Evolution (2016)

the audience applauded

Excellent but underrated film

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Contains THE plot spoiler (not ending or plot parts) The title coupled with the film description gives most of the plot away. I had it figured out a few short minutes into the film which was slow moving and boring. Nicolas (Max Brebant) is one of several boys his age (9-11?) constituting the male population of this French speaking community. All the women are about late 20's and pretty much look and dress alike, wearing their hair straight back in cult-like fashion.The film trudges on as I discovered exactly what I suspected after the first two minutes....and here is your one word PLOT SPOILER...seahorses. This was a Spartan isolated community, yet had computer technology and electricity and my head was about to explode on that aspect. This is an artsy film that didn't make it for me, because I couldn't figure out the message or theme if there was one. And artsy films require either a decent theme or a lot of cleavage for me to like them. This had neither.This is another "emperor has no clothes film." People say they like it simply to look cool and intellectual.Guide: distant nudity....I think. Not one Kip Addotta joke.

After watching the film I read some interviews with the writer/director Lucile Hadžihalilović and she mentioned how it had taken her a long time to get funding for this film. Never have I been less surprised. Not creepy enough to be a full blown horror film and too creepy to just be a pure art film.The film is about a young pre-pubescent boy named Nicolas who lives on a remote island with his mother, several other women and other young boys around his age. He is told he is sickly by his mother and urged to eat a really wicked looking blue creation for his "health" and eventually has to go to a hospital where he is repeatedly operated on.I won't spoil the movie, but Hadžihalilović isn't one for jump scares and Nicolas's illness and the reason for his hospital visits are made clear very early on. It all unfolds in a creepy atmospheric way so that the audience is aware of the bad things that are going on before Nicolas is, though he too learns the secret behind his illness soon enough. The movie is very beautifully filmed with lots of stunning shots of the water and the seaside. However one thing I take issue with is how dark some of the shots were. Maybe it was the fault of the distributor for not cleaning up the shots but there are some nightime scenes where instead of being frightened I was merely confused because the screen looked pitch black. Nevertheless the movie is very easy to follow on and the ultimate story and horror is pretty simple. I'm not a horror fan so this was not really a movie for me, but for art fans who are looking for a slow scare, this might be for you.

The first adjective which came to my mind after watching Évolution was "lovecraftian"... but not in the sense of cosmic monsters or creatures with tentacles (even though there's something of that, because the marine stars which show up at the beach create a hypnotic fascination in the main character), but in the atmosphere of isolation and misanthropy which insinuates grotesque secrets behind the placid tranquility of a coastal community. Why are there only women and children? Apparently, the kids are ill, and the women occupy a dual function as mothers and nurses. Where was the corpse taken? And what do women do at night, while the "patients" are sleeping? Some of those questions are answered during the film, while other ones are left up in the air in order to reinforce a frightening mystery which provokes a strong emotional answer due to its exotic origin. And when the main character insists on his "investigation" of the missing corpse, we realize that the natural cycles of the island (if it's really an island) obey to rules which are outside our comprehension. As I previously said: lovecraftian. Despite being quite a short film (barely 80 minutes, including credits), director Lucile Hadžihalilović allows the story to breathe and find its own rhythm. The dialogues are sporadic and appropriately oblique; the camera rarely moves, and it frequently contemplates long scenes of natural beauty which invite us to reflect and digest the things we have seen. In other words, the narrative feels sure and efficient, lacking of any artificial conflict or forced drama; things are like they are, and co- screenwriters Hadžihalilović and Alante Kavaite don't judge the events they portray or the characters' unusual practices. In the leading role, the kid Max Brebant stands out due to his naturalness and total lack of histrionic affectations, while Roxane Duran also makes a very good work as the mother/nurse with an uncertain motivation to get interested in the main character's case. It's difficult to establish a specific niche for a movie like Évolution. There are no shocks, or gore, or masked killers, while its connections to author H.P. Lovecraft's work are limited to its disturbing atmosphere, so don't expect colors from outer space or lost cities in the Pacific; just an island with many secrets, which might be better not to know about. If that's not horror, I don't know what it is.

I can understand why some people appreciate this movie but I'm not one of them. I love independent cinema and I barely watch anything else than that but this movie is beyond my comprehension. OK, it had good cinematography, but good or great cinematography does not equal a good movie. It's very slow-paced, well, not even slow-paced, rather none-paced. It's boring, dull and nothing happens for the total runtime of 81 minutes. If you watch a movie, solely for its cinematography, then you may appreciate this one, but if you're hoping for another masterpiece in French cinema, i.e. Martyrs or Inside, then look somewhere else.