Z for Zachariah (Craig Zobel, 2015)

Following a nuclear apocalypse, Ann, a young woman lives on alone in a rural valley that has somehow escaped most of the effects of the devastation. Then, one day another survivor, a scientist, appears and they gradually develop mutual trust and grow closer despite their differences. Just as things seem as close to idyllic as circumstances allow, a third survivor appears, a miner who has a dubious backstory and shares Ann's local background and religious convictions. Tension inevitably arises between the three.
It's a surprisingly unhistrionic film with a patient air, and unlike pretty much all of the rest of the genre, isn't at all interested in doing sci-fi or horror. In fact, it doesn't need the armageddon history at all, since any isolated place with three different people stranded in it would do the same job. The closest parallel would probably be Polanski's Knife in the Water, but here you're never really as sure that there will be violence. Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine all fit their roles like a glove, and any allusions to differences in race. age or religion are nicely understated and not made into outright driving forces for the story. It's an unexpected small gem of a film.

7/10