South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival – Like a dream, within a dream, within a dream, Gaia (2021) is an Afrikaans/English-language film that is some truly surreal eco-horror. Directed by Jaco Bouwer, Gaia boasts beautiful special effects that are as mesmerizing as they are memorable, something I would liken to what I saw in Midsommar with the mix of nature and mystical, supernatural elements. It is no wonder that Gaia was selected to screen at SXSW Online 2021, making its world premiere within the “Midnighters” category.

In Gaia, a small forestry team ventures into a dense jungle in order to check on some video camera equipment that has been set up. While separated from her partner, a woman named Gabi (Monique Rockman) becomes injured, so when she realizes that she is unable to contact her partner she sets out to find help. Gabi happens upon a cabin in the forest, home to a father and son who give her a poultice to heal her wound. While healing, Gabi learns that they worship a giant plant organism rooted beneath the forest floor that is powered by its need to spread. Unbeknownst to Gabi, the entity is far more powerful than her healers say, finding that it has only been lying dormant in the forest, waiting for the right time to spread out into the world.

Midnighters is a category best suited for horror movies or otherwise genre-breaking films, and Gaia fits right into this category, pushing the envelope to create innovative effects that were imaginative and looked like art. The cinematography done by Jorrie van der Walt for Gaia cannot be understated. The naturally enchanting forest of South Africa does a lot of the legwork, but it is van der Walt’s masterful way of utilization that makes the movie both menacing and evocative — Gaia some of the most beautifully freaky shit I’ve ever seen. There was so much environmentalism embedded within this film, mushrooms growing out of every crevice, and even the monsters looked and moved like the infected creatures from The Last of Us game, fungus heads and all.

At times, this movie really does remind me of Midsommar aesthetically, with Gaia‘s opening shot being upside down, similar to how Aster signified entering a different world with his upside-down shot in Midsommar. Also similarly, the way that writer Tertius Kapp weaved mysticism and a connection to nature into the fabric of the eco-based religion in the film. Furthermore, the way that the plants moved and how they merged with the human anatomy was reminiscent of Midsommar. However, despite these similarities, Gaia is a different premise and totally different characters, therefore, Gaia did not just feel like an Ari Aster knock-off. It is a completely different animal all its own, with arguably more likable characters and stunning use of nature.

Director Jaco Bouwer showed the correct way to do environmental horror in Gaia, the trees and shrubbery fight back in much cooler ways than in The Happening and they seemed just as terrifying as the vines in the Evil Dead movies. The special effects looked so good that they looked like practical effects, but they had to have been CGI because plants can’t move like that… Or can they? I feel like I got a nature high off of this film as the colors were so intense, especially during the more fantasy sequences — Gaia is undoubtedly the most beautiful film I had the pleasure of seeing at SXSW Online 2021.

Gaia reviewed as part of our South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival coverage.

8 out of 10