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Reviews
Keep Breathing (2022)
Zzzzzzzzzzz
The problem with this series -and I'm saying this after only chapter 3 or something- is that it is sloooooooooooow as hell. I've spent most of my viewing time clicking the forward button just to get past the maddeningly soporific flasbacks, wishing Netflix had a shortcut to turn it into 20 or 30 second forward move... I get the intention, but the rhythm is so slow that it doesn't engage you and you start hoping for some substance, but the dialogs are uninteresting, the characters are somewhat lame (I just couldn't stand the bf) and the "real" story swings between believable and unreal (she finds the sunken plane in the middle of the lake on the first try, dives 5-10 meters down, holds her breath for like 5+ minutes to fetch a couple of bags, swims effortlessly with shoes on, sleeps outdoors without shivering and has the best mood the next day, doesn't care it she gets totally soaked under the rain because hey, she built a kind of shelter with very loose pine branches and leaves that are no guarantee whatsoever of a dry night and so on and so forth...), making you wonder why the heck you're actually watching it.
I'm bored and disappointed. I won't go on. I can't endure this any longer.
El tamaño sí importa (2016)
And here we go again...
I'm still waiting for a Mexican movie that really leaves