Young Ones is a 2014 American action science fiction film directed and written by Jake Paltrow. The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning, Michael Shannon and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The film had its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. The film was released on October 17, 2014.
Plot
In a post-drought apocalypse USA, people kill for water. Ernest Holm lives with his son Jerome and daughter Mary in their small town house and field. While everyone else has left, Ernest stays, believing that the land will grow once more if only there is irrigation. Ernest gets water for his family by trading supplies with the water people who extract water from deep wells. When his mule breaks its legs and he has to kill it, Ernest goes to the auction and buys a robotic carrier machine to replace it, beating the offers of Flem, a young man who has been seeing Mary without his consent. Ernest rejects Flems offer to rent the machine. One morning, Ernest finds his machine is missing, and he goes looking for it. When he gets to the water people, Ernest is accused of stealing. He wins a fight with the water people's leader Caleb and takes his knife.
Continuing on, he finds his machine and Flem with it, transporting the stolen supplies. Flem is taking it to sell it in the borderlands. Ernest takes Flem captive and ties him to the machine, aiming to take the supplies back to the water people. Eventually, they have to stop due to dehydration. Flem convinces Ernest to rehydrate with some of the liquor they are transporting. Wanting to continue his smuggling run, Flem then throws a stone at Ernest's head, killing him. Others eventually find and bury Ernest, though the machine has gone missing. Flem marries Mary after helping the family build an irrigation system thus saving their farm. However, the machine returns limping and mangled to a store in town. The store owner reaches Jerome in the Holm residence, informing him about the machine. After tricking his way into town over border patrol, Jerome gets to the store to find the store owner has repaired the machine.
Jerome becomes interested in the machine's laser sensor, which turns out to behave like a video recorder. Curious about the machine's adventure, Jerome plays the recording and finds the truth about Flem and Ernest. Arriving home before Flem, Jerome questions him as to how the machine found its way home. Flem's lies only infuriate Jerome more, but he doesn't take any action. One day Flem goes on a supply run with the machine, and accidentally falls into a pit, breaking his legs. As he cries for help, Jerome, who has been secretly following him, comes at the pits mouth. As Jerome only stands there, Flem realizes that Jerome already knows about what happened to Ernest. After Flem tries to elicit Jerome's mercy, Jerome shoots him in the head. Jerome ultimately decides to withhold these events and the circumstances of Ernest's death from Mary.
Cast
- Nicholas Hoult as Flem Lever
- Elle Fanning as Mary Holm
- Michael Shannon as Ernest Holm
- Kodi Smit-McPhee as Jerome Holm
- Alex McGregor as Sooz
- Aimee Mullins as Katherine Holm
- Robert Hobbs as Caleb
- Linda O'Prey as Anna / Ears
- Carel Nel as Bandit
Production
Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning, Michael Shannon and Kodi Smit-McPhee joined the cast on February 7, 2013. Giles Nuttgens is the director of photography while Tristan Lynch and Michael Auret are the producers. On May 13, 2014 Screen Media Films acquired the US rights to the film.
Filming
The shooting of the film began in February 2013 at Namaqualand, Northern Cape, South Africa and shot until 15 March.
Marketing
The first trailer was released on July 6, 2014. Another US trailer was released on July 23.
Release
The sci fi western was released on October 17, 2014.
Reception
"Young Ones" received mixed reviews. It currently has a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 26 reviews with an average rating of 5.2.The critical consensus states that "Visually compelling but narratively barren, Young Ones adds little to the dystopian Western genre."
References
External links
- Official Website
- Young Ones at the Internet Movie Database
