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A movie based on the young adult novel 鈥淶 for Zachariah鈥� is currently one of the high-profile films at the Sundance Film Festival.

鈥淶achariah鈥� is based on the novel of the same name by 鈥淢rs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH鈥� writer Robert C. O鈥橞rien. The book follows a teenager named Ann (Margot Robbie in the film) who is living by herself after a nuclear disaster when she meets two men (actors Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor).

The book was first published in the 1970s and won the Edgar Award for best juvenile mystery fiction.

The film version of 鈥淶achariah,鈥� which is directed by Craig Zobel, will be distributed by Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate and has received mixed reviews so far at Sundance. called it a 鈥渇estival hit鈥� and Rodrigo Perez of found the movie to be 鈥渆asily Zobel鈥檚 most accomplished work with a self-assured simplicity that marks every frame,鈥� though Perez wrote that 鈥溾�橺 For Zachariah鈥� is nevertheless still uneven. Its craft can be impressive: Zobel鈥檚 film possesses a searing, slow burn tone that鈥檚 beautifully controlled. The movie is admirably patient and gives breathing room and space for these relationships to bloom believably and organically. But the build to a climax is far too slow and with little emotional payoff.鈥�

Jordan Hoffman of the gave the movie three out of five stars, noting, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of bare symbolism and unspoken feelings, but not a lot of action鈥� what begins as a deeply philosophical survivors鈥� story eventually deflates into a soap opera-ish love triangle. While these story points are perhaps the easiest to relate to, they ultimately aren鈥檛 that interesting. Yet the depth of the world and all three of the performances are just enough to stay through from A to Z."聽

However, critic Scott Foundas was even less won over by the film, writing that 鈥渢he stakes are even higher 鈥� the repopulation of the planet聽鈥� but the dramatic tension considerably less, in a movie that feels stranded somewhere between serious artistic ambition and the dystopian franchise-building of 鈥楾he Hunger Games,鈥� 鈥楧ivergent,鈥� et al鈥�. 鈥榋 for Zachariah鈥� is a handsome-looking film 鈥� and it doesn鈥檛 lack for provocative ideas, though it never digs quite deep enough into any of them,鈥� though he did call Ejiofor 鈥渟plendid.鈥�

And Todd McCarthy of the wrote of the movie, 鈥淎 powder keg plot set-up triggers an underwhelming display of dramatic fireworks.... [The film] effectively sets all its surface parts in motion but, crucially, doesn鈥檛 sufficiently develop that turbulent undercurrents of tension and intrigue that are called for in the hothouse circumstances [d]espite the solid efforts of the only actors in the piece, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie and Chris Pine."鈥