The Last Woman on Earth (2025) Movie Review | Fantasia Fest

‘The Last Woman on Earth’ begins as a light hearted affair, a prelude to an introspection of the nastiness of the indie film industry.

A soft spoken maiden trading her purity on-screen for a lottery ticket to the Cannes Film Festival… Only to be reduced to Jpegs on the seedy side of the internet. The protégé giving away his ideas for free to an established Director in return for shallow compliments… Then discarded like yesterday’s trash.

From South Korea, ‘The Last Woman on Earth’ is a parody only on its surface. A topaz gem mine of insight into a corrupt industry feeding on hopeless dreamers awaits those who dig deeper.

‘The Last Woman on Earth’ (2025) Film Still. Pictured: Lee Jong-min and Yeum Moon-kyoung. Photo provided by Fantasia Film Festival

Warning: This movie review of ‘The Last Woman on Earth’ contains spoilers.

Raise Curtains: ‘The Last Woman on Earth’ throws you headfirst into one female’s daring attempt at escape from her preordained destiny. Filmed in black and white, the satirical Sci-Fi is laced with misandry intentionally as every male she encounters tells her “Only he can truly love her”. Even as she’s trying to leap out of a skyscraper’s office window.

The gentlemen in Han-ah’s life dually hold her under open captivity (she can’t leave but is ‘free’) while professing their grand love for her. We soon arrive at a college classroom in reality where blue-haired seemingly protofeminist narrator/Director Han-ah is telling her plot line in film class.

Her classmate Cheol strolls in late to class but has enough time to deride Han-ah’s fantasy as vengeful toward men. Despite Han-ah initially despising Cheol, he manages to convince her to help him out with his movie with a feminine touch.

‘The Last Woman on Earth’ (2025) Film Still. Pictured: Lee Jong-min. Photo provided by Fantasia Film Festival

Perhaps, the most self aware dialogue line in any indie film is casually exhibited when the two get drinks, “Making an indie film about indie filmmaking to debut at an indie festival for an indie audience and jury is for wimps.”

It seems a typical romance is brewing between the frosty Tsundere Han-ah and the casual Cheol when the film takes a much different turn from the obvious path. The pair bond over being exploited by an established indie film director and set out to make a mockumentary of sorts, tracking down studio heads.

‘The Last Woman on Earth’ (2025) Film Still. Photo provided by Fantasia Film Festival

Eventually they confront a faux version of their director who tells them, ‘That’s the way it was done back then, everyone did it.’ No apologies.

The real director watches their mockumentary film and never apologizes either, saying he was under pressure from investors and downgrades their movie to an afterthought rather than an “Exposé”. Laughing it off.

Telling Han-ah he’s not as strong in the industry as she & Cheol believe, and their picture will never see the light of a day in a festival. One last jab to the stomach to the prospective film hopefuls.

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Conclusion: Directors Yeum Moon‑kyoung and Lee Jong‑min (who also play characters Gu Han-ah & Song Cheol respectively) present an authentic deep dive into the polluted oceans of indie filmmaking & acting.

The water’s clear at moonrise because you can’t see what’s in front of you. In this case a director’s empty calorie compliments entangling you in a plastic six pack ring. ‘The Last Woman on Earth’ is a memorable watch at Fantasia 2025.

‘The Last Woman on Earth’ (2025) Film Still. Photo provided by Fantasia Film Festival

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‘The Last Woman on Earth’ (2025) Film Still. Pictured: Yeum Moon-kyoung. Photo provided by Fantasia Film Festival

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