Rated: Unrated | Running Time: 104 Minutes
From: IFC Midnight
Available in Theaters and VOD: May 19, 2017
Get it via : Amazon
Damn, it’s gonna suck when we don’t have any more oil.
The movie is “The Survivalist,” and if this is what the world will be like without our industrial machines I’m screwed.
As the movie goes we’ve got this dude (Martin McCann), and for the movie he is just given the name “Survivalist.” Now how am I supposed to nicely reference him during this review? I’m going to call him Survy. Anyway, Survy lives deep in the woods, all alone, because the rest of the world is starving and killing each other for food. He has his little farm, traps animals, and plays with his willy to a picture of the woman he used to love. Sounds like a fairly decent life except the loneliness is starting to play tricks on his mind.
Enter Kathryn (Olwen Fouéré) and Milja (Mia Goth).
They stumble upon Survy and his farm, and could really use some food. On his guard, Survy, at first, shoos them away because it’s really hard to trust people when you are trying to survive, and wow, Kathryn look anything but trustworthy and all of mean. She reminded me of a picture of my great grandmother in one of those old, black and white photographs, where the people never smile
Kathryn and Millja really want food, though, but Survy is having none of their exchanging jewelry and other crap for food. What to do? What would this man, all alone, want? Yup, Kathryn offers up Milja and yup, it’s sex for food. And more shots of Survy’s willy.
They get some food, he still tries to get rid of them, but Milja entices him more. Low and behold they are staying for a while, but little does Survy know that our two ladies have a plan, to kill him and and survive themselves. Bummer for Survy.
Lucky for Survy, though, because the new love of his life gets kidnapped before the ladies can kill him. He is also a crappy shot, gets shot himself, Milja starts falling for him, and love blossoms! Yay! Still, it isn’t easy being survivalists when bad men are looking for food and sex, your farm gets ransacked, and now it’s obvious the little farm won’t support three.
Decisions are made, more badness comes to our trio, and all I can say is that desperate times call for desperate measures, but the fate of Survy really shows the desperation of folks when food is scarce.
“The Survivalist” is a scary look at one possibility of how all hell breaks loose when the world goes to shit. Gone, at least in this little area of the forest, are any rules, and it really is just about figuring out a way to not die. The wonderful thing for “The Survivalist” is that it does so with limited talking, tons of physical acting and emotions, and shitloads of suspense.
Olwen Fouéré is wonderful as the plotting mother, although it is incredibly creepy her offering up Milja for food, but as I mentioned, all rules of civility are out when you need some food. Martin McCann does great at portraying a man, lost, in a world where you don’t want to trust anyone, but the human desire for connection is strong, and you can only take the thoughts in your head for so long before going crazy. Lasty is Milja, torn between the bond with her mother, and new love.
Sometimes it’s refreshing to see a movie built around the actions of the characters and not the dialogue, and “The Survivalist” is such a movie. There is a lot disturbing about a world where rules go away and survival is the name of the game, and “The Survivalist” does a great job at portraying such a world, though with a slight glimmer of hope at the end. It’s 4 stars for “The Survivalist”
That’s it for this one! L8R!!