The Rover (2014)

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And when I'm all alone I feel I don't wanna hide




I personally can not wait for this film. It is directed and written by David Michôd, the man behind Animal Kingdom, which seemed to rejuvenate a lot of interest and energy back into Australian cinema. His latest feature stars Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson. It is a futuristic 'dystopian' film set in the rural and stark Australian outback. Here is what it is about (taken from its IMDb page):

The Rover is set in the Australian desert in a dangerous and dysfunctional near future. Eric has left everything and every semblance of human kindness behind him. When his last possession, his car, is stolen by a gang of dangerous criminals, Eric sets off to track them down and is forced along the way to enlist the help of Reynolds, the naive member of the gang left behind in the bloody chaos of the gang's most recent escape.


A teaser trailer was just released yesterday, too:




TRAILER RELEASED:





I know trailers can often be both deceiving and misleading, but this feels like Mad Max meets No Country for Old Men. From its plot outline, it sounds like a very interesting story. Also, if the trailer is any indication, the photography is gorgeous, too. Australian cinema has seemed to gradually die down over the years, but this looks like a piece that can appeal to a mass audience, providing it gets proper distribution (which, at this stage, seems likely, mostly considering its cast).


Here a few screenshots:







The film has no release date as of yet, but the trailer is telling us in summer, so maybe not for another 7 or 8 months. I eagerly anticipate this one, though. Australian films are often deprived of having considerable budgets and proper distribution, but this seems like an exception. David Michôd really impressed many with his unforgiving debut film, Animal Kingdom, so I can imagine many looking forward to his follow-up.



And when I'm all alone I feel I don't wanna hide
It's also good to see Guy Pearce come back to Australia and do some acting. Pattinson interests me - he has seemed to jump on the independent circuit after the Twilight trilogy concluded, perhaps wanting more challenging and personal roles. He is even working with Werner Herzog, I believe.



And when I'm all alone I feel I don't wanna hide
The first trailer for the film has been released.

It looks amazing.



Some new cover art:






This doesn't really look like my kind of film, but it still interests me in some ways. I'm on the fence about it but it doesn't look like it will be bad either way.



Gosh, does he look evil....



And when I'm all alone I feel I don't wanna hide
I watched this yesterday. Michod's "Animal Kingdom" is one of my favourite films, so I naturally awaited his second feature-length film with high hopes. I also like to keep an extra close eye on the Australian film circuit, and this seemed like one of the most potentially promising works to come out of the country for a while.

Firstly, it spawns quite the contrast to Michod's debut. Unlike "Animal Kingdom", which was a very dense and layered film, "The Rover" was very minimalist in comparison. In fact, there is not a whole lot going in this film. It's almost as if Michod wanted to return to some basics of filmmaking after the intricate storytelling of AK and simply tell an undemanding story with two characters. And he did. Remarkably well, might I add. From a technical standpoint, it's a home run. The film manages to capture the stark, often daunting desolate Australian outback impeccably. Picture the cinematographic accomplishments of "Mad Max 2" and just give it a much more grim, elemental tone, and you'll get an idea of what the film looks and feels like.

Pearce, as usual, is towering. It's a truly visual performance, as he manages to express so much while saying so little. This is incredibly challenging to pull off convincingly, so kudos to him. Pattinson as the vulnerable, slightly unseasoned southerner from the US is very good, too. His performance felt a bit strained and unnatural at times, though, but his presence by no means impacted the film in a detrimental way.

It's a pretty stern and dismal slice of filmmaking overall, and I think it needed to be. Depicting a society ten years after a global economic collapse is always going to open up feeling of implausibility to the viewer, but Michod did a very good job of creating a sense of unsparing anarchy and disorder. Perhaps the story could have been a bit more directive at times, but I was really impressed with this film. It was great to see Michod maintain a small film crew and elect to stay in Australia for his next project (most seem to flee off to the US) - the critical success of "Animal Kingdom" opened many doors for him, but he seemed to walk through the right one here. It's a relatively small-scaled project, but that's all it needed to tell an engrossing, poignant, and rather powerful film. I look forward to seeing this again in the future. Highly recommend!



Almost watched this with my sister and brother-in-law last night, but we went with The Double instead. Still, I am looking forward to seeing it.



this pretentious movie suffers from too low a budget. The movie tries to remain interesting with Guy Pierce's good acting, parading a cast of circus characters, bizarro dismal back drop, great visual direction, and depressing tone. The writing, characters, and dialog is just not where it needs to be. Too many inconsistencies in them to be convincing, or worth a watch. Comparing this to similar "the road", a similarly depressing but unlike Rover, Road's plot more carefully ironed out, it's world better crafted with a larger budget. Worth a fast forward if you liked the Road.



nice post................