Each year at the New York Film Festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center culls together an incredible and diverse selection of cinema that guarantees passionate responses and heated debates. Last September, the Festival featured films that—even then—seemed destined for Oscar night acclaim, including Alexander Payne's The Descendants, Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist, and Asghar Farhadi's A Separation, as well as cinema so shocking it should come with safety belts, like Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, Steve McQueen's Shame and Pedro Almodovàr's The Skin I Live In. But amid all these titles that fought for focus there was one low-budget thriller by a lesser-known filmmaker that kept emerging into conversation.
Based on a short story by Tom Bissell, The Loneliest Planet is writer-director Julia Loktev's follow-up to her critically heralded debut feature Day Night Day Night. Starring Gael García Bernal (The Science of Sleep) and Hani Furstenberg (Halakeh), the slow-burn thriller centers on an engaged couple whose backpacking trip through the wilderness of Georgia leads them to a critical moment that will forever impact their lives.
What is that moment? Even if I wanted to tell you, I couldn't. I regrettably missed this picture at the festival, and those who had seen it were devotedly mum on its pivotal plot point. But perhaps the film's first trailer provides a hint? Check it out below or in hi-res at Apple:
Having completed its worldwide tour that also included appearances the Locarno Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, the London Film Festival, AFI Fest, Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Sydney International Film Festival, The Loneliest Planet will finally touch down in theaters Stateside October 26th.
