The Loneliest Planet (2011)

The Loneliest Planet: Directed by Julia Loktev. With Hani Furstenberg, Gael García Bernal, Bidzina Gujabidze, Tali Pitakhelauri. An engaged couple’s backpacking trip in the Caucasus Mountains is derailed by a single misstep that threatens to undo everything the pair believed about each other and about themselves.

“A unique, brilliantly structured art-house film that will definitely go down as one of my favorites from the past few years. Itu0026#39;s a film that has, really, only a single plot point, and itu0026#39;s one that happens in a blink of an eye. The film centers on two tourists in Georgia (the country, not the state). Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg play an engaged couple, and the first half of the film establishes quite clearly their dynamics, and the fact that they are very much in love. Halfway through the film, the pivotal incident occurs and itu0026#39;s like a prism that breaks up the way the two look at each other, as well as themselves. Sure, that first hour is pretty slow moving (though the scenery in the film is so gorgeous that I was never less than engaged), but, after the incident, you look backward at every small thing that occurred. That first, sleepy hour I was basically just enjoying the scenery, but during the second hour my mind was running a mile a minute, even though, basically, nothing much was happening. Itu0026#39;s a weird and uncompromising picture that will surely drive some crazy, but I was absolutely blown away by it.”