the quiet earth ( film )
quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
dolby digital 2. 0 stereo, which suits the rather quiet film just fine .
installation view quiet earth curated by fairfax dorn photography © benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
neil degrasse tyson calls the quiet earth one of the greatest science - fiction films ever made .
ghostfood at quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
ghost food at quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
agnes denes at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
larry bamburg at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
steve houston at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
caroline maxwell at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
jenny laird at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
ghost food at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
zoe rosenberg at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
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anne cecilie engell speyer at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
: the film begins with a slow shot of a sunrise. the film ends with, well ,
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martha wilson, audrey christensen at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
agnes gund, sharon ullman at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
alex fialho, melissa mcdonnell at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
sharon ullman, agnes gund at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
chris murtha, alicia west at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
fairfax dorn, daniel levine at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
paul renwick, david white at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
fairfax dorn, alan gilbert at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
pam cameron, kate dorn at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
alan gilbert, fairfax dorn at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
fairfax dorn, fredrik nilsen at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
larry bamburg, lawrence borges at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
hamilton fish, fairfax dorn at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
morgan evans, maya rotman at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
dani cardia, erin kimmel at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
maya lin, fairfax dorn at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
don drapkin, sue hostetler at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
geoff murphy is the only director with more than one film in the top 10. his 1980s hits goodbye pork pie, the quiet earth and utu all received many votes .
meggan walsh, konrad p. wos at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
two american visitors to iceland find themselves the apparent last people on earth in a film that offers few answers .
for those of you who can handle the cerebral drama that marks some of the best sci - fi, the quiet earth is for you .
erin kimmel, alix pearlstein, candice madey at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
tom roush, henry henderson, robert ferguson at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
rich martin, julie martin, stephan pascher at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
agnes denes, bob frankel, leslie tonkonow at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
fairfax dorn, gina guy, david white at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
fairfax dorn, rainer judd, virginia lebermann at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
heather boo, victoria crowbar, chris viaggio at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
fairfax dorn, pam cameron, lauren collins at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
adam helms, sarah resnick, peter russo at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
installation view quiet earth works by trevor paglen, all from 2012 courtesy of metro pictures photography © benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
anthon haden - guest, paul lamarre, melissa wolf at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
the quiet earth was a 1985 film created in new zealand and directed by geoff murphy, starring bruno lawrence as a scientist who awakens in a hotel room to find himself the last man on earth. the film was originally based on a novel by craig harrison, but bears very little resemblance to the novel' s plot. while the film was marketed as a film about the last man in the world, the trailers did a good job of spoiling that particular plot point .
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meggan walsh, konrad p. wos, melissa mcdonnell at the at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
the quiet earth
is an excellent 1980' s sci - fi film, offering plenty of' cult status' charm. and on blu - ray it offers the best possible picture and sound quality .
but he is clearly not on the earth of the reality he came from .
quiet earth ends with the work of trevor paglen, an artist and geographer whose recent projects imagine the overflow of humanity beyond earth, offering a sobering perspective on the place of our species on this planet, and in the universe at large .
so a federal quiet zone law and an accompanying state law — the west virginia radio astronomy zoning act — combine to keep the area very radio quiet. no interference is allowed .
one of new zealand’s top directors, geoff murphy has taken a man - alone theme and turned it imaginatively to strong and refreshing effect in the quiet earth .
anne cecilie engell speyer, jenny laird, fairfax dorn, fredrik nilsen at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
a great list, but substitute blade runner for quiet earth. blade runner is a better picture (yes, i' ve seen them both) .
erin kimmel, fairfax dorn, virginia lebermann, rosa mcelheny, melissa mcdonnell at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
the remake of that fine old fifties alien - invasion picture the day the earth stood still comes to a standstill about an hour before the earth does in the wilds of new jersey .
named one of the
20 coolest film festivals
and one of
13 horror film festivals to die for
by moviemaker magazine .
one of new zealand' s top directors, geoff murphy has taken a man - alone theme and turned it imaginatively to strong and refreshing effect in the quiet earth .
