Sometimes it’s difficult to get a read on a film when there’s someone who’s stoned out of their mind, laughing hysterically at nothing, and blabbing the whole way through the movie. The price of going back to the theaters, I guess. Nonetheless, Gaia is a visually arresting work of eco-horror that’s rich in psychedelia and begging to be consumed.
Written by Tertius Kapp and directed by Jaco Bouwer, the film does some things exceptionally well. The visual storytelling is powerful and the messaging about the human species and its place on the planet certainly carries gravity. It certainly isn’t the first film to pit nature against humanity, but this was a much more tangible idea that has roots in evolutionary biology.
The story setup is simple and fairly unique. A forest ranger stumbles across some hermits who live in a remote part of the woods that is also inhabited by a mysterious lifeform. Unfortunately, the script didn’t hold it down throughout. In the first few minutes of the character intro, the dialogue acknowledges that the lead character is going to do the stupid white-person-in-a-horror-movie thing and head straight towards danger for no reason despite the very obvious warnings. Even though it’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek, it dings the suspension of disbelief from the outset. As the story really picks up, the interactions between the ranger and the forest dwellers didn’t stay believably consistent down the stretch either.
It was often tough to tell whether it was Monique Rockman (Gabi) who occasionally stumbled in the lead or if the character writing wasn’t there for her to lean on. There are moments where she is good and others where the behavior of the character doesn’t feel authentic given the situation, which leaves her hanging. She’s a more relatable character to the audience, but she is still the outsider in the story and there are too many times where the character doesn’t respect that. Carel Nel was fantastic as her primary opposite number, Barend, who has devoted his life to raising his son in servitude of the forest. His intensity is magnetic and it’s ultimately his presence that matters most in telling this story. I doubt he’ll get as noticed as he should, but it’s one of the very best supporting performances I’ve seen this year.
The excels in its visual aesthetic and the use of drone technology has been a game-changer for creative-minded cinematographers such as Jorrie van der Walt. He took full advantage of his toys and the opening shot sucks you in and captures the vastness of the forest filming location. There are also some very intense closeups with great framing and the B-roll is exquisite. Pierre-Henri Wicomb’s original music is piercing and intense, and it lines up very well with the super creepy sound design by Tim Pringle. Clinton Smith’s prosthetics design is awesome and it brings so much depth to the story. Leon Visser did a wonderful job in the editing room ensuring all the visual elements worked together to their greatest effect. The subtlety of the visual effects shots, mixed with the well-designed practical effects and clever editing gives the film a strong foundation of the technical elements to work with.
I’m not sure why exactly, but this movie reminded me of Ravenous (1999). Something about the setting and the mystery just brought me back. I’ll have to re-watch Gaia at some point, but it’s maybe not quite as effective as it could have been. I’m still going to keep an eye out for Bouwer moving forward.
Recommendation: Horror lovers should be excited for this one as it excels in many staples of genre filmmaking.