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  • This is definitely something else. Slowburning, quirky, intriguing and lovely. AND quite original. With beautiful photography and music.

    Unknow little gem, with only 22 reviews on Imdb, mine included. How is that possible?

    The story: Julia Garner in a terrific role as one of 2 persons wandering through the desert in search for a lake. That's all there is to see. They wander around the desert, they drink, they eat, they talk to a robot...

    Best suited for an arthouse audience, who likes quirky, slowburning tales.
  • Likeable characters. The organised Lenert, the impulsive Rola and a Robothead called Susan set out for an adventure through the desert to find the "Crystal Lake", working together to avoid the desert pitfalls. A really nice movie to watch.
  • As the title suggest "Everything beautiful is really far far away". There is no sense to this movie as the plot suggest, two individual and a robot-head (main character has a head of his robot) walk through the desert in search of a lake. I said no sense because their no survival method of any kind. They walk during the day with the scorching sun and sleep at night, find water & food when ever they want and where ever they want, they look like they don't need to take bath even after weeks of travel, looks fresh and healthy all the time.

    To most of the viewers this movie will be boring and if your are looking for something interesting or satisfying than stay away. This might not be your cup of tea. If you want to kill sometime and don't have anything else to watch and if you can keep the logic and common sense away, than give it a try.

    Anyway i will give it a 5 for their effort.
  • I came across this movie on HULU streaming, the description made it sound interesting.

    In fact it is very interesting and the two leads are pretty good. They don't explain much but judging on some of the dialog and the strange plant species they encounter, trying to find nourishment, seems like they must be on a planet that is not Earth.

    Julia Garner is Rola and she is wandering through the vast desert. When Joseph Cross as Lernert comes across her she seems near death with white foam at her lips. He realizes she has eaten a poisonous bulb that resembles an edible one, he gives her something which saves her.

    Each of them is wandering through the desert, and he is searching for a mysterious lake. He is also carrying an intelligent animatronic head that sees and talks. But only the head and part of his task is to find batteries to keep her "alive."

    So, even though they have a brief encounter with a lost man it is basically these three characters, and only two of them are alive. It could easily have been a two character stage play, in this case the desert is the stage.

    Actually nicely done overall but as a feature movie it doesn't contain a lot of meat on its bones. You have to be in the mood.
  • toz45116 January 2020
    You've got to be in the mood to just relax and go with it on this movie. I thought it was charming and quite enjoyable. It was very different, but is there anything wrong with that?
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Prepare yourself for two hours of hemp wearing hippies starring, pausing and staring some more. Repairing a "wooden" robot on route to a mystical crystal lake and that's it, that the whole story. If it wasn't for the pausing and staring the film would have been done and dusted in ten minutes flat. Quite like the music though.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Lernert wanders aimlessly around the Southern California sand dunes eating shrub roots when he meets Rola who is badly in need of water. Lernert carries a mysterious spigot that is able to magically pull drinking water from the sand and he uses that to revive the young woman. Rola later returns the favor when she finds him lying on the ground unconscious from a head wound. That's when Lernert's AI computer known as Susan says they are near the Crystal Lake. Rola reveals that she is trying to find the Crystal Lake, and the pair who have now become friends head off to find the lake together.

    I think that science fiction fans will find this movie enjoyable in spite of its very low budget and unconvincing plot. The entire movie only has four actors in total, and the entire film is shot outdoors in the desert and at the Pacific Ocean which is supposed to be but doesn't look anything like a fresh water lake.
  • Quirky and lonely.

    I like how sad and lonely it is, but that's pretty much all it is. The soundtrack keeps you from getting bored as you watch scene after scene of people walking through a desert. At least they have good chemistry. The desert looks beautiful, and it is lit/exposed very well.

    The voice actor for the robothead is fantastic and i love them as the narrator. The chemistry between these two actors works for me and definitely builds up throughout the film.

    The emo (kind of Muse-y too) song that plays over the credits, that the movie must be named after fits the tone of the end of the film pretty well.
  • My wife and I liked this movie a lot. It's a little slow-moving, but far from boring. The plot requires some obvious suspension of disbelief, but not too much to enjoy the film. The main characters are bit different, but endearing and not caricatures.

    If you think science fiction movies require massive explosions, space ships and special effects then you'll be disappointed. But this movie is well written, well acted, well photographed and well worth your time to watch!
  • Snootz20 June 2020
    In reading these reviews one can tell which viewers understand cerebral fiction... and who doesn't.