hamilton fish, don drapkin, carrie elston tunick, maya lin, fairfax dorn at the quiet earth opening reception, 15 october 2013. benjamin lozovsky / bfanyc. com
the day the earth stood still
with gort the robot.  (20th century fox )
regardless of the sources, the quiet earth takes an engaging and pensive journey through the psychological ramifications of being truly, not metaphorically, alone in this world. in spite of some thrilling moments, this is hardly an action film. the influence of the quiet earth is written all over films like 28 days later (2002), the film version of resident evil (2002) and even the tv series the walking dead (2010). however, this semi - unknown sci - fi classic is hardly a horror flick .
now we know what happens when the earth slows below 55 mph and stands still .
movie review of “the quiet earth”: this often startling, newly restored 1985 science - fiction classic from new zealand is a tale of the last three humans on earth and the unnerving tensions that bubble up between them. rating: 3. 5 stars out of 4 .
fans of the 1959 doomsday movie “the world, the flesh and the devil” starring harry belafonte, inger stevens and mel ferrer, will find echoes of that film’s complicated love triangle — with its own racial component — in “the quiet earth, ” albeit with a very different outcome .
where would the screen be without the
unthinkable
world crisis? as empty as
the quiet earth
without the energy and the presence of lawrence. from first image to last, he dominates this thoughtful last - man - on - earth thriller, whose screenplay he co - wrote with bill baer and the film' s co - producer, sam pillsbury .
solemn, sober and efficient, the day the earth stood still gets the job done and moves on .
“as if this film weren’t trippy enough, ” one of the colourists quipped .
while committing suicide, something the audience doesn' t learn til later in the film .
this article is related to: features and tagged 28 days later... , features, i am legend, mad max, oblivion, planet of the apes, the quiet earth, waterworld
the quiet earth is a
last man on earth
film. it' s sparse and relies on the performance of bruno lawrence and as a result it' s what makes it successful. the difference between this and other films of the like is that the last man is somewhat responsible for it and feels remorse and guilt. it' s an interesting take on the genre .
quiet earth feels like the antitode to australia' s very grot - punk post - apocalypse. it feels a bit weirder and cleaner. kidding on its got ken russells blood in it .
the day the earth stood still (1951): the story was so strong and compelling that the film did not require heavy special effects or monsters or violence to be simultaneously hopeful and terrifying .
sanity slippage: the first third of the film shows zac' s slow descent into madness .
this film, also like the quiet earth, becomes a romantic triangle as the lovely and enigmatic beatriz (inés vernengo) who, for some reason methodically changes her shoes when she visits, is introduced halfway through the picture. she too will have something to say about reality and identity .
to understand the ending. you have to understand the beginning. this is critical to the entire film .
bruno lawrence is absolutely riveting throughout these scenes, and the quiet earth may well have been a stronger film had it continued its narrow focus upon the effects of a total catastrophe upon the mind of a single human being. however, instead of this, the second half of the film introduces a number of additional plot threads which, while interesting, lack the power and intensity of zacs solitary reign .
the quiet earth
is actually based on the experience of an american tourist in new zealand in the 1970s. new zealanders always take the weekends off and sleep late. the tourist arrived in the center of auckland on a sunday morning and found it completely deserted. he later said he felt like the last man on earth. see more »
the quiet earth may not maintain its absolute brilliance for its full 91 minute run time murphy' s film successfully evolves without feeling like a montage of varied ideas about the end of the world. his take on drama and the psychologically surreal make for a more realistic and thrilling science fiction about the end of the world. this is a refreshing take on what could be a tired, old subgenre of sci - fi, the quiet earth might inhabit virtually all its own, much like its title character. however, the film manages to be mesmerizing from beginning to end, especially with bruno lawrence' s acting .
geoff murphy' s the quiet earth is a wonderful low - budget sci - fi film. a last man on earth movie (a sub - genre i love with unfailing regularity), that starts as most of them do, with a man, waking up, alone, trekking the empty streets. the empty streets are always redolent, for anyone who lives in a city. there are abandoned cars, but no bodies. the film is quiet, with a vaguely mad energy. an apocalyptic film, through loneliness, with the air of disquiet. not a horror, the new zealand sense of place is too wry for that, but not just a thriller .
