Alien Visitor (1997)

Alien Visitor: Directed by Rolf de Heer. With Ullie Birve, Syd Brisbane, Alethea McGrath, Chloe Ferguson. In this sci-fi adventure a gorgeous alien woman is sent to Earth by mistake from the planet Epsilon. Landing in the Australian outback she meets a surveyor and they cross the continent together. However, she spends the trip haranguing him for the ecological recklessness and avarice of the human race.

“The film is a mix of things that shouldnu0026#39;t work but many do. Despite itu0026#39;s unity of style–virtually every scene is shot exactly the same way, the two leads are so good and work so well together that the fact itu0026#39;s a talkfest kindau0026#39; doesnu0026#39;t matter, and the fact that itu0026#39;s best element is the relationships/love that develops between sexy alien and dorky earth man builds an emotional pull probably because itu0026#39;s all a film about the two of them. Each actor is well cast and couldnu0026#39;t be better, she seems convincingly superior and times, he seems doltish but later quite handsome and rather deep==these attributes being displayed at the perfect moments. We never learn the names of either character in the film–a device that works. The film is full of devices, some pretty distracting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is very much like a stage play, even a planetarium show, only the multiple locations and constant time-lapsing make it purely a movie at the same time. The style is unique enough to work much of the time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBeing science fiction, it will naturally draw some smart ass retorts and deserves some of them, but the film is about differing world views, the details of those worlds may be wrong at times, but itu0026#39;s really just a framework, you can almost say itu0026#39;s about the differences between men and women and how they can work for and against each other.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat fails is the filmmakers u0026quot;hug a tree/save the earthu0026quot; message. For a film that becomes so much about two peopleu0026#39;s relationship to then try to jump the a broad view u0026quot;issueu0026quot; itu0026#39;s trying to sell fails. It has to. Stories are at their best when we relate specifically to individuals, not when they try to boil down individuals into groups and causes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe framing device of the movie of the whole story being told round a campfire to two kids leads to a clunky final scene selling the tree hugger message. Now donu0026#39;t get me wrong Iu0026#39;m all for tree hugging but itu0026#39;s like having too much candy all at once. Even the right message and idea can be delivered in the wrong way.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAgain though this is a big though minor problem compared to what the two actors do and the parts they play. The film credits them and the crew with coming up with additional script material–a rare credit to see from a writer director.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt times fascinating and moving at less times a bit the same and ham handed in itu0026#39;s message. Still worth a look and memorable. Good music score helps too.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFilm has full frontal female nudity right at the start, rather than in a key love scene later, it feels like a commercial decision to do it this way.”