If the apocalypse comes and any of us survive, you can't accuse the movies of letting us off guard. Dystopian futures are a dime in sci-fi cinema these days, with a generally shared aesthetic that leads us to expect, for better or (probably) worse, plenty of wet grout, ashy, and unflattering sackcloth. . Somehow "Vesper," with its soggy khaki palette and all-encompassing air of ruin, fits this forecast. In others, the solemn and elegant fantasy of Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper surprises with its construction of a textured, sometimes iridescent world: there is beauty to be found in this vision of the Earth in a state of ecosystem collapse, even if it is difficult to achieve and even more difficult to nurture.
Premiering in the main branch of this year's Karlovy Vary festival competition, “Vesper” marks a long-awaited return to feature filmmaking for Lithuanian director Buozyte and her French screenwriting partner Samper, who now takes on a writing credit. co-address. Their 2012 collaboration, "Vanishing Waves," a vividly original blend of cerebral sci-fi and sensual erotica, found a massive following on the genre festival circuit, as well as wide international distribution.
Directors: Kristina Buozyte, Bruno Samper
Writers: Kristina Buozyte, Brian Clark, Bruno Samper
Stars: Raffiella Chapman, Eddie Marsan, Rosy McEwen
Delivering on the atmospheric formal promise of his previous film while simplifying the narration and switching to English, yet the Europudding DNA of this Lithuanian-French-Belgian co-production feels appropriate for a post-nations vision of the future, “Vesper” is a more accessible and youth-oriented effort, already picked up by IFC Films for release in North America. This is effectively young adult art-house fare, crediting teenagers with curious minds and strong stomachs.
Steely, 13-year-old Vesper (the stunning and up-and-coming Raffiella Chapman), certainly has both: as a girl largely fending for herself in a distant future where the planet can no longer spawn new plant or animal life, her wits and nerves are pretty much all that keep her from death. Her father Darius (Richard Brake) is frail and bedridden, though he manages to accompany Vesper on her exploits via a drone that acts as a mechanical vessel for his mind and her voice. ; her mother succumbed some time ago to a virus that transforms her victims into faceless "pilgrims" adrift.
Meanwhile, Darius's brother Jonas (Eddie Marsan, in an elusively villainous sort of way) isn't a guy she can count on. As the lord of a neighboring farm where he enslaves child laborers to harvest what little is left of the land to produce, he has his sights set on the strength and intelligence of his niece. Yet little does he realize its full potential: In a secret, dilapidated greenhouse, Vesper conducts ongoing experiments in synthetic biology, breeding strange, luminescent new life forms, exquisitely rendered by the film's visual effects team. film, against the odds of scorched earth.
This cruel social hierarchy exists entirely outside of the true realms of privilege in a dying world: lofty, elite citadels, where wealthy oligarchs live comfortably on the fruits of advanced biotechnology, cared for by a manufactured class of humanoid AI-powered beings called Jugs. . Vesper has knowledge that would be valuable in these isolated communities, but she has no access line to them. So when, in the wild brush, she meets Camellia (Rosy McEwen), the gracious daughter of a fleeing citadel resident, she sees an opportunity to change her fortunes.
Although the film's original script, co-written by the directors with Brian Clark, apparently draws on a number of obvious ancestors of the genre: from scene to scene, one could identify missing accents from "Children of Men," "The Road ", "The Hunger Games” and even the hit video game “The Last of Us” – the result is never quite generic, with an unsentimental yet darkly romantic spirit of risk and danger that feels inspired as much by fairy tales of pre-Disney literary fairies and science fiction. Chapman's stoic yet vulnerable performance also keeps the proceedings human and honest: where so many ALREADY heroines become fearless adults in children's bodies, she plays the title character as a changeling girl and with character that is forced to assume unreasonable adult responsibilities.
Still, it's the sophisticated technical realization of this desperate dystopia that's most striking here, achieved on a budget presumably a fraction of that accorded most for fantasies.
Watch Vesper 2022 Movie Trailer:
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