    This is a movie about two people dealing with day to day life in a post apocalyptic situation. No, there are no huge space battles, no giant mechs, no monsters, no sex or violence. It is a simple-yet-complex story of humans coming to terms with existing and changing situations, and how they change along with it.

    The directing was excellent, the actors did a great job, the characters were believable and interesting. The female lead was attractive without being overtly sexual, which actually added to her appeal. The male character was neither domineering nor constantly trying to get into her pants, which was actually quite refreshing in a film (although I'm sure some of the low-raters were severely disappointed with this).

    Sci Fi doesn't have to be action-packed, fast-moving, and full of CGI. Sometimes it's just about people coping with daily life in unusual situations. I enjoyed every minute of this movie, wondering where they were going with it. Where they went might not be everyone's cup of tea... but suited me fine. Good movie in all aspects.

    Rating it 7 stars because it doesn't contain the emotional impact that I look for in a top-class film, but that's okay. It is admittedly slow-moving... but never plodding and the ending, like the movie itself, was simple and satisfying. I agree with those who rate this higher; it is indeed a 'gem of a movie' and there's plenty here to enjoy.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    That's basically the whole movie with a robot thrown in. You don't need to see this movie. The cinematography is cool at times but it's not worth waiting an hour and a half for something to happen or some interesting conversation to happen. Nothing happens and there's nothing interesting in the conversations.
  • IvanSamudra6 December 2017
    it's a low-budget indie sci-fi/fantasy. a little bit of romance in there as well.

    I'm watching this movie without knowing anything about it, never heard of it and never seen the trailer, so I have a minimum expectation. and I love it.

    if you expect to see a dystopian world with lots of conflicts or a survival journey for a better world or life, you won't get it in here.

    it's a light movie, pretty straightforward. there is nothing much happening in this movie, you don't really get a huge conflict, which gives me positive vibes to the story, and somehow uplifting.

    the cinematography is great, and I love the bright color.
  • The pace is slow. But the music succeeds in creating a strange atmosphere. Acting is impeccable. I agree with other reviewers that say that you have to be in the mood to watch such a movie. Now, can someone explain to me how a girl with milky white skin spend days in the desert without getting sunburns?
  • The cinematography is nice and it's aesthetic. The plot was simple-so far from what we've been used too with lot of plot twist. But there aren't much of a life lesson or powerful lines delivered. The movie isn't that boring, it was just okay.
  • Zero spoilers! Read without fear. <3

    This is a tale of pure adventure and little else. There is a goal, but a vague one. A naive but determined adventurer meets an aimless survivalist, and they decide to team up to seek a fabled objective. There is virtually no variety in scenery and very little happens, aside from dialogue being exchanged. The narrative is much more introspective than it is objective. It's a tale about the journey, adventuring for the sake of adventuring, and weighing survival vs happiness. The movie deals with artificial intelligence as well, in a healthy way. If you have a child, especially one with a special curiosity and a twinkle in their eye, I implore you to have them watch it. If you are a grown adult, you could watch this to awaken the child in you and rekindle your passion for adventure, but it will not be terribly exciting, to the point where it might not be enough to hold your attention. I see this as a (must-see) kid's movie, whether it's marketed that way or not. I rated 7 to describe my own enjoyment of the film as an adult, but it does hold immense value that others could put to better use. There is no denying that it is an entirely wholesome film.

    The acting is phenomenal, the scripting is great, the cinematography is good, and the coloring is beautiful.
  • fudludder7 December 2019
    Talk about taking the long way around to get to such a simple minded paradigm for a couple of idiots. I watched it all the way through because I expected that there had to be something more, something with some depth. There's not, find a nice color paint and watch it dry, you'll get more entertainment from it than this. A true waste of everything. I gave it one star because of the title and how it perked my curiosity.
  • A beautifully shot, minimal indie flick. Pacing is an issue for me, but that's obviously intended. The shots and color are different and visually pleasing. 2 lost souls wander a seemingly endless desert. You'll need to suspend disbelief, as you would with any Sci-Fi film. I found it a refreshing, relaxing take. Atmospheric score is well done. Would recommend.
  • This movie does have plenty to say.. and it's clever enough to give you the space to think about it - instead of the usual bludgeoning into submission and acceptance!

    It's minimalist for sure - a rare (and worthy) beast in the current cinema-scape of sensory bombardment that we have been instructed to become used to..

    Credit to the entire team here for making simplicity cool, enjoyable and refreshing, as well as thought provoking and a pleasure to watch.

