User Reviews

A brutal and sad film about post war crisis. It takes place in a dystopian reality but it feels reminiscent of eastern europe's war history. While the film is very skeletal visually, its authenticity and attention to detail keeps bringing emotion with every shot. The grey landscapes and heavy machinery portray perfectly how brutal it is to be working class in a country with no hope, and they match perfectly with our main character's attitude towards life, an attitude of hard labor with little to no reward, of lost desire and broken dreams. Watch this film if you want to feel challenged and moved at the same time, I personally love the very simple and steady cinematography, because it leaves so much room for characters and locations to move us to our core. It's a beautifully shot, beautifully produced slow burner about the common folk in desperate times, definitely a must watch.

"It's like digging up your history." I think 'Atlantis' has been mistakenly labeled as dystopian sci-fi, undoubtedly because of its post-apocalyptic setting. Still, the desolation it projects is enough to make you feel depressed about the future. This film is not for everyone. The static and very long wide shots may feel overused, and there's little character development. Still, there's a magnificent dreary feeling that'll follow you for some time after watching it. The horrors of war are genuinely felt on 'Atlantis.'

An amazing movie, with a wonderful cinematography, and a great screenplay, that leads to many reflections relating to war and its consequences.

Though singularly artistic in its vision and earnestly noble in its intent, this Ukrainian offering about life in the near future after the end of its protracted conflict with Russia struggles to find its traction, endlessly meandering and relying on far too many pregnant pauses and excessively long, lingering shots to make the film work. This visual attempt at creating a sense of bleak yet profound insight, unfortunately, fails to successfully conceal what is essentially a thin underlying narrative about a troubled former soldier seeking to adjust to life in peacetime in a land that has been morally and environmentally decimated by the conflict. It also doesn't help that there's virtually no back story about the protagonist and little information about the war, which may leave many viewers out in the cold as to what they're watching. What's more, it's puzzling that this release has been misleadingly labeled a sci-fi tale when, in fact, it's more properly characterized as a piece of dystopian political speculation, one that metaphorically seeks to echo the fate of the fabled lost continent. In all, the picture is certainly laudable for its valiant effort at making a weighty statement, but, regrettably, its pacing and overall execution weigh it down, trying viewer patience rather than offering meaningful enlightenment.