short a time? Instead of enjoying and experiencing the movie, the audience is stuck in their heads wondering "why the inconsistencies?" at the start. While the screenwriters attempt to offer one answer to the fascinating existential question of what is "home?" they really never succeed to offering up much more than a boringly tantalizing taste. Instead we get questions about eating customs and practices, disjointed relational continuity between a man and woman. Often one scene relational interaction does not always seem to flow into another. There are unclear personal motivations of the characters and scenes that seem to cut away too soon without helpful temporary resolutions. There is the unlikely absence of important communication of experiences between this man and woman especially considering they have supposedly spent surviving in the wilderness for years together. Ultimately this movie offers only a hodgepodge of "supposedly" interesting incidents with little understanding or connectivity and mostly unexplainable behavior even the strange reaction to artificial light. Unfortunately, the script writers know so much more or maybe known nothing about what is really going on or struggling to. The audience, most of them, will most likely only experience confusion and bewilderment as to the motivations and the odd reactions that the characters display as if the script writers were hoping for more from their apparently supposedly different, strange occurrences. One is reminded of a similar but more effective thought piece found in Season Two of Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Royal" (1989) where Worf, Data and Riker find themselves trapped in a recreation of a poorly written novel. This movie is not really worth watching hoping for some wonderous revelation or reveal.

Just gonna leave this here:

• If you do not care about a movie being left totally unexplained in the end, go for it.
• There are things that happen in the movie that you are like "oh ok, this is either a sci-fi movie, or one of the characters is having a dream".
• But then you are left totally without explanation at the end of the movie.
• I'm sorry, but coming up with a "dream-like" story is really easy. Giving it a plausible explanation in the end is where the challenge is.
• And in the end this movie is left exactly like this.
• Totally unexplained.
• I Consider it a fail.

I'll start by saying I can't really add anything that hasn't already been written by other reviewers, so I won't.

Close to halfway through, I stopped the movie and started it from the beginning. I knew about 20 mins into it that the movie wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be and wanted to re-watch the beginning with that in mind. There's a lot to unravel with the multitude of metaphors, symbolization of certain objects, as well as the character's actions, and reactions.

I'll leave it at that, (no spoilers) and just encourage you to watch this with an open mind and an understanding heart.

Possibly seen an interpretations of the story about Adam and Eve geing expelled from paradise.