User Reviews

I don't want to spoil anything so I will not even mention anything negative.

I thought it was very good, visually, storytelling and sci-fi wise. The lead young actress did a fantastic job, as did the more supporting roles. I also got a very positive feeling of synergy from the movie Brazil. Not the story or plot but more the design of things.

Some reviews mentioned they wanted more of the world- or back-story. I thought it was about perfectly delivered. Sketched in enough that you can imagine and wonder about it but not heavy-handed.

Other mentioned it is slow and I could see ppl. Thinking that in some cases. However I did not think any of it was filler or just padding out for any reason. Every slow and artsy sort of shot tells you something about the story world. And was very pretty or at least carefully presented in disgusting detail.

Perfect? Nah - but yea it's well worth a watch, IMO.

It's a pretty ambitious attempt, imperfect but I loved it. Most important thing is it needs a sequel to explain everything, because you're just thrown into it with a vague introduction to this dystopian future, you don't get to explore the vastness of this sci-fi world. It's not so unfamiliar though, there hints and cues to help you imagine what life is like outside of those the niche story focuses on, there's so many little side plots that you wouldn't usually pay attention to. When you hear sci-fi especially if you usually only watch movies you might think more of flashy, space travel or aliens, light sabers... but this is the gloomy type that's more accustomed to in tv series, for me at least. So you might be disappointed if you're expecting that. Cinematography is great, despite the bleak setting there's still so much beauty nature offers.

Biggest problem is we don't learn much and there's huge lack of details, but it's a well made low budget sci-fi that deserves a sequel for that reason. To explore the work it's based in. Love dark science fiction.

It's nothing like game of thrones but I'm trying to think of an analogy that'd be widely accepted, so imagine instead of focusing on Westeros affairs, it focuses on a little girl and her father, living on their own in a village in the middle of nowhere. You don't get a picture of the grand scale of things, just a really small piece of a puzzle. That's why I think turning this into a franchise has great potential, because their dystopian future has so much more to explore. The problem is this doesn't feel like a first movie. More like a solo entry to an already established film franchise.

It's something new, a breath of fresh air(gloomy one) and for that I fear that it'll land in the same shoes as Mortal Engines which I loved, because it won't be as widely appreciated by audiences enough to warrant a franchise or even a sequel to explore everything this dystopian world has to offer.

Vesper is a very special film. The sort of sci-fi you rarely see - one with heart, meaning, social conscience and an important message about earths future wrapped in emotional drama, stunning visuals and originality aplenty.

At the centre is Vesper herself and the whole movie hinges on the shoulders of its thirteen year old star. Raffiella Chapman turns in a nuanced performance at once both the brave heroine and fragile child. It is so accomplished a performance it's hard to believe this young actor was indeed just thirteen at the time of filming.

There is a wonderful scene where Vesper forgets her adult responsibilities and howls like a wolf with all the vigour and lack of self consciousness of a child and it's both poignant and incredibly emotional. Moments like this might feel out of place to sci-fan fans used to the action obsessed Hollywood mainstay of the genre but it is these unusual touches that make this film so unique.

Eddie Marsan is wonderful as Vesper's sinister uncle and Richard Brake terrific as Vespers ailing father, his voice given life within a drone in yet another original touch.

I've never seen anything quite like Vesper and the incredible imagery and performances will stay with me a long time. If you like your sci-fi cerebral and challenging with superb characters and world building then this is a must watch. 10/10.

I'm really surprised that this film is not more well known even though I myself had never heard of it! It has a fascinating production design with many unusual, interesting, original and beautiful special effects. The entire film is well made with a very original vision and the lead actress, a young woman named Raffiella Chapman helps a lot with a very solid performance and the rest of the principle cast is fine. This apocalyptic tale also has a very good cinematography and is well directed. It does get a little lost in the latter half though I thought it ended on a strong as well as intriguing note.

Vesper is a fine dystopian drama made for...I don't know, maybe young adults. It doesn't take things too seriously but looks like it rather wants to attract younger audiences.

The production was top-notch, and the film packed many familiar emotions and themes. The world was set up, but not much seems to have happened if anything at all. Lots of questions were left unanswered. I understand ambiguous endings, but you shouldn't just abandon the things you've set up. What's with the caterpillar? What's with the scavengers? What's with the mother? Is she the rotting corpse from the lab? Why would one citadel need the codes for other citadel seeds?

