Naturalistic acting, lovely cinematography, nicely understated style, good music, well directed. I didn't know what to expect when I chose this on a whim, and was pleased to find myself engrossed.
Subtitles - some people are prejudiced against subtitles but you soon get used to them. It opens up a new world of film: great films you'd never see otherwise, and better in the original than any second-hand Hollywood remake. Also, you never wonder what is being said during action or mumbling - it's all there!
Ending - SPOILERS! Some people seemed confused by it, and it is open to interpretation, but here's my take on it. We see a big explosion at the start, maybe an ancient supernova in Sirius. It brings to mind the big bang theory - part of which is questions about what happened before. Many believe in a cycle of expansion and contraction, all matter eventually pulled back to collide and bounce back in a new big bang. So endings are also beginnings (one message of the film). At the end it is proposed that god has died; that the world-despoiling humans have no real purpose but as a beloved experiment of a god. With god's death we fade away, at the point when we realise we are alone and despair (pay attention to each disappearance). Note that non-humans in the film don't usually seem to be alone - flocks of birds, packs of dogs, goats, two vultures, lambs. However, the supernova is representative of the death of a god, but there are other stars, maybe a new god takes over, starts again. One man, one woman called Eve, in an unpopulated Eden. The EMP at the start serves one purpose as a red herring (has there been a nuclear bomb attack?), keeping you guessing about the type of film it is, but also serves to wipe out electronic technology, wipe the slate, create a simpler world in which to start again. Anyway, just some thought, I'm sure the original novel is well worth reading to find out more. Oh, if the supernova was a god dying it is interesting that we repeatedly see stopped clocks, beyond the point where it gives the viewer information - it has to tie in to Auden's Stop The Clocks funereal poem (which also mentions phones not working, planes, oceans, and stars going out).
Subtitles - some people are prejudiced against subtitles but you soon get used to them. It opens up a new world of film: great films you'd never see otherwise, and better in the original than any second-hand Hollywood remake. Also, you never wonder what is being said during action or mumbling - it's all there!
Ending - SPOILERS! Some people seemed confused by it, and it is open to interpretation, but here's my take on it. We see a big explosion at the start, maybe an ancient supernova in Sirius. It brings to mind the big bang theory - part of which is questions about what happened before. Many believe in a cycle of expansion and contraction, all matter eventually pulled back to collide and bounce back in a new big bang. So endings are also beginnings (one message of the film). At the end it is proposed that god has died; that the world-despoiling humans have no real purpose but as a beloved experiment of a god. With god's death we fade away, at the point when we realise we are alone and despair (pay attention to each disappearance). Note that non-humans in the film don't usually seem to be alone - flocks of birds, packs of dogs, goats, two vultures, lambs. However, the supernova is representative of the death of a god, but there are other stars, maybe a new god takes over, starts again. One man, one woman called Eve, in an unpopulated Eden. The EMP at the start serves one purpose as a red herring (has there been a nuclear bomb attack?), keeping you guessing about the type of film it is, but also serves to wipe out electronic technology, wipe the slate, create a simpler world in which to start again. Anyway, just some thought, I'm sure the original novel is well worth reading to find out more. Oh, if the supernova was a god dying it is interesting that we repeatedly see stopped clocks, beyond the point where it gives the viewer information - it has to tie in to Auden's Stop The Clocks funereal poem (which also mentions phones not working, planes, oceans, and stars going out).