The Survivalist

The Survivalist is an unnamed man, eking a living in the wilds of Ireland, after some unspecified apocalypse has destroyed society.

He surrounds his garden plot with the graves of anyone who tries to invade his territory and steals anything he finds on the bodies (including a seemingly endless supply of cigarettes.)

One day, two women, Kathryn and her daughter Milja stumble upon the survivalist's home. Initially he is very suspicious and they are only interested in trading seeds and other items. Slowly though a relationship builds, though everything remains tense, the survivalist ready to overreact to anything.

The film very effectively uses quiet everyday action to move the plot on and its minimalist dialogue is both believable and essential to both plot and character development, making the viewer engage with three characters who are not particularly likeable. (Too often in my experience arty films that use very little dialogue end up leaving the viewer entirely uncaring about the characters).

This low budget film is tense and atmospheric, though it doesn't add much to ideas around what post-apocalyptic life might be like. 

I think this film has come to the end of its runs in Edinburgh cinemas.

As ever, red text includes hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.