Review - Pelverata (2025)

Pelverata begins with a parade of lush forests and scenes of nature and ends within the entrenchment of the natural world. However, the events that occur between the introduction and finale makes the simple, quiet conclusion evolve into something quite haunting. As the narrative reveals the full arc, the cumulative tension reaches a peak, laying the film's symbolic meaning bare and catalysing uncomfortable but crucial questions as we ruminate over the past one hundred minutes. 

Engineers Misha (Charley Hur) and Myaree (Carina Parsons) embark on a research assignment in the Tasmanian wilderness. Although the pair embrace in typical bickering over calibrating data and so forth, nothing can prepare them for the journey they are about to partake in, with the forest soon coming to life in its own very unique and eerie way. Reality disperses and time seems to become obsolete as they traverse deeper in every sense of the way into the dense thicket of sky-scraping woods, giving rise to a dark past that threatens their survival. 

The story itself is definitely worthy of merit on account of its storied approach to such a pivotal, yet often culturally omitted moment in history. The film's namesake, and suggested setting, 'Pelverata' is a real locality situated in Tasmania, with a rich, but nevertheless cruel history as the land was host to Aboriginal communities prior to their forced removal by colonialist settlers throughout the merciless siege of sovereignty. Needless to say, such a history can be cinematically joined to the horror genre, given that the actions of dispossession of land are terrifying in its own right, but what Lipkin interestingly does is show the shadowy remnants of such events in a contemporaneous fashion. 

It is heavily implied that as Misha and Myaree descend further into the forest, both through the duration of their stay and their location, the land begins to become a haunted ground. The wilds of Pelverata embody the characters in different ways; Myaree goes through a transformation from a bubbly, quick-witted and intelligent researcher to a worrisome, unnerved and entirely discomposed woman. Worse, however, is Misha, who is almost completely collateral material for the wilds to inhabit, spiralling him into a state of reckless frenzy and alarming psychosis. It is through this that the land becomes one of, if not the most important, main character. As a consequence, Pelverata exercises an unarguable ubiquitous aura of unease that is reminiscent of the likes of the mystifying lands explored in 'The Ritual' (2017) or 'Yellowjackets' (2021-). 

Pelverata's intriguing storyline does however come at a cost. One of the key takeaways from the film is just how slow it is, certainly lending weight to the slowburn subgenre of cinema. As effective as the narrative wills to be, at times, the film does employ repetition, be it deliberately or not. For instance, there are quite a few scenes of Misha and Myaree moving to various locations in the wilds, stopping for a prolonged, exposition-based conversation and then repeating this occasion again shortly after. Dependent on individual predilection, this aspect could become quickly draining. Substantiating this slowburn-esque approach displayed throughout Pelverata are the performances by Hur and Parsons, who dually deliver a praise-worthy duet of researchers suddenly tasked with an unexpected, psychological warfare as they journey through the eco-folk horror of Pelverata. 

The film may show Pelverata as a physically barren habitation, yet it is bursting at the seams with an ominous ambience. And whilst the film could have benefited from a tighter runtime, followed by a touch of pep in the pacing, Pelverata is a great feat for independent, homegrown, Australian cinema. 

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