This was probably the biggest issue with this film. It got many things right, almost everything but an interesting story. There's little to no progression. It just makes you wonder why wasn't this a series. Just split this film into two episodes and develop the characters we can surely familiarize ourselves with.

Instead, they provided tons of great atmospheric sequences with nice music and environmental messages with hints of family bonds here and there. But almost nothing happened with the main story. The ending does not solidify Vesper's path. She could've ended up there without all the things happening.

It's slow and theme-heavy, but the production kept me watching. 20 minutes till the end, I started to suspect that we were not getting anywhere. Maybe this is only the first installment. If so - I'd love to get back to the sequel. I just hope this doesn't vanish.

I still can give this film 7/10 for the production and the relatable scenes well-handled. The action was mostly messed up, but I understand the limitations of filming kid violence.

P. S. I also think that Camellia could've got a better resolution other than a Terminator 2 ending homage.

In a bleak dystopian world, a thirteen year old girl must survive in a world where citadels containing powerful oligarchs live, controlling the seeds that provide food supplies for those struggling outside on the planet. A smart cookie, she has a number of special skills including an understanding of bio-hacking which she must make use of if she is to beat her power crazy uncle, the excellent Eddie Marsan, the oligarchs and keep her father, who operates through a floating android, alive.

Whilst it could be argued that this intelligent almost evangelical sci-fi thriller suffers slightly through lack of budget, it's effects are sparingly used and are all the more impressive because of it. The performances, particularly from the young girl, Raffiella Chapman are strong, but the most impressive element is the clever mix of intelligent and convincing sci-fi ideas. A wildly over the top Hollywood sci-fi epic remake will surely follow.

The concept was cool and unique. It frankly reminded me of Cronenberg, but they completely squandered it.

It has so much potential if they actually delved into the awesome concepts, but instead they tried to make it a character-driven drama and didn't even flesh out the characters properly.

They gave us a glimpse of an intriguing world I'd love to explore and adventure in, but they chose not to pursue it.

It's a classic poor people are treated like vermin while the rich hoard all the resources, but the plot didn't even deal with it much. It was just a slow moving day-in-the-life of a girl and her father in an unfortunate circumstance, but with such a fantastic sci-fi setting it didn't really fit. It's like you got a small taste of both worlds but never got to enjoy either fully. The high sci-fi concepts detracted from the drama they tried to build, and the drama didn't allow us to actually fully explore the high sci-fi concepts.

All in all, I finished watching it, but found it pretty boring. Wouldn't recommend it or rewatch it.

So there are some reviews that give this movie a low rating because there are not enough dumb explosions and one dimensional characterisation. After sitting through so many sci fi movies with huge plot holes and mind bending science errors it's nice to see a film that is at least attempting to do something with more soul. There are complaints that it is slow but this is just because we have been brainwashed into accepting flash bang fluff made for the minuscule attention span of the average American. For me it never felt slow but considered. The acting is great, the story nothing new but well delivered and the dystopian world entirely convincing. Compared to Jordan Peele's sci fi misfire 'Nope', it's masterpiece.

Less is more with this one. Rather than bog it down with excessive CGI or overblown action sequences, the filmmakers slowed the pacing and gave us a more nuanced tale. And in my opinion, it works.

In a post-apocalyptic future, a gifted girl (Vesper) with a penchant for organic biochemistry learns to navigate the bleak landscape and cope with the even bleaker tendencies of humanity, until an accident presents her with an opportunity to escape her reality and flourish her talents.

Such as it is, Vesper had a lot of creative ideas and interesting story points. As expected, it's a pretty grim view of our future, but it was nice that the CGI was sparingly used, particularly in the spore and plant effects, and her bio-cybernetic floating dad-head. I also enjoyed the bit where Vesper learns of the now-extinct animals from today.

Decent acting, decent music, great cinematography, and interesting story. They lost me a little bit with the ending though. Symbolically, I guess I get it..? But it threw me a little, not sure I get why she'd do that

7/10, would maybe watch again.

