Cinematic Releases: Gaia (2021) - Reviewed

Courtesy of Decal Films

 

South African television director Jaco Bouwer and frequent collaborator actress Monique Rockman, fresh off of his crime-horror series Die Spreeus, makes his big screen debut in the director’s chair with the new 2021 jungle-set ecological horror film Gaia.  

Shot entirely on South Africa’s Garden Route region and within the forests of Monkeyland and Tsitsikamma on location beside real Gaia trees, the film boiled down to a minimal cast of four actors focuses on two members of the South African forestry service: Gabi (Monique Rockman) and Winston (Anthony Oyesemi).  On their sojourn down the river, their camera drone is downed and they encounter two survivalists while looking for it.  As it turns out, the forest is home to a strange species of creatures that are half-human, half fungal growth which transforms them into undead killers.
 
Something of a cross between Annihilation, In the Earth and The Last of Us with fungus gradually subtly transforming the physicality and personalities of the cast members shot deep within the treacherous South African jungles replete with all of nature’s unwanted hurdles afflicting the cast and crew, Gaia is a rare entirely jungle-based science-fiction horror thriller with enthralling vistas.  

Despite some less than stellar CGI used in key moments including augmenting the fungus makeup of some of the actors, visually speaking Gaia is the most experimental multi-screen format sci-fi/horror vehicle of its kind since High Life or Krisha.  Opening on 1.78:1 filling the screen as the picture opens, the film then shifts to a claustrophobic pillar-boxed 1.55:1 ratio before going all the way back to 1.33:1 4:3 academy ratio, giving viewers suffocating imagery which keeps changing throughout.

Courtesy of Decal Films

 
Shifting freely between English and Afrikaans with English subtitles, Gaia is as alive visually as it is sonically.  Take for instance the score by Pierre-Henri Wicomb which is a minimalist electronic nightmare of subtle encroaching dread.  Some of the chase sequences are done simply using atonal percussion, giving listeners a sense of urgency and looming danger.  Also brilliant is the film’s sound design which makes great use of the jungle ambience and the peculiar clicking sounds of the creatures.  Watching the actors enmeshed half-naked covered in dirt from the jungle terrain, you almost feel like you’re watching outtakes of Naked and Afraid as civilized social norms like modern medicine and cellphone communication isn’t easy to come by.
 
Drawing from Greek mythology referring to Gaia as "the personification of the Earth" and channeling everything from Heart of Darkness to Deliverance, Sorcerer and The Mosquito Coast as far as making the ordeal of jungle survival very real with the added science-fiction element of monsters running through the forest, Gaia is among the most psychedelic mushroom-heavy open-woods set horror ventures since Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England.  Moreover it presents a unique Earthy horror premise that’s at once message driven and purely a thrill ride at the same time.  

Courtesy of Decal Films

There’s also a lot of body horror involving plants and spores sprouting up from where they shouldn’t and more than a few things to make your hair stand on end.  At a time when the film industry and the horror genre continues to be threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a dry spout in the creative wells, Gaia represents a unique new forward step in the ecological thriller film as well as highlighting South Africa as a great place for setting contemporary modern horror.

--Andrew Kotwicki