the circle represents the area protected by the west virginia radio astronomy zoning act, which is the quietest part of the national radio quiet zone, represented by the square .
the conclusion of the quiet earth (1985) has zac pushing the explosive detonator button just as the sun experiences its
effect
probably from the distortion of time and space. (see the finale beginning at 1: 22: 45 on youtube. )
quiet earth has been made possible through the support of the robert rauschenberg foundation, with generous contributions by barclays, emily hall tremaine foundation, the public concern foundation, casey flat ranch, tito’s handmade vodka and ballroom marfa members .
the film was made in new zealand, and filmed in the city of auckland. the largest population of catholics is located in the city of auckland. the book and director of the film make several references to catholicism .
the quiet earth (1985): low budget, low distribution. one of many films that imagine for you what life might be like if you were the last person alive on earth. in this case, the premise, the story, the casual science literacy of the main character, keeps the viewer in suspense the entire time, wondering what the hell happened and why .
a gripping film, with several twits and turns - which leave you wondering .
thank you for having our film. we hope to attend next time around .
everything is real and zac, joanne, and api are really the only humans left on earth .
quiet earth, an exhibition curated by fairfax dorn as part of marfa dialogues / new york, features environmentally - engaged works from the 1970s to the present. the exhibition takes its inspiration in part from the 1985 new zealand post - apocalyptic film of the same name, and serves as an abstract documentation of the ways that humans have responded to the ecological crises of climate change with scientifically informed aesthetic practices. quiet earth is about an awareness of volume: that which we create, that which we consume, and that which may, in turn, consume us .
then the final act of the film is still reasonably normal and idillic. zak is on a beach .
i' m really proud that people think that of the film ,
he said .
the ending in spades. ranks up there with that aussie film, picnic at hanging rock .
so the film is in three parts: 1. the before, which is portrayed is flashbacks, 2. after the event, and 3. after the
second
event, presuming the first event in the film was the first ever .
not every apocalypse involves zombies or vampires. “the quiet earth, ” a newly restored 1985 new zealand science - fiction classic, makes a good case that the real threat to survivors after global catastrophe would be our own worst impulses .
the top 10 list includes early 1980s films goodbye pork pie, utu, smash palace and the quiet earth; mid - 1990s classics like once were warriors, heavenly creatures and the piano; along with modern hits like boy, in my father' s den and whale rider. boy is the only film in the top 10 made in the last 10 years .
[ caution! spoilers inhabit these territories. ] when kelly reichardt’s meek’s cutoff hitched its dusty wagon to cinema screens this past spring, slate greeted the “ stripped - down feminist western ” with both rapturous praise and rascally reporting. unsatisfied by the film’s determinedly ambiguous ending, brow beat blogger nina rastogi sought out a translation of the native american’s (unsubtitled) words in the film. because the fate of the film’s settlers hinges on the indian’s intent—is he leading them to water, or to their death? —his lines might help us interpret the ending of the film. as the film arrives on dvd, we’re republishing brow beat’s original post—which contains several translations from a version of the film’s script—alongside clips of the native american man’s lines in the film .
. malick' s film has a scene that shows the birth of the universe, the expansion or invention of space, the quantum ripples in whose grooves the galaxies were formed. we then see the formation of the earth, the development of life in its oceans, the arrival of land animals, the rise of the dinosaurs, and so on. this story of our earth actually has scientific validity .
1. once were warriors 2. boy 3. whale rider 4. goodbye pork pie 5. heavenly creatures 6. the piano 7. in my father' s den 8. utu 9. smash palace 10. the quiet earth
just around ten years ago i took on the enjoyable task of reviewing a lot of post - apocalyptic films when a fan recommended that i watch and review the quiet earth (1985). it' s not an intended pun on the title when i say that i had never heard of the film, in spite of its uniqueness and acclaim .
the awe - inspiring final image in the film (of another daybreak, echoing the film' s opening) is similarly slippery, catching zac on a liminal, limbic shoreline between multiverse cosmology and hard eschatology .
