Aglow in earth tones and abundant with retro-futurist designs, the sci-fi drama “Vesper” certainly feels like a throwback. But a throwback to what? While the postapocalyptic tale reflects sci-fi strands both East and West, echoing cerebral fare from the Soviet bloc as much as grimy Hollywood spectacles, filmmakers Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper have woven those older threads into something wholly unique — at once modern and timeless, nostalgic for a genre only just created, already pining for images freshly cast up on screen. Making its world premiere in competition at the 2022 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, this wistful, bio-punk fairy tale builds around the broad contours of modern young-adult fiction and shades them with the unhurried, observational rhythms of the European art-house. From the rebellious young prodigy to the focus on class division to the expository wall of title cards that introduce this particular dystopia, the film plays with many familiar while trading the relentless narrative rush of contemporary Y.A. for the ambient woodland menace and darker psychological shadings of the original Grimm fables. Working with co-screenwriter Brian Clark, Buožytė and Samper have constructed a dense dystopian mythology, rooted in ecological collapse and a corresponding economy built around genetically engineered seeds (and other more ethically dubious inventions). In function and form, “Vesper” explores the periphery, focusing on moods instead of percussive narrative beats as it follows a father and daughter living on the outskirts of this imagined society.