    A most watchable interplay of performances, music, cinematography and script; this undemanding movie still stimulates - and gives you the space to consider the themes it explores - and there are more than a few, and nicely interweaved; conditioning, programming, the mother, AI, (very clever here) relationships, love, self and other, now.. and zen.. and it doesn't need to resort complexity to do all this.. the sheer simplicity works just fine ;>

    Oh, and the soundtrack's yummy!
  • Warning: Spoilers
    This movie was relaxing to watch, but oh so stupid. For instance, the man has this robot head that has no power because he has run out of batteries. So why doesn't he have a solar panel? Out there in the desert, a foldable panel would keep that head charged all the time. Then, what happens when the fire tablets in his little stove run out? Where's the nearest shop? Oh, there isn't one. Oops, no more boiled turnip. Let's starve! The man and the girl wandered across miles of dunes and often encountered rubbish. Who left all this rubbish? Did no one think of erecting a home-made sign saying "Take your rubbish home! Keep the desert tidy!" And a complete puzzle: What did all those flocks of birds at the crystal lake do all the time? Just fly around, land, catch some fish, fly around again? Another reviewer was pleased that the man wan't constantly trying to get into her pants, but he never showed the slightest inkling of wanting to, anyway. I was hoping the leaves Rola found might be an aphrodisiac of some sort, but no such luck. And finally, is it not boring to eat turnips for all eternity? Wouldn't a nice fried egg and bacon be a welcome change occasionally? Well, I suppose they did eat a fish from the crystal lake. The film was stupid from beginning to end, though very relaxing, and Julia Garner is always worth looking at.
  • Boristhemoggy15 February 2018
    Warning: Spoilers
    This film is such genius you don't even realise it at first watching.

    During my third time of watching it I found quotes that were directly related to my life. The same happened with the fourth and fifth time of watching. The beauty is you can also make the story exactly what you want it to be, because the story is the story of us all: lost in a world that feels like a desert, searching for love and meaning. The film presents itself with such ease and lack of pretentiousness or complexity that it connects with your visceral feelings. Garner and Cross I think both get what the movie is about totally, and both are superlative in putting it across with such minimal dialogue and endless scenes which just appear to be aimless wandering.

    The direction, editing, cinematography, screenplay and acting are all top notch. Cross and Garner are sublime and both become my fave actors on the strength of this movie alone. Ohs and Sisson deserve an Oscar for this and I suspect this film will be around on the fringes for many years to come.

    I rated this with my first ever 9.
  • It was so slow that after about 20 minutes I went to IMDB to read reviews. Pretty mixed bag, with some loving it and others feeling it was a waste of time. I said to my husband that if it didn't get better in the next 15 to 20 minutes that I would find something else to watch. Then something happened. I got caught up with the characters and I really wanted to see what was going to happen to them.

    I could even give reason why they didn't get sunburned even with their pale skin. It's the future, it's sunny with hardly any clouds but they never sweat so it must be cool and if the desert is cool during the day, then maybe the sun doesn't have harmful rays that tan the skin. I know this is just a foolish point because the movie is much deeper than it appears on the surface.

    I'm glad I watched it all the way as I think this story will be one I will remember a long time, unlike a lot of movies I've seen that I don't even remember the next day.

    I mainly watched it for Julia Garner. She does t disappoint. Both the leads were believable characters.
  • It's a minimalist film set in a world outside of the logic and rules of existence/physics we know.

    The directing and cinematography are phenomenal and draw you in while the plot moves slowly unfolding in a labyrinth of very subtle metaphors along the way.

    All great things said about the directing and photography, it is a low budget film and you can tell at times, whether that is intentional or not it can take the viewer out of the film. With some polishing on set design/wardrobe, lighting/location, and color/look it would make a phenomenal film and a great cult classic addition to indie film.
  • bradleyjamesmartin7 December 2018
    Omg what a beautiful movie :')

    I'm just writing this to rate 10 / 10 this movie brought peace into my heart. Lovely!
  • Destined to become a cult classic.

    Watch!

    Listen!

    Enjoy!
  • Warning: Spoilers
    I thought this was beautifully done. Before I watched it I assumed because it was in a dessert that I would get bored quickly. This was not the case! This movie kept my interest all throughout. I absolutely love the actors.

    I felt that he was trying to let go of the robot which kept him company for so long, replacing it with humanity and love, which was endearing as well as thought provoking. This movie made me think of how we are as a society and our dependency on technology as well as our lack of humanity and community.

    It makes me so sad to see any negative reviews as I thought this was such a sweet movie!
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