Pretty Good

Better Late Then Never

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

I'd been watching for this documentary to be available for quite some time and finally found it on i-Tunes. If you like the Mojave desert, the cinematography will definitely appeal to you. Memories of family trips to the Mojave and Death Valley came back to me in a big way while watching this. Now why I docked 3 stars off the review: I tend to agree with xscabboyx's assessment. It took me about 30 minutes to tire of the townsfolk's interviews. The inhabitants were all interesting and seemed like decent people but the monologue style of the conversations kind of bogged down the movie. Perhaps narration would have helped. Having said that, the photography and musical score are excellent; I'd recommend watching Darwin for that alone.

I visited Darwin and I will tell you that the town is an amazing place with some great people. Just driving down the long Darwin Road, past the old mining town, past "Project Darwin," past the "Population 50 sign, " through the town and out the back roads will be an experience in itself. That's if you don't even talk to anyone.I made the mistake of taking photographs of peoples PRIVATE homes, which I did not ask permission to do. Being stupid, I didn't realize that people would frown upon this.So, I was tailed by a black sedan through the town and down the backroads. We noticed the car and turned around. We headed for Darwin Road and saw the car again. We stopped on the side of the road and let it pass... it passed and stopped, turned around, and came back. We hauled ass and the car turned around again.I digress.This documentary captures NONE of that. What it captures are people who are entertaining and interesting for about 10 minutes. The documentary focuses on this group of 6 or 8 people (four of them are from the same household) and even though they seemed like people I'd love to meet, I lost interest in them quick.The documentary had no direction, no narrative, no real story. Basically the documentary was point and shoot and use what we get kind of thing.I was really bummed. I was looking forward to this and WANTED to love it so much.

I have been hearing about this film for a long time and saw that it was shown at quite a few film festivals around the world. I finally got a chance to see it, and it beat all my expectations. The viewer gets immersed in the lives of people who have withdrawn to the edge of society. Every town resident featured in this documentary has a compelling life story to tell and recounts it in an utterly open way. The mood shifts back and forth between light hearted and melancholic. This made it truly remarkable since I found myself laughing one minute to being sad the next. The beautiful landscape and setting only add to its impact. The film definitely deserves the "buzz" it gets and I would highly recommend it.

Darwin, a place to survive, for those who have not found a proper place in the so called civilized world. The Movie captures this remoteness in a unique way, without trying to be moral about the somewhat dubious existences of the very few souls stranded in Death Valley. Once a prosperous town with nearly 3'500 inhabitants, Darwin cut down, only within 50 years, its population to a slim 35. A quite stunning ratio which usually only happens after a big disaster. Here, the American landscape seems to have eaten up its former inhabitants and in reverse, offers for those who can't find a home the last reason to be. Like the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the movie slowly reveals a drama, which on first sight is not really visible.The uniqueness of this place is reflected in the making of the film. Darwin turns out to be very special, as a place and as a movie. Great imagery, great plot, fantastic sound.......