GAIA (2021)

Studio:      Decal
Director:    Jaco Bouwer
Writer:      Tertius Kapp
Producer:  Jaco Bouwer, Jorrie van der Walt, Tertius Kapp
Stars:     Monique Rockman, Carel Nel, Alex van Dyk, Anthony Oseyemi

Review Score:

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Summary:

A ranger stranded in a remote forest discovers a mysterious fungus with an unusual connection to two strange survivalists.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Forest ranger Gabi and her river guide Winston become separated while doing a camera check in a remote South African jungle. Gabi triggers a spike trap that impales her foot. She then seeks shelter in a cabin belonging to survivalist Barend and his son Stefan, who administer a homemade salve to Gabi’s wound.

Stefan, who has never been beyond the forest, forms a bond with Gabi. Gabi begins experiencing unusual dreams of the woods while strange fungal spores also start growing out of her arm. Meanwhile, a human/fungus hybrid creature attacks Winston.

After finding a photograph of a woman, Gabi asks Barend about Stefan’s mother. Barend, who used to be a scientist, explains that he left civilization so his wife could die peacefully from a rare disease. Barend cryptically adds that he met God, or Gaia, in the forest and decided to devote himself to her.

A creature breaks into the cabin. Airborne spores and twisting vines attack Gabi. Stefan knifes the creature several times before pushing it back outside, but it bleeds on Gabi first. Stefan frantically cleans up Gabi and collects the blood.

Barend, who was also injured in the attack, explains that the hybrid creature was transformed by a fungus that feeds on humans. Barend identifies the fungus as the oldest organism on earth and claims it is preparing to spread across the planet.

Gabi continues bonding with Stefan by showing him photos on her phone. Barend calls Gabi’s phone a “devilish device” and smashes it on the cabin floor.

Barend and Stefan take the blood they collected to a tree where they present it with rabbit meat as a sacrificial offering. The tree responds by rapidly growing small mushrooms. Barend eats one of the mushrooms and feeds another to Stefan. Back at the cabin, Gabi finds a manifesto detailing Barend’s beliefs about nature aggressively reclaiming what mankind destroyed.

Stefan worries when he sees the fungal growth spreading on Gabi’s arm. Gabi suggests taking Stefan with her when she returns to civilization.

Gabi goes searching for Winston. Gabi finds Winston transformed by fungus and organically bonding with a tree. Barend warns Winston will become one of the creatures. Winston euthanizes himself by thrusting his head against one of Barend’s arrows.

Barend returns to the tree alone to make another offering. To Barend’s horrified dismay, the tree psychically communicates that it wants Stefan as a sacrifice.

The next day, Barend sends Stefan to the tree. Stefan returns to the cabin with a mushroom he secretly feeds to Gabi.

Gabi discusses love with Stefan. Stefan shows Gabi the living tree that his mother organically bonded with. Stefan helps Gabi rebuild her phone as they plot to escape the forest together.

Gabi tells Barend she wants to understand what Gaia supposedly showed him about the end of the world. Barend puffs a strange dust up Gabi’s nose. Gabi experiences a vision where she bonds with nature and has sex with Stefan before the dream becomes a horrific nightmare. When she wakes, Barend confirms that Gaia also showed Gabi that it wants Stefan as a sacrifice.

Barend catches Gabi trying to flee with Stefan. Barend warns that Gaia won’t let them leave. Barend ultimately convinces his son to stay, and takes Stefan to the tree to secretly sacrifice him. Gabi evades a creature while tracking the two men.

Barend and Stefan fight at the tree when Barend tries to stab his son. Sentient roots and branches capture Stefan. Barend prepares to thrust his knife into Stefan, but Gabi interrupts. Gabi and Barend fight. Stefan wriggles free and attacks his father while the fungus creature attacks Gabi. Stefan fights off his father and the creature before fleeing back to the cabin with Gabi. A creature crawls out of the tree toward Barend.

Fungus grows out of Barend until he organically bonds with the tree. After rereading Barend’s journal about nature’s great reckoning, Gabi undergoes a similar transformation and bonds with the cabin floor.

Stefan journeys alone to civilization. At a café, Stefan leaves behind a half-eaten sandwich. Mold begins rapidly forming where Stefan took his last bite.

