SpunkySelfTwitter
It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Caryl
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
smiller2051
An awful, totally unrewarding film version of a beautiful, vivid and moving book. Read a 'A Far Off Place' and its prequel 'A Story Like the Wind' by Laurens Van der Post and you will understand. LVP is a skilled story teller and uses language in a way that totally brings the characters and the world on the page alive. This film killed it dead. I know its not easy to translate a book to the screen because how you see the film is always governed by how your imagination brought the book to life. This 'effort' was SO disappointing. Made me want to go back and re-read the book to reassure myself of its brilliance. This comment thing keeps asking me for another line - but I really don't know what to say, other than 'don't bother'.
shneur
There's only so much disneyfication one can stomach -- even with the best of intentions. This story of two teenagers and a bushman trekking 2000 km across the Kalahari when the young people survive a massacre that kills their families way exceeded my tolerance. The young man, a city slicker who appears to have never walked further than from his TV to his skateboard, endures the ordeal in hiking boots without so much as a swollen foot. The bushman happily takes a month or two off from feeding his own family to escort the duo across the desert. Of course it goes without saying that everyone remains completely chaste, nobody smells bad, and coiffures get only minimally (and artfully) messed up. Ethan Embry and Reese Witherspoon, both of whom have have continued and advanced steadily as actors up to the present, do the best they can with an impossible script. With just a wee bit of realism, this could have been a worthwhile adventure.
cbjslp
This movie about the struggles of these young people in a hostile environment, not knowing who to trust, and learning to know and trust themselves and each other, truly touched me. I have the tape and it is one that I enjoy watching again and again. Several observers have indicated that "A Far Off Place" is a poor re-make of the Australian-set "Walk-About". If they had paid attention to the writing credits, they would have found that "Walk-About" was based on the novel of the same name by James Vance Marshall. "A Far Off Place" is based on two novels by Laurens van der Post: "A Story of the Wind" and "A Far Off Place". Van der Post was by far the more acclaimed author. Several reviewers of both movies have commented on the animal death scenes. In this movie, in the Kalahari, the unanswered question I have wondered about is; what happened to Nonni's dog?
col_adam
A Far Off Place is indeed an excellent film. The main reason for this is the characters, the character of Nonnie Parker (Reese Witherspoon) in particular.Reese's character of Vanessa Lutz in "Freeway" was, like the rest of the movie, one of Matthew Bright's bad acid-trips. The character of Nonnie Parker, however, is portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in such a way that Nonnie takes on a life of her own. She doesn't say much, we don't know much about her, yet for some reason, she seems as real as you and me. If you're really into the movie, you might even fall in love with her.Reese Witherspoon has portrayed several different types of characters, so it's doubtful we'll ever know what she's like off-screen. I would hope, however, that she's just like Nonnie Parker.
