Based on Joseph Conrad’s novel Almayer’s Folly, this $5 million epic by Malaysia’s most revered filmmaker U-Wei Bin Haji Saari is not an easy watch. Bogged down mainly by a half-baked love story, this potentially monumental film is a minor disappointment for fans who were previously moved by his more subversive and braver films. While much care and attention has been put into Hanyut’s beautiful set design and cinematography (the latter by Poland’s Arkadiusz Tomiak, who captures each scene with a painterly quality), the rest of the film is unmoving.