the quiet earth is not your utopian, sterile, futuristic sci - fi, it' s not your used - future, action and adventure space opera, it' s not your interstellar military space exploration show, nor is it even your dusty, sandy, post - apocalyptic renegade adventure. but for those of you who can handle the cerebral drama that marks some of the best sci - fi, the quiet earth is for you. there are very few films like it .
loosely based on craig harrison’s 1981 novel, “the quiet earth” is most visually startling in its first half, when the screenwriters and director geoffrey murphy go to impressive — even bold — lengths to illustrate what the world would look like if most people suddenly disappeared .
being a fan of the campy 1950' s harry harryhausen effects, i have to go with earth vs. the flying saucers
leave it to one of the guys who murdered pluto to name the island as a top sci - fi film .
christopher nolan, right, on the set of interstellar with the film’s star matthew mcconaughey. photograph: melinda sue gordon
few performances equal bruno' s in the quiet earth. i can only think of spencer tracey in the old man and the sea to match his solo role. tracey held the audience for twenty minutes; bruno kept the audience on the edge of their seats for twice that time... .
the quiet earth is a great and unique film, which looks and sounds excellent in film movement’s new 2016 2k digitally restored print in full stereo 5. 1 surround sound. however, because the film is so good it surely deserves a more robust set of bonus features in its quiver. what we have is welcome, however, so much more is warranted. the original trailer is joined by a new essay by teresa heffernan, but the most noteworthy inclusion is the feature commentary by critic odie henderson and no less a scientific expert than neil degrasse tyson himself .
unique this film most assuredly is. unlike australia’s loud and violent mad max (1979), new zealand’s the quiet earth approaches the end of the world in a very different way, worthy of its title. without biker gangs, zombies, marauders, vigilantes or secret societies of survivors, the title silent planet comes to its end with a creepy and terrifying peacefulness .
here’s a cult classic all the cool people know about. when it comes to “last man on earth” movies, everyone trots out one of the adaptations of richard matheson’s “i am legend” for discussion. bah. the quiet earth nails the lonely madness of the concept better than any of those movies and without including silly vampires too. oh, and then there’s the ambiguous ending, which catapults the film into a territory of genuine, thought - provoking science fiction. try to track down this gem if you can .
this science fiction
last - man - on - earth
film was an adaptation of the 1981 novel by craig harrison. its inspiration and influence extended from and to many other' doomsday' themed sources :
unlike remarque' s novel that begins with the young men already at war, with flashbacks to earlier times, the film is told in a logical, chronological fashion. the content of the film can be divided into four distinct parts :
nat, cody, and robert have delved into a few little known gems in the past, and we’re pleased to add 1985’s the quiet earth by geoff murphy to that list. it’s a quasi - remake of the world, the flesh, and the devil, which we covered all the way back in episode 8, but with its own unique spin and willingness to sidestep some of the traps that the earlier film fell into .
excellent... .. but condition of original master film is a cause for concern .
low budget film, with a big budget story. australian cinema at it' s best .
once were warriors has been voted the best new zealand film of all time in the first survey of kiwi national cinema .
rights & releases the telluride horror show reserves the right to use film stills and portions of accepted films for promotional purposes .
... the telluride horror show was one of the best film festival experiences i’ve had in my life. the films the team at this festival were able to pull together made for one of the most satisfying film lineups around. ” - horror society
yet the quiet earth, directed by a new zealander who made a number of b movies in the 1980s, gets closer to the mystery of life than the tree of life. indeed, the famous astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson calls the quiet earth one of the greatest science - fiction films ever made. its beauty and its profundities are all accidental. one could never repeat an effort like the quiet earth; it stands alone in a universe that seems to be itself completely an original. but you could have hundreds, if not thousands, of the tree of life. it turns out that the weirdest flowers and shrubs grow best in the soil of b movies. this weirdness comes very close to the way we sense that life is itself very weird. if there is a god, he / she will be much closer to a b - movie director than a philosopher king .
so what happens at the end of the quiet earth …? after zac successfully blows up the facility, we are treated one more time with those spaced - out visuals and find zac waking up on a beach. when he stands up and looks to the horizon, the conclusion unfolds. the viewer and zac simultaneously behold…
a planetrise — yeah, that enormous ringed world on the cover finally makes its appearance in the film' s closing shot .
