Having premiered at festivals last year to rave reviews, one of the best sci-fi movies of recent years has just landed on Netflix.
Titled Vesper, the film is set after the collapse of the Earth’s ecosystem and follows the title character, a 13-year-old girl (Raffiella Chapman), as she uses her survival skills to support her and her ailing father (Richard Brake, Barbarian) in a strange and dangerous new world.
“When Vesper finds a mysterious woman, Camellia (Rosy McEwen, The Alienist), alone and disoriented after an aerial crash, she agrees to help find her missing companion in exchange for safe passage to the Citadel – the dark central hub where oligarchs live in comfort thanks to state-of-the-art biotechnology,” the plot synopsis reads.
“Vesper soon discovers that her brutal neighbor, Jonas (Eddie Marsan, Ray Donovan), is searching for Camellia, who is harboring a secret that could change all of their lives forever.
“Forced into a dangerous adventure, Vesper must rely on her wits and bio-hacking abilities to unlock the key to an alternate future.”
Made on a reported budget of just €5 million, co-directors Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper – through gorgeous forest locations and well-deployed special effects – manage to conjure up an impressively haunting vision of a decaying Earth that is only barely being kept alive by technology.
The movie also boasts an easy-to-root for protagonist and an imaginative screenplay filled with fascinating details that help build out the movie’s world as it puts its lead character through the wringer.
If you need more proof of the film’s merits, it currently holds a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Here’s a sample of some of the reviews.
IndieWire – “A dramatically uneven but imaginatively vivid feat of post-apocalyptic world-building that flips the script on so many other stories like it.”
Inverse – “Vesper is a compelling cautionary tale about our precious ecosystem where the eye-pleasing scenery isn’t gorgeous for its pristine looks, but tragically beautiful in its rotting textures.”
Polygon – “For a small indie sci-fi movie, the special effects are stunning, and the world is incredibly well-realised.”
RogerEbert.com – “Vesper commands viewers’ attention because of its exceptionally well-realised costume, sound, and production design, as well as some well-utilized, Cronenberg-icky creature and special effects.”
Vesper is available to watch on Netflix in Ireland and the UK right now.
You can check out its trailer below.