Let's start with what was good: the cinematography is gorgeous. Yes it is dark everywhere, just like in every dystopia, but every bit of nature is colourful; flowers are amazingly beautiful, seeds colourful... Now with what I didn't like: sooooo many cringe moments, from implying rape, to animal noises done by humans for waaay too long, passing by conversations that make you very uneasy. On top of that the story is something that was already done in SF, multiple times, but falls flat, which makes the film way too long. To be honest the trailer showed it, I still thought it could have been a good surprise.

We were able to view this movie on DVD from our public library. The time period is unspecified but it would have to be rather far into the future for the technology shown and the mutations of plant species.

It would be hard to say this movie is enjoyable, most of it is filmed in muddy, dreary conditions. Only during the last scene are we shown a bit more light and color. I enjoyed the movie, but when it was over my wife said "Well that was wasted time." So it certainly depends greatly on the viewer.

The main character is Vesper, a 13-yr-old girl played by Raffiella Chapman. And I must say she is quite remarkable in the role. I just remarked. The way she looks and the way she dressed some may wonder "Is she really a boy?" But viewing the DVD extras, where she is pretty and smiling we can see she is indeed a very nicely attractive and smart girl.

In a great sense the story is simply about companionship during a very difficult time, and hope for some better type of future. To do in the moment what you can instead of lamenting your situation. Vesper is smart and inventive, and must take care of her bed-ridden dad, who communicates with her via the drone that follows her around. She does experiments, she hopes to be accepted at the Citadel where the wealthy and powerful reside. But that seems like a very long shot.

But it all ends without a definitive conclusion, perhaps there will be a sequel. Or a made for TV limited series.

RATED 7/10 Language: English Source: Nil

Quite surprising in all aspects. The cast, production values and CG work, everything is adequate for the story.

Its quite difficult to understand the biology in the beginning and the garden sequences, but as a story flow the movie holds the viewers attention till the end.

The story and character development are done very nice way from the beginning of the movie. And cleverly avoided the Citadel politics much.

Felt bit dragged in the middle and bit predictable in the end. The villains were killed simply by the kid. But it is definitely interesting movie to watch with minor flaws.

No pun intended - a movie of the future ... and about the future. And of family and of what may be something we are heading towards. Society is ever changing - things that seem impossible now, may be something that is a given and normal ... or where considered that in the past. Hopefully we will develop in a better way ... but you never know how things will turn out.

So this Science Fiction movie has certain technical advancement that it does show off - but overall it is about the human side of things. How they cope and deal with loss and the new environment they have to live in. The acting is really good - if you can cope and suspend your disbelief .. the drama is overwhelming almost. Still the movie does look great ... and while it may be a bit too long ... it can be worth your while.

Here's The 4K Lowedown on "Vesper" (NR - 2022 - Blu) Genre: Sci-Fi/Post

My Score: 6.9 Cast=3 Acting=9 Plot=7 Ending=6 Story=7 F/X=10 Pace=4 Intense=7 Dystopia=9 Violent=7

Struggling to survive with her father after the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, 13-year-old Vesper must use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the future.

"Oh Vesper, you don't know the cost of dreams." This movie reminded me of Synchronic in that the first half was boring but with a little patience the second half made up for it. I was really impressed with the CGI...this reminded me of District 9. This is a movie that requires attention and patience. This was worth two watches for me...one to enjoy the movie and the second to go over what I might have missed.

I watched this tape at my own peril and risk and did not regret it for a moment.

Yes, this is not exactly a work of genius that deserves high awards.

But she must receive recognition and praise from critics.

This genre does not delight fans with interesting projects anyway. Fiction is gradually declining.

And here comes a picture with an authentic post-apocalyptic world. The authors outline the structure of this society, how everything turned out and what is happening to humanity now.

We also get a good plot that really works. And all this against the background of the beautiful nature of the Baltic forests with marshes and old villages.

The only thing that was missing was action. If they had given at least a little bit of battles, struggle and confrontation, it would have turned out even better.

Apocalyptic visions, normally the kind of stories I dig but in this case it was just a bit disappointing. The ingredients for a good story were there though. The writers clearly were inspired by the world dominating company Monsanto, a company that wants to change the world (not in a good way and certainly not to save people) by making astronomical profits selling their poison. Not sure Monsanto would like this movie but although I'm an anti Monsanto I didn't like the movie either. It's all too slow paced, borderline boring to be honest. The soundtrack didn't help either, much too slow, it had the same effect on me as a lullaby. I almost fell asleep. The acting was okay from some actors but others were not very convincing. The strange organisms were the only interesting things in this movie but that's not enough to save it. A missed opportunity.

