LONELY PLANET - Mark Reviews Movies

Lonely Planet, Netflix

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 11, 2024

The problem with Lonely Planet isn't where it goes or how it gets there. It is, however, with what writer/director Susannah Grant does with this story and these characters once the inevitable arrives.

One need only hear the basic setup to figure out that development, but what's somewhat refreshing about the early sections of the movie is how long it takes for that premise to even be established. It shows that Grant has at least some consideration for her characters, before the whole thing becomes something familiar and filled with unnecessary contrivances and conflict.

The first of the two main characters is introduced immediately. She's Katherine Loewe (Laura Dern), a successful and admired writer who arrives in Morrocco for a writers' retreat. Katherine has no plans to participate in any of the activities, dinners, and parties at resort where the week-long event is being held, though. No, she has a book to finish by a hard deadline set by her publisher, and with her personal life currently a mess, Katherine has decided that a change of scenario and hopefully some isolation might push her out of a case of writer's block.

Initially, Dern doesn't have much to do here but for her character to exist in a state of uncertainty. Honestly, the combination of her reserved performance and the backdrop of the picturesque resort, as well as a nearby town, almost feels like enough of an excuse for this movie's existence. We learn more about her past and her current predicaments, including the end of a long-term romantic relationship and technically not having a place to live at the moment, but there's a strange, low-key honesty in watching a writer simply attempt to navigate her psychological blocks and the increasing number of people showing up at the resort, leading to more noise and distractions than she had planned to encounter.

The other protagonist is Owen (Liam Hemsworth), who's a fish-out-of-water at this retreat. He's a businessman, working on a deal to negotiate the sale of private land that a company wants to mine for coal, and he knows very little—seemingly nothing of note—about literature. Owen's only here because of his girlfriend Lily (Diana Silvers), the author of a single book that became a bestseller—much to her happy surprise and still-existing shock. Lily wants to take all of this in, be close to and have meaningful interactions with writers she admires, and also spend some time with her boyfriend.

There's no plot of which to speak here, which is actually one of the movie's strengths for a while. Katherine goes about her business trying and failing to write, looking for quieter places than her lavish room, and avoiding other people as much as possible—especially one writer, with whom she had a fling long ago.

Owen tries to participate, while not having much to speak of with people in this field, and also has to maintain a work schedule in a different time zone, while going into town to do some shopping for his girlfriend as she participates in the retreat. Meanwhile, he starts to notice that Lily is drawn more to the company of other writers, especially a prize-winning memoirist named Rafih (Younès Boucif), than him.

Like Katherine, Owen doesn't know what to do himself at the moment, and those doubts have to do with a lot more than just this particular place and event. By chance, the two keep meeting, spending time together, and talking about their careers and lives.

At this point, the courses of this story and this relationship should be obvious, and yes, Katherine and Owen have more and more private moments together, with him seeming to seek them out on occasion, but there doesn't seem to be any pressure or expectation that something other than meaningful conversations will happen between them. The movie seems relaxed, simply following these two as they try to figure out what's wrong with their respective lives alone and occasionally together. Grant doesn't seem to feel obligated or required to do anything else with these two and their bond except what's right in front of them.

As to the question if something else does develop between Katherine and Owen, the better question is whether or not that really needs to be answered. Their relationship becomes more than a happenstance friendship, of course, and of course, that leads to a series of miscommunications, misunderstandings, and contrived situations, including someone stealing Katherine's laptop. Conflict erupts out of nowhere, not only from outside the relationship, but also from within, because Grant apparently doesn't trust the instincts she has shown up until that point in the story.

The good feelings toward this simple story, these characters, and the gradual growth of this relationship are quickly undone by this turn to the formulaic and the contrived. It is very quick, too, because Lonely Planet rushes through everything that happens in the relatively brief third act. Before that, the movie makes us curious about and want to like these characters, as they work through their problems, but as soon as the other problems begin to pile up, the characters seem to matter much less than how Grant can devise ways to make things worse.

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