Last and First Men
Directed by Johann Johannsson
Two billion years in the future, humanity finds itself on the verge of extinction. Based on the cult 1930 science fiction novel by British author Olaf Stapledon, with narration by Tilda Swinton, is a poetic, hopeful, and tragic work: an allegory of remembrance, ideals, and the death of Utopia.
Two billion years in the future, humanity finds itself on the verge of extinction.
Cast: Tilda Swinton
Member Reviews
this was a calming, meditative, even hypnotising piece, based on the book, written in 1930... which negative reviewers would have found out if they did a little digging. YES, this is shudder and we're here for horror... but in this story, there was PLENTY of dread described, delivered by the incomparable Tilda Swinton. there are PLENTY of facets of horror, and this just happened to satisfy a quiet hunger.
I had no idea what this was gonna be when I started watching so I was willing to go along with whatever, and this story was an interesting concept. If you can't make it past the first 5 or so minutes go ahead and watch something else, because the whole movie is like that. It requires some work, patience, and imagination to fill in the blanks of the story and digest all the implications, which I like. A little more cosmic melancholy than cosmic horror imo. The imagery is mostly like someone doing a dramatic black and white filming of their friend's abstract sculptures and architectural installations out in the middle of nowhere, interspersed with vaguely haunting scenic shots. I wasn't quite enthralled by it but I can appreciate experimental movies for trying things even when they don't always work. Special shoutout to my favorite captions in the movie: (no audio), (air whooshing), and (slow gentle dramatic music)
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I could listen to Tilda Swinton all day. There is just a hint of cosmic horror, which is something I need far more of in my life as it is the only interesting type of horror in my opinion. The only critique is that the monuments/visuals being shown and the atmosphere didn't match what I was imagining based on the story being presented. This led to some disjointedness causing me to be taken out of the story pretty often.
Very haunting and beautiful, but one wishes for a few illustrations of the events described.
This is part of a trend where movies (Last and First Men & Skinamarink) are so damn boring you lose all interest in watching, and turn it off. The most important thing is to remember the director’s name so you can avoid any future films of theirs.