i love all these movies but i am happy to see mr. neil degrasse tyson mentioned
the quiet earth
this is a cool movie that has a great mood to it. fine acting and a wonderful score by john charles make it an enjoyable experience .
and then we get around to the ambiguous ending, where we ponder what is really going on in the film, including competing theories. dante’s divine comedy comes up, but also theories on parallel worlds, and how definitively we can take characters’ statements on what we think is going on. april has been a particularly religious month at still watching the skies and the quiet earth fits into that theme nicely .
70% of this film was what i wanted the last man on earth to be. then the second half turns into a mix of awkward relationships and half - baked sci - fi ideas. overall, it was... fine .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
the question of
what is the afterlife
in the context of the film is never explained. it' s simply shown that it' s relative to the characters .
the quiet earth
redeems itself somewhat of this philosophical error by tying this purported godliness into the styles of power common to mankind: patriarchy, military build - up, the cold war. when science assists might - makes - right, it' s a failure. r & d for defense…
manages to surprise the rest of the world with excellent genre movies. geoff murphy ’s the quiet earth is definitely one for the books. despite scoring on so many various levels (from script, dialogues & character drawings to the actual directing & acting), it is undoubtedly the memorable ending that is etched in the memories of all who ever saw it .
mr. murphy' s finest film. to be fair, murphy also directed an underrated cable western called
it would be a full episode just discussing the quiet earth, but in response to last month’s episode on thx 1138 we open our mailbag for a listener request to rank the films of george lucas, which we’re more than happy to do. we also rank the various star wars films for good measure .
with its calculated jump - scares amid the eerie empty streets, the quiet earth remains a model of a tight, brainy, humane, psychologically credible three - person mind - bender on a budget. murphy had previously made another three - person road movie, goodbye pork pie (1981), and the acclaimed action / revenge
western
utu (1983), about a maori warrior, with lawrence appearing in both films. after the quiet earth became an art - house hit, especially in the us, murphy went on to specialize in action films, working in hollywood for many years .
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he said he had been surprised by the film' s huge box office success when it was released 20 years ago .
isn' t saturn a bit far from earth for radio signals to have much effect on humans? or vice versa .
the before is portrayed as a normal life in a normal planet earth, and some scientists experimenting with some new form of power distribution .
aesthetically, the most problematic element isn' t pedro aznar' s expressive and intriguing score, but the meandering saxophone solos played by andrés boiarsky. associated with the sax - dabbling dr. denis, these are mixed so intrusively as to nearly drown out the dialogue in several of his scenes. fortunately, this spanish - language film has subtitles. oh yes, the quiet earth also has its hero pull out a big saxophone in one moody moment !
the world he is on strongly resembles earth as far as we can see, except for the water spouts and ringed planet which rises as he watches .
the matrix (1999): my top film in any category. from the opening credits to final scenes, every moment of this film is so fully conceived and so well executed that in spite of the complete fantasy world portrayed, the viewer was there, experiencing it with the characters themselves .
what has happened is that the hypnotic signals from saturn were turned of when the bomb exploded in the end and zac was exposed to the
true
nature of reality on earth .
‘ the quiet earth, ’ with bruno lawrence, alison routledge, peter smith. directed by geoffrey murphy, from a screenplay by lawrence, bill baer and sam pillsbury, based on a novel by craig harrison. 91 minutes. rated r for sexuality. grand illusion, through thursday .
this is a great question, a great film and classic puzzle for most sci - fi films that challenge the human condition .
as for the book and film that started his career and ended his relationship with his native country, they went on to be stunning successes. an estimated 30 to 40 - million copies of all quiet on the western front have been sold since it was first published in 1929, and the film would win that year’s academy awards for best director and best production. it is still regarded as one of the best war movies ever made .
love triangle: between api, joanne and zac. they are the only known people left on earth, so it' s not surprising .
the picture on the front of the box? it' s not just artwork; it' s the ending of the film. whether or not this spoils the ending is up to the viewer - the scene really has no bearing on the plot .
