This super low budget indie endeavor was created by two young women who produced and directed, co-wrote, and also played the leading roles. It is certainly a cut above the majority of similar ventures. It takes a refreshingly original approach to the "here comes the apocalypse" genre; it is basically a story of friendship under the strain of growing apart with nuclear bombs going off in the background. At least it's not simply trying to copy what other films have done. In most cases, imitation is not a sincere form of flattery, it's indicative of a lack of real abilities; genre tropes and cliché's take the place of imagination and talent. Such is not the case here. The creators pragmatically uses the road trip in the middle of nowhere to keep away from the need for big effects or set pieces, and the only crowd scenes are saved for parties (I'm sure it's a budget issue - "we can just use our friends" - that accounts for the fact that this world is noticeably populated entirely by young people, with only a few, brief, exceptions). Acting is serviceable to extremely good (including a very brief, but outstanding, appearance by a pregnant woman at a party). The weakest performance was the director's own - conceivably her attention was too divided to the detriment of her role - she is very good in some scenes and in others she seems distracted and forced. There are many refreshingly believable moments: the girls decide to be bad-asses and yet their attempts at it are awkward. They would be chewed up and spat out in a Mad Max realization of the world, but as their foes are equally unprepared (these aren't comic-book baddies) things could still play out in their favor. These touches go a long way to overcome a pacing that sometimes lags and dialogue that varies from cleverly real to less so.
But that is not to say the film is without flaws and unfortunately, even considering the extensive good will I extended the project (or more accurately, the project "earned") the accumulation of these flaws seriously has dampened my enthusiasm for it. Although the two women are distinctly drawn as individuals, and comfortable enough around each other, I didn't always feel that they would have been as close as we have to accept them as being. There was something missing there that simply couldn't be excused away as "part of them growing apart" and this relationship is the core of the movie. Technically, there is distractingly wobbly, camera handling that continually pushed me out of the film; I should be thinking about what the characters are feeling, or what the filmmakers are saying, not why the DP didn't use a tripod for a simple stationary shot! I mention camera operation as distinct from the actual quality of the photography, which was acceptable; no, it was just the unnecessary quivering, which wasn't being done to provide a faux documentary realism or to add subtle dramatic tension to simple close-ups; it was just poor quality work. But, by far, my greatest complaint is with the inclusion of a wholly unbelievable, contrived and manufactured character conflict, which pushed everything after it into a by-the-numbers scenario in order to get to the climax. I don't want to get into spoiler territory (because I AM recommending the film and other viewers might not be so disappointed that the writers adopted such a tired, well-worn, approach) but suffice it to say everything after it is is telegraphed to all but the most clueless viewers, and it even degenerates into the unbelievable coincidence that two people (one of whom is a complete stranger to the locale) could run off, separately, into the streets of Austin at night but end up on either side of the same door when peril strikes. And this gross defying of logic seems performed simply to tie up the aforementioned manipulated plot conflict and provide a pay-off to the repetition of one character's mantra, "you're always exactly where you're supposed to be". I think that is a dubious thematic element in a film about the apocalypse unless you address the fact that the millions of burning dead were, likewise, meant to be burning to death, and what does that say in the grand scheme of things. Even the final bit of "action" is not only anti-climatically staged, it is unbelievable in the circumstances (of course the same flaw shows up, in a more epic fashion, at the climax to Ridley Scott's Prometheus - but that's not an excuse).
It's a shame the last half of the film, which shouldn't be missed because it includes the most impressive acting by Vera Miao, is also weighted down by the films weakest developments. It strained my patience from the moment it was introduced earlier in the film but making it the focus simply insisted the film wasn't about anything more unique than a thousand other "friends growing up" or "rom-com" flicks. Which I found rather sad. What was shaping up to be that ever elusive sparkling diamond in the rough - marred by crappy camera work - instead ended up falling further away from jewel status. The filmmakers might not have wanted to attempt anything more - in which case they did really well with what they tried - but I wish they would have had more faith in themselves and accepted a greater challenge. Ambition is one of the things that defines Art. Even with their budget and constraints they might have come closer to making a classic if they had just tried.
