Paula Hammond - Features EditorWhether it’s Stranger Things or Dune that floats your boat, it seems that the days when sci-fi films were regarded as niche and cult have long gone. Yet, despite the fact that almost every mega-studio, and every Hollywood actor, seems to have a genre project up-coming, the appeal of science fiction has always been that you don’t need a big-budget to create something really special. In science fiction, SFX are nice, but it’s substance that matters. Plot that matters. And characters that matter. Luckily The Long Walk gets it absolutely pitch-perfect.
The film is Laotian director Mattie Do’s third feature, and is already wowing audiences on the festival circuit.
Blending the supernatural with time-travel, and set against the rich backdrop of Laotian culture, The Long Walk will both surprise and delight.
Do is widely regarded as one of the world’s most exciting and innovative indie-directors and, as would be expected, The Long Walk has a lot of admire. Performances and direction are measured and thoughtful. World-building is done with a light but deft touch. However where The Long Walk really wins is in its ideas.
Without ever being heavy-handed or showy, Do manages to create a world that’s nuanced with a tantalising backstory. And, while sci-fi often focusses on urban life, here we have a future told from the perspective of a small rural population, eking a living on the left-overs of a bigger, more technological world that seems to have passed them by.
The Long Walk is everything that science fiction should be. Catch it while you can. Laotian
