Gaia (2021)
Genre: Drama / Fantasy
Duration: 96 minuten
Country:
South Africa
Directed by: Jaco Bouwer
Stars: Monique Rockman, Carel Nel and Alex van Dyk
IMDb score:
5,6 (7.650)
Releasedate: 18 June 2021
Gaia plot
"She will transform us"
While working in the old forest, an overseer encounters two men living in the wild. The survivors, father and son, appear to have a bizarre relationship with nature and to profess their own faith. When the log cabin is attacked by strange creatures one night, the remarkable lifestyle of father and son is the least of her worries.
Actors and actresses
Reviews & comments
Shadowed
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- 11421 messages
- 6719 votes
Okay.
This time, a horror film from South Africa deserves a place on the podium as a recent horror film. Not that this film has attracted a huge audience, but you hear about it here and there, and in the case of Gaia, that's certainly not undeserved. It's not brilliant either, but Bouwer creates a peculiar mix.
Several ideas are thrown together. For example, you have Rockman, who ends up with two characters who live almost like savages. On the other hand, there's an ecological threat from the rainforest that occasionally pops up. These concepts don't mesh very well, but because Bouwer never acts in an intrusive way, it still works. It's the calm atmosphere that carries the film along.
Many scenes are characterized by their own visual flair, which manages to create quite an atmospheric effect here and there. I found the camerawork less impressive, but thankfully, the removal of most of the music and soundtrack contributes to the overall effect. Towards the finale, the first real stylistic exercises begin to emerge, and they look decent, though it's a shame they arrive so late in the story.
It's distracting that some kind of underlying romance has to be mixed in, which undermines the film's uniqueness. Perhaps it has something to do with the thematics, but it doesn't work very well. I also found the film's creature features rather mediocre. It's an original concept with interesting ideas, but when it comes to the threat itself, it falls seriously short.
Gaia generally leans a bit too easily towards a form of horror that evokes discomfort rather than fear, but that didn't quite have the effect on me that Bouwer himself intended. The acting is excellent, the atmosphere is strong, and the blend of concepts works quite well thanks to the relatively calm approach. That said, I don't think Gaia will stay with me for more than a week.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Fransman
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- 3028 messages
- 2273 votes
African horror takes some getting used to. Or fantasy. Or mystery. Or whatever it is. For me, it was all a bit much. I thought that one forest ranger acted rather insignificantly and unprofessionally. Those "ceaturas" were more laughable than frightening. Apparently, that doesn't work for me. But I thought the creepy atmosphere of that forest with its fungi and floating spores was well-captured. The acting is excellent, but overall, I found it more unsettling than exciting.
Translated from Dutch · View original
scorsese
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- 13235 messages
- 11125 votes
A decent film in which two forest rangers encounter two wild men in the woods. It's certainly atmospherically shot, and quite creepy in places. The film also looks good, with beautiful shots of the South African jungle. It's a bit slow, and it sags a bit here and there.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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