Film Review: Eva: Pendakian Terakhir (aka Eva, the Last Climb) (2025) - Indonesia
Rating: 6/10
Reviewed at the World Premiere at Hong Kong Filmart 2025
2025 Review Count - 55
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Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
Dedy Mercy’s “Eva, the Last Climb” is a film that climbs as courageously as its protagonist, reaching for emotional peaks even as its footing occasionally slips on the rocky terrain of genre conventions. Set against the mist-shrouded mountains of South Sulawesi, this Indonesian horror-drama weaves grief, mysticism, and survival into a tapestry that feels both intimate and vast—a story where the ghosts of the past linger as palpably as the dangers of the present.
Bulan Sutena anchors the film as Eva, a young woman grappling with loss, whose journey up a myth-laden mountain becomes a metaphor for confronting inner demons. Her performance is raw and tactile, particularly in scenes where Eva’s quiet sorrow collides with the supernatural. Kiesha Alvaro, as her well-meaning friend Pasha, provides a grounding counterbalance, though the script occasionally relegates him to expositional duties. Together, they navigate a narrative that oscillates between visceral climbing sequences and eerie, folklore-infused visions—a blend that thrills even when it strains credulity.
The film’s greatest strength lies in its atmosphere. Mercy and his crew hauled equipment to remote peaks, and their labor shows: the fog-drenched cliffs and whispering forests feel like characters themselves, humming with ancestral warnings. A scene where Eva wakes to an apparition hovering inches from her face—a moment Sutena claims mirrored real-life on-set eeriness—captures the film’s uneasy marriage of beauty and dread. Yet, for all its visual ambition, “Eva” stumbles in pacing, its third act buckling under one too many “twists” that prioritize shock over emotional payoff.
Where the film soars is in its thematic conviction. Inspired by true tales of climbers’ resilience, it interrogates humanity’s fraught relationship with nature. Producer Niken Septikasari’s claim that “kindness becomes survival” reverberates in Eva’s altruistic choices, though the moralizing occasionally veers into didacticism. The integration of local customs—prayers to mountain spirits, rituals of respect—adds texture, even if the horror elements lean too heavily on well-worn jump scares.
Is it perfect? No. Subplots fray, and the tonal shifts between comedy and horror feel jarring, like missteps on a treacherous path. Yet there’s potency here—a reverence for nature’s majesty and a willingness to sit with grief’s weight. When Eva finally gazes from the summit, the view is clouded by storm clouds, not catharsis. It’s a fitting metaphor for a film that strives for greatness, falters, but still leaves you breathless with its ambition. (Neo, 2025)