it' s not always easy to finance a film here, but i will always go where the good stories are .
and tensions are enhanced by the appearance of the proverbial second rooster in the henhouse in the form of pete smith' s api. one can' t be the last man on earth if there is another .
all quiet on the western front (1930) is the first major anti - war film of the sound era, faithfully based upon the timeless, best - selling 1929 novel by erich maria remarque (who had experienced the war first - hand as a young german soldier). the film was advertised with the brooding face of one of the young german recruits sent into world war i. the landmark, epic film, made on a large - scale budget of $ 1. 25 million for universal pictures (and studio production head carl laemmle, jr .), used acres of california ranch land for the battle scenes, and employed over 2, 000 extras .
the survey attracted more than 500 votes, including about 100 from people in the new zealand film industry and about 15 film critics. the voters named about 170 films in the poll, ranging from 1927 to the present day and including everything from fantasy to horror, social realism to comedy, and documentary to animation .
credit for the pleasures of'' the quiet earth'' goes to the director geoff murphy, his editor, michael horton, and his cameraman, james bartle. they keep the movie zipping along with snappy surprises, odd angles, crisp cuts and other foolery that should keep you from worrying about what' s happened to the world. apocalypse, sort of the quiet earth, directed by geoff murphy; screenplay by bill baer, bruno lawrence and sam pillsbury; camera, james bartle; edited by michael horton; music by john charles; produced by don reynolds and mr. pillsbury; a cinepro / pillsbury films production; distributed by skouras pictures inc. at the new carnegie, 225 west 57th street. running time: 91 minutes. this film is rated r. zac hobsonbruno lawrence joannealison routledge apipeter smith
the film sets up for a similar plot to the world, the flesh and the devil (in which two men fight over the affections of the last living woman), but the romance between joanne and api is allowed unabated .
the film closed (before the overlapping credits) with an overhead shot of their rv encircled by a ring of fire, in preparation for a sacrifice .
a great premise and and great wrap up, but the first half of the film nothing but one man going crazy and living out his own fantasies .
this is the final scene of a fantastic (but unfortunately underrated) movie called
the quiet earth
. visit urltoken or urltoken for more information. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the picture has been slightley improved and i replaced the crap quality audio track with a 192kb / s one. have fun !
for such a low - budget film, it is beautifully photographed and contains some inspired, yet deceptively simple visual effects .
another influence on the film might have been nicolas roeg' s the man who fell to earth (1977), based on walter tevis' novel - - and by a coincidence of cosmic proportions, that film too is scheduled for an imminent blu - ray release. mind you, it' s already been on criterion blu - ray since 2008, but lionsgate has just announced a new repackaging for january 2017 .
the brutal and violent family melodrama that introduced jake the muss to the world and made a star of temuera morrison in 1994 was voted the best film in fairfax media' s national poll .
but it’s the second half of “the quiet earth” that suggests how insidious human beings in small numbers could be. hobson meets joanne (alison routledge) and api (peter smith). in no time sexual hubris, suspicion, jealousy, race - based assumptions about intelligence (api is maori and the others are white) and passive - aggressive violence ensue .
like many of the best comedies and tragedies, this weimar - era silent film understands how each mode is often a hair' s breadth from the other .
played straight later in the film, when we learn that the only reason zac is still alive is because he never expected to wake up in that hotel .
if you' re looking for a science fiction flick that has nothing to do with little green aliens or intergalactic civil war, check out this film. a terrific story about a man waking up to find out that everybody in the world is gone. vanished! he is the only one on earth. a great part of the film deals with the struggle of having to be alone. very original, very interesting, and very entertaining. check it out .
one of new zealand’s top directors, geoff murphy has taken a man - alone theme and turned it imaginatively to strong and refreshing effect in the quiet earth. plot centers on scientist zac hobson (bruno lawrence) who wakes one morning to discover he is alone in the world. a global top - secret energy project he has been working [ … ]
movies of this stripe (like “glen and randa, ” “the quiet earth” or, more recently, “the road”) are bound to frustrate those anticipating any conventional fantasy thrills, while instead aiming to provide the abstract rewards of a speculative mood piece. that’s likely to be the reaction to “bokeh, ” which takes its name from the photographic term for blurry parts of a picture produced by variable lens focus .
