The Loneliest Planet 2012

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Loktev has written and directed with a haunting emphasis on the shortcomings of some interpersonal communication. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It is gripping and haunting, but also coy and elusive. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Though the film moves as slowly as its hikers, it demands, and deserves, to be watched closely. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: In extending a short story to feature length without embellishing it-at least in the plotting-Loktev suffuses the film with the kind of intimate, microscopic detail and observation that's more common to literature than cinema. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: I can't deny that her scheme is dramatically effective, though I left the movie more conscious of the scheme than the drama. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The Loneliest Planet is not a perfect work of art, but it gets at something powerful: the way that life can turn us around in a flash, without warning. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: You hope for these characters, and that hope carries the film. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Every scene shift contributes vital information about what it means to guide or be guided over foreign territory, both emotional and physical. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, Film.com: If you are willing to subject yourself to an experience that is outside the norm of what a traditional movie is supposed to do, then you may come away with fertile soil for some fruitful discussion. Read more

Neil Young, Hollywood Reporter: [A] slow-burning, distinctive second feature from Russian-born, Colorado-raised writer/director Julia Loktev. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Shot on location by cinematographer Inti Briones, "Planet" is a piece of art even without Bernal and Furstenberg, who are like moving portraits of themselves in this film. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: You have to see The Loneliest Planet, for it is one of those works that prepares you for life, that make you wary, alive and responsible, and which ... well, you'll never forget it. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: Loktev's staging of the crucial moment is expert; her look at the aftermath is poignant and nuanced, culminating in a nocturnal sequence that condenses a world of bitter and incommensurable experience into a single shot. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: The Loneliest Planet does have a quiet power, which is amplified by the movie's rugged landscape. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The film delivers in unexpected ways, and then ponders what it means. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: Unfortunately, Loktev's dry approach to establishing the couple's relationship means its abrupt collapse causes little emotional impact. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: All of this grows tiresome. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Though it's not without virtues, "The Loneliest Planet" may try the patience of even the most dedicated lovers of art film. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Why expend more energy on the film than its makers did? Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Adjust to the deliberate rhythms of this hiking movie-set on the lush slopes of Georgia's Caucasus Mountains-and the psychological payoff stings like a blister. Read more

Aaron Hillis, Village Voice: Julia Loktev's marvelous, slow-burning follow-up to her minimalist thriller Day Night Day Night somehow manages to be both audacious and subtle. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: Within a scantily plotted, novella-style narrative (the movie is an adaptation of a short story by Tom Bissell), single shots become story events that mere mention would spoil. Read more