TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "THE SURVIVALIST"
The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...
I am a sucker for a good post-apocalyptic film. It is a long standing joke I have with some of my friends. We like to talk about what we would do to stay alive, what weapons we would wield and who we would sacrifice. I guarantee you though, our musings would never even brush the surface of this film. This film is not for the faint of heart. Seriously, if there is ANY bodily function that you wouldn’t want to watch on the big screen, don’t see this film. We’re talking, up close and personal shots too. There is blood, puss, urine, more blood, vomit, semen and more blood. It’s not pretty, and it isn’t easy to watch. However, it is truly a thrilling film.
Martin McCann, known only as “The Survivalist,” lives on his farm alone. He guards his crops with a watchful eye and fertilizes his garden with the bodies of those who have made him feel threatened. He lives alone until one day when a woman named Kathryn (Olwen Fouéré) and her daughter Milja (Mia Goth) come across his path. The three manage to work out an arrangement and co-exist together but threats of a nearby gang keep them on the edge and get them to work as one. As The Walking Dead has taught us time and time again, in a post-apocalyptic world, if you don’t place yourself in some sort of group, you’re just not going to last very long.
The visceral and primal tone of the entire piece is shocking because it is so true. If the world ended tomorrow, how civilized would we be in a year? What about in one hundred years? The feral nature of all three main characters is astounding, but the performance by Martin McCann is both stunning and disturbing in its believability. His face has the ability to show every thought process that his feral character works through with absolute clarity. The story is not heavy on dialogue, but is instead, dependent on McCann’s ability to tell a story through pure physicality.
VERDICT: SEE IT (if you aren’t afraid of seeing the human body or its functions)
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Stephen Fingleton STARRING Martin McCann, Mia Goth, Olwen Fouéré.
Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com
CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.