Review of Young Ones (2014) by John R — 19 May 2015

In a post-drought apocalypse U.S., people kill for water. Ernest Holm (Michael Shannon) lives with his son Jerome (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and daughter Mary (Elle Fanning) in their small town house and field. His wife has been involved in an accident earlier and is now permanently hospitalized in a facility where she can walk while wired to a special frame. While everyone else has left the area, Ernest stays, believing that the land will grow once more if only there is irrigation. Ernest gets water for his family by delivering supplies to the "water men" who extract water from deep wells through a government deal. When his mule breaks its legs and he has to kill it, Ernest goes to Sam's auction house and buys a robotic carrier machine called Simulit Shadow, or "Sim", to replace it, beating the offers of Flem Lever (Nicholas Hoult), Sam's own son, a young, troubled man who has been seeing Mary without Ernest's consent. Flem has other plans as well. He wants Ernest's land for himself, and will go to any length to get it...

This futuristic and apocalyptic gritty westernlike tale, told in three chapters from writer/director Jake Paltrow carries layers of a Greek tragedy but manages to find its own pillars to stand on. I really liked the slightly odd and different approach of an apocalyptic story and I found it somewhat unique with its pioneers of a dry land. It´s a slow-paced and character building story with family bonds and revenge as the foundation. I reckon a classic western storyline. "Young Ones" is visually stunning and the production design/near-future technology is well made and believable. The focus on rich and poor, family, high technology and the shortage of water which could´ve been set today, makes it easy to "relate" to the story an its characters. Michael Shannon, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult are all good in their roles. "Young Ones" has a different sci-fi approach, but well worth a watch in my opinion.