it was not my first encounter with nolan: i met him at the very beginning of his career, in 2000, just before the us release of memento, which had just come out of sundance. sitting in a red banquette at canter’s deli in los angeles, nolan was the picture of the hopeful young film - maker, genuinely pleased to have someone to talk to about his film. he seemed a little nervous about memento’s reception, and most relaxed when talking about the technicalities of its backwards - running time scheme. the film was shot for a mere $ 4. 5 million, but after three screenings for studio heads in los angeles, it was turned down by almost every distributor in town, including the weinsteins – causing steven soderbergh, an early fan of the film, to comment, “when a film like chris nolan’s memento cannot get picked up, to me independent film is over. ”
after a top - secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world. the quiet earth centres around a scientist called zac (bruno lawrence) who wakes one morning to discover he is alone in the world. the global top - secret energy project (operation flashlight) which he has been working on for a year, has changed the world. humanity seems to have been wiped out .
for the most part, the post - apocalypse movie comprised an intelligence - free zone during the 1980’s. most filmmakers operating in the genre in those days were content to rip off escape from new york and the road warrior over and over and over again, and to do so in a manner even less thoughtful than the unapologetically mayhem - driven movies they were copying. consequently, when a film like the quiet earth comes along, and deals with the end of the world in a sober, non - action - movie fashion, the impression it makes is even more arresting than it would be solely on its own merits. indeed, the quiet earth ’s refusal to take its cues from the road warrior is doubly remarkable, for not only was it made in 1985 (the same year as mad max: beyond thunderdome), it was shot just over the tasman sea in new zealand. more amazing yet, there isn’t an atom bomb or a global war to be seen anywhere in its script or back - story .
'' the quiet earth'' is new zealand' s contribution to the last - man - on - earth genre, or to be precise, the last - two - men - and - one - woman genre. it has the usual huggermugger about tremors and grids and the sun acting peculiarly, plenty of computer screens and significant beeps and colorful special effects signifying commotion in the universe, some cautionary words about the dangers of man playing god and no noticeable psychological sense, but it' s easy to watch most of the time and never positively painful. this relatively lighthearted exercise in apocalypse opens today at the new carnegie .
new zealand' s geoff murphy unleashed the chilling low - key catastrophe of the quiet earth, which opens with a glorious ball of yellow fire rising from a blood - red horizon of sea and sky. at one point, as john charles' majestic music surges, the oceanic reflection makes the ball resemble a mushroom cloud more than the sun. if this gives viewers the impression they' re about to watch a post - apocalypse movie in the tradition of five (1951), the world, the flesh and the devil (1959), last woman on earth (1960) and other sparsely populated epics, they' re not far wrong .
society marches on: in the early 80' s, new zealanders were having a lot of issues with the united states, which is why the us is the big bad responsible for everything that happens in the film .
consistently engaging and entirely unwilling to give up its secrets without a fight, the quiet earth still stands up as one of the more compelling movies ever produced on the subject of personal apocalypse. plus it' s got an ending that' s a lot of fun to argue about, so be sure to watch this movie with a friend or two. (preferably one of the intelligent ones. )
the quiet earth
obviously is deeply felt. it' s no accident that these tragic visions of depopulation come from a tiny country that has declared itself a nuclear - free zone. or that one of the central characters is maori, a tribe very nearly extinguished by the early white settlers, then earnestly
saved
and assimilated in this century, at the cost of their tribal culture .
it was a genuine word - of - mouth phenomenon. it was the first film in new zealand to have that sort of momentum. i remember it quite clearly. it was a new zealand film that created such a buzz that people had to go and see it .
once were warriors director lee tamahori plans to make his first film in new zealand for 20 years. tamahori has not made a film in his home country since once were warriors in 1994, but he plans to shoot an adaptation of witi ihimaera story bulibasha this year .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
all the survivors in the film were people whose death was a sin. i would say that joanne and api were real people, but we can assume they too were in the afterlife .
all of the balloons in a cluster lifted him up and took him on a ride over the city, reminiscent of the same occurrence in pixar' s animated film up (2009) .
