"The Loneliest Planet" is about an American couple on holiday in Eastern Europe, Georgia accompanied by a guide they befriend. They face some hardships and determinations, almost like a pilgrimage.

I went to this film not knowing what to expect, So I was pretty open to anything at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

It started out promising and intriguing, some parts were very interesting to the film's setting and the character's experience in traveling across a vast and unknown terrain. The acting is very Mediocre, the woman looks a lot like Jessica Chastain but less talented.

Its very artistic and visually stunning in cinematography, camera-work and editing that really captures the beauty and resonance.

The script however is very shallow and has minimal dialogue thats very incoherent, the character development isn't too good either, a lot more could have been done on most story elements which lets the film down a lot.

I found it dragging halfway through and became disappointed about the film's conclusion. I found it quite satisfying but a bit of a let down, this is also the first film at the festival that no one clapped at the end.

3/5

The movie has a documentary look--high on visual and aural detail, where the graphic realism turns the viewer into a bit of a voyeur. The acting is brilliant, natural.

I saw the film in Mexico in an excellent theater. The pivotal and somewhat tragic scene at the midpoint (described in critic reviews) got a laugh from the largely Hispanic audience.

From the midpoint on, the lack of dialog is unsettling, and there's not much resolution to the film at the end. Yet another celebration of dysfunctional relationships, but the film is so well crafted, we can overlook its flaws.

A good travel flick, overall.

Gael García Bernal and Hani Furstenberg are an engaged couple backpacking in Georgia along with their local guide. Along the way, they meet up with some locals and one incident causes a major rift between the couple. It is not really spoken of but yet it surely existed. The question then becomes can they heal the rift and reconnect.

I understand the need for this to be understated. That's what's so important here. We don't want some drag out screaming match. But understated doesn't have to mean grindingly slow. At times, there's too many no-talking-slow-walking-long-distance-extended scenes. Those aren't all necessary. Cut those down and insert more dialog.