Tribeca Film Festival Reviews: ‘Cargo’ & ‘The Night Eats The World’ breathe new life into the zombie genre.

Cargo

Director: Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke

Writer: Yolanda Ramke

Producers: Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton, Russell Ackerman, John Schoenfelder, Mark Patterson

Cast: Martin Freeman, Anthony Hayes, Susie Porter

Stranded in rural Australia in the aftermath of a violent pandemic, an infected father desperately seeks a new home for his infant child, and a means to protect her from his own changing nature.

 

Cargo, starring Martin Freeman will undoubtedly rip your heart out if you are a parent. It’s a race against time form the very first scene. It contains an intriguing bit of cannon with respect to this particular zombie outbreak. I’m always curious how this will be addressed in the genre and in Cargo, it’s very different from what we’re used to seeing. This film has a wonderful pace. It is dark with a constant feeling of dread looming. Freeman plays a believably loving and caring father of his infant daughter. The action and terror are unrelenting. In the genre what more can you really ask for? The film will be coming to Netflix next Friday, May 18th!


The Night Eats The World

Directed by

Dominique Rocher

Writing Credits (in alphabetical order)

Pit Agarmen (novel)
Jérémie Guez (screenplay) (adaptation) (dialogue)
Guillaume Lemans (screenplay) (adaptation) (dialogue)
Dominique Rocher (screenplay) (adaptation) (dialogue)

The morning after a party, a young man wakes up to find Paris invaded by zombies.

The Night Eats The World is all about isolation. Sam is alone in his ex’s apartment, walls splattered with blood, and the other floors are not much better. Realizing the outside is even less safe, he begins to use his wits by gathering what he can find, little by little, staying organized but perhaps not sane. Actor Anders Danielsen Lie is in every single scene of the film. His performance is so engrossing that I almost missed his complete physical transformation along the way. He must remain as calm as possible, which is pretty difficult considering the circumstances. An interesting element to his character is that he is a musician. This becomes both an advantage and a misstep in the plot. We’ve all watched The Walking Dead for years now but off the top of my head, I’m not sure I would be as methodic in my solitary survival as Sam. While we don’t get any information about the outbreak specifically, it never stopped me from enjoying the film, rooting for Sam to stay alive. Sometimes you don’t need it all spelled out for you, sometimes great storytelling is more than enough. 

Tribeca Film Festival: ‘Cargo’ with Martin Freeman coming to Netflix May 26th

Cargo
Feature Narrative
Country: Australia
Director: Yolanda Ramke, Ben Howling
Writer: Yolanda Ramke
Starring: Martin Freeman
An infected father navigates a zombie-riddled Australian Outback with his infant daughter. Fortunately, he’s found an Aboriginal community that may hold the disease’s cure. Unfortunately, he has only 48 hours to live.

Streaming: 05-18-2018, Distributed by: Netflix

My interest in zombie stories had reached its absolute low but I really enjoyed ‘Cargo.’ Not only is Martin Freeman excellent, but the story really keeps you engaged as you wonder what you would do in his situation.