1990s SF film

[peteryoung]

Epsilon, 1997, Australia   DIRECTED BY ROLF DE HEER
Known more widely as Alien Visitor and filmed at various locations in the Australian outback, Epsilon was probably something of a labour of love for director Rolf De Heer, in that it gave him more than two years of post-production headaches before he could release it. Telling the story of 'She', a female humanoid alien from a planet around the star Epsilon, we learn that the rest of the galaxy has shunned Earth because of the way we pollute our world and She spends her reluctant time here talking down to us humans, delivering her heavy-handed environmental message before finally disappearing. The film does use some impressive time-lapse and nature photography but this only contributes to the glacially slow story development and echoes the highly didactic script – Epsilon really doesn't hold the attention much, and it's hard to consider this film as much of a success on anything other than its own terms.