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Review:

All signs pointed to “Gaia” being more of a trudge than a thriller, at least as far as my personal preferences go. I don’t dismiss foreign language films like some snobs do, though I noted that portions of dialogue would be delivered in Afrikaans with English subtitles. The South African setting, low humming music, and slow pans seen in previews further suggested “Gaia” was an arthouse atmosphere piece, which is perfectly fine, except the movie’s sub-classification as “eco-horror” wasn’t setting me up to be overwhelmingly wowed either.

Mind you, I’m not a climate change denier or someone who uses “tree-hugger” as a slur. My reticence regarding “Gaia’s” subject matter wasn’t due to anything along those lines. I’m as environmentally conscious as the next average person. It’s more so that I just don’t think a “nature is good, mankind is bad” motif can teach me new lessons on that fact at this point in my life. Frankly, slow-burn body horror involving organic mutation in isolated woods seemed like a slog.

As sometimes happens however, a second guess came about thanks to “Gaia” being a SXSW selection that earned positive words from critics coming out of the festival, so I set reservations aside and dove in. I don’t regret doing so. The film is intriguing enough, certainly from an artistic perspective. But the movie nonetheless provided more proof that I should trust my gut instincts when choosing films because “Gaia” did in fact turn out to be more of a trudge than a thriller. Patience isn’t only a virtue. It’s also a mandatory requirement for making it all the way through this movie.

“Gaia” does an excellent job of hiding its low-budget origin. There are just four characters, three if you only count the main trio. But much of the movie takes place outdoors, keeping the production open so there’s rarely a sense of it being a chamber play indie made for a modest amount of money, even though it is. It would take a terrible cinematographer, which Jorrie van der Walt is not, to make the lush woodland locations look bad. Inviting visuals alone get “Gaia” a good way to the finish line on its journey toward evolving into a mesmeric mood movie.

Gabi is a forest ranger stranded deep in the jungle after springing a trap that spikes a wooden stake through her foot. She’s separated from her partner, but Gabi isn’t alone. Seeking shelter in a remote cabin, Gabi encounters two strange survivalists. Barend swore off civilization to live out his life among the trees. His son Stefan knows nothing of the outside world, yet is a skilled huntsman and amateur alchemist like his father.

Gabi and Stefan form a peculiar relationship while the two men help heal her wounds with homemade remedies. One thing that’s weird is how quickly these two strangers connect on an unspoken emotional level, even when you afford the film the benefit of the doubt for condensing its timeline. What’s weirder is that Gabi and Stefan’s bond ends up presented as problematic because initially, it’s tough to definitively tell if “Gaia” wants Gabi to be Stefan’s matronly protector, romantic love interest, or some uncomfortable combination of both.

Over the course of Gabi’s rehabilitation/pseudo-captivity, she discovers a sentient fungus whose airborne spores and twisty vines feed on humans, infecting them with vague visions before transforming them into hybrid grotesqueries. Despite these lurking monsters and the ritualistic religion Barend and Stefan formed around the fungus, not a whole lot happens in “Gaia.” Almost all of the extremely limited action comes from dream sequences full of hazy cinematic sights, with Gabi bolting upright in her makeshift bed more times than one hand can count. It takes a taxing intellectual investment to tap into the sap trickling from “Gaia’s” tree of suggestive dread, as the slim script drowns in dreaminess rather than hitting hard with tangible terror.

Though it may be low in quantity, “Gaia’s” eerie body horror delivers on quality. Creature designs have come under some criticism for similarities to “The Last of Us” video games. Whether those suspicions are warranted or not, the monsters are undeniably unsettling. Jordy Verrill’s got nothing on the metamorphoses experienced in “Gaia,” with moldy moss, cataract eyes, and mushroom appendages combining for one of the more memorable mutations in a modern B-movie.

“Gaia” is likely only the beginning for director Jaco Bouwer. His film is a calling card for Bouwer’s exquisite eye, and I expect he will take a ton of meetings for future projects following this feature. Still, making an economically efficient movie that looks good isn’t the same as producing an energetic one that plays well. “Gaia” has its moments, provided your interest stays high enough to reach them. It merely requires a certain disposition to tune into the theme and tune out the urge to succumb to sleepiness with your own unintentional slip into dreamland.

Review Score: 55

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