Directors Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper captured a Sci-Fi storyline that boasted Climate-Change relevance like no other movie I've seen this year. Outside of documentaries, this story portrayed human ecological depredation and disaster in a compelling and realistic post-apocalyptic light.

Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper also worked on screenplay with Brian Clark to create a script that felt relevant, deep, and convincing. Dan Levy's musical scoring was memorable. Feliksas Abrukauskas's cinematography was expansive and left little to doubt. Great work all round by the production design, set decoration, art direction, and editing teams. Hair-makeup and costume were noteworthy. VFX, sound effects, and CGI were exceptional.

The titular Vesper, played by Raffiella Chapman, was outstanding as a 13yo in search of a future worth living in. The entire movie rested on her shoulders, and she admirably carried it across the finish line.

Eddie Marsan did good work as Jonas. He wonderfully pulled off the role of a calculating and conniving survivor and leader. Rosy McEwen captivated as Camellia, the passenger of a flying vessel that crashed in the woods. Her interactions with Vesper made for interesting viewing. Richard Brake as Darius was casting perfection. He not only gave a compelling performance as Vesper's paralyzed father, but his voiceover work for the cubical floating android spoke to his worth in this production.

Everyone else did good work in "Vesper" now streaming via Vudu VOD.

The story superbly bottled the disastrous after-effects of an Earthwide ecological collapse. Bio-hacking themes and survival tropes complemented elements of hope, suspense, and fascination. The story had grand scope, but their minimal approach to telling it was just as welcome.

The plot also featured an array of strange and enthralling new plant species (and those bullet-bees!), and not to forget enslaved androids (one of whom could pass for human). I wish they explored more about Camellia's role in all of this.

The actual humans in the movie weren't unaffected - some showed signs of serious disease, deformities, and other ailments. Starvation and societal divisions also played key roles in the script. These too could've benefited from deeper explorations.

Despite its world-building shortcomings, "Vesper" was as credible as it was mysterious. The movie may not have precisely pointed out Climate Change, but the connection to the ongoing crisis was very much present and accounted for in the script. Its concepts and story arcs contained a world of meaning, especially about selflessness, determination, and the pursuit of knowledge. Yet again, the realm of Science Fiction has proven that it is more science and less fiction.

I'm surprised at some of the negative reviews. I think they're thinking in terms of what makes a movie popular and successful at the box office, not what is successful in terms of a piece of literature or art. The narrative back story is subtle, not obvious. So if you're going to do social media on your phone while watching it, you're going to get bored or confused quite quickly. This one is like reading a book on the screen. They're not common but I loved the vibe. It's striking and doesn't over do the sci-fi elements as they paint the atmosphere, not the story. Acting is top notch. Some of these younger stars will be seen more of for sure. First thing I did after watching it was searching if it's a book.

The technical bits are all very good, well shot, good cinematography, appropriate (and miserable music) and generally good acting, not that good acting was really needed given the script was inert.

I found the story weak, the pacing glacial and the plotting very poor. As a result, no tension, no real character development and a complete lack of cohesion.

And that miserable score, terrible.

The whole film could have been an effective 15 minute short and had more impact.

This is a film that will not improve anyone's CV.

I have no idea why this film exists except as an exercise in individual crafts. Some are good, most are bad, but none combine to create a film as a whole.

I did watch it tpo the very end hoping for enlightenment, but it's nearly two disappointing hours I won't get back...

In the future, the Earth's natural ecology has collapsed. Genetic engineering has become a runaway problem. Human civilization has retreated to various city states known as Citadels. The rest are trying to survive in the dangerous wilderness. Vesper (Raffiella Chapman) is a teen girl alone caring for her sick father. She finds Citadel resident Camellia (Rosy McEwen) who survived a crash landing. Local leader Jonas (Eddie Marsan) rules over his family and his neighbors.

I like the designs and the world. The premise is fine sci-fi. There is potential for a good solid sci-fi small indie. Eddie Marsan delivers the powerful punch. His end is disappointing. The last act has some good and some bad. I can't help but feel that something more could be done. I would be happier if the final confrontation happens with Marsan. There is almost no need to get the Citadels involved. All in all, this is fine, but it is a bit slow.