, the problem persisted in the depiction of the chaste relationship between belafonte and inger stevens and was a chief criticism of the film by the more liberal critics .
not only do i agree ,
said belafonte (in the arnold shaw biography ,
zac hobson, july 5 th. one - there has been a malfunction in project flashlight. two  it seems i am the only person left on earth .
the day the earth stood still is a missed opportunity for sure - you' ll leave the cinema not enlightened or entertained, but wondering just how mankind' s last stand could wind up being so fatally underwhelming .
in the beachhouse in the film' s conclusion, george fortescu maximilian' maxim' de winter (laurence olivier) recounted the traumatic event of his life to his new wife (joan fontaine) .
telluride horror show was fantastic to my film and a wonderful place to have our world premiere. great staff, full crowds, and a beautiful town. couldn' t ask for a better experience .
- michael peer, director (doll), telluride horror show short film selection
zac hobson, july 5th. one: there has been a malfunction in project flashlight with devastating results. two: it seems i am the only person left on earth .
it didn’t work to completely eliminate nolan’s nerves in the weeks preceding the film’s release. would the audience be able to follow the science? would they be able to let go of the science and follow the emotion? had he got the balance of story and spectacle right? “i’ve always believed that if you want to really try and make a great film, not a good film, but a great film, you have to take a lot of risks, ” he told me. “it was very clear to me that if you’re going to make a film called interstellar, it’s going to have to be something extremely ambitious. you push it in all the possible directions you can. not for its own sake, but because you know that if you’re going to try to add something to the canon, besides fiction films and all the rest, and live up to the promise of that title and the scale of that title, you really have to go there. ”
if you' re going to enjoy a horror film festival, there is no better way than telluride' s horror show .
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george murphy is the it director of snowshoe mountain resort, which is within the 10 - mile radio quiet boundary of the nrao telescope. he' s had to find inventive ways to bring connectivity to the resort, including installing short - range cell receivers like the one shown here, mounted on the building behind him .
did zac die and go to heaven, like some internet theories claim? no, he didn’t. my take on it, is that the second effect of project flashlight caused the whole cosmos to shift, with zac waking up in a parallel reality or an alternate universe if you will. he might very well still be on earth, although it’s not the earth anymore as we know it .
the film begins innocently enough. in a small german town, a conversation is being carried on between a charwoman who is scrubbing the floor and an elderly janitor who is polishing door knobs :
the very last thing we see of zac (during the credits) is his face while he quickly looks at the readout of the device he uses to measure the event, and then he looks out to the sky in horror and awe as he realizes he is no longer on earth .
api: you coming? joanne: i wouldn' t ride with you if you were the last man on earth. api: i' m workin' on it. see more »
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the quiet earth is a 1985 new zealand science fiction post-apocalyptic film directed by geoff murphy and starring bruno lawrence , alison routledge and pete smith as three survivors of a cataclysmic disaster . it is loosely based on the 1981 science fiction novel of the same name by craig harrison . its other sources of inspiration have been listed as the 1954 novel i am legend , dawn of the dead , and especially the 1959 film the world , the flesh and the devil , of which it has been called an unofficial remake . 
the quiet earth is a 1985 new zealand science fiction post-apocalyptic film directed by geoff murphy and starring bruno lawrence, alison routledge and pete smith as three survivors of a cataclysmic disaster. it is loosely based on the 1981 science fiction novel of the same name by craig harrison. its other sources of inspiration have been listed as the 1954 novel i am legend, dawn of the dead, and especially the 1959 film the world, the flesh and the devil, of which it has been called an unofficial remake.
the quiet earth is a 1985 new zealand science fiction post-apocalyptic film directed by geoff murphy and starring bruno lawrence, alison routledge and pete smith as three survivors of a cataclysmic disaster. it is loosely based on the 1981 science fiction novel of the same name by craig harrison. its other sources of inspiration have been listed as the 1954 novel i am legend, dawn of the dead, and especially the 1959 film the world, the flesh and the devil, of which it has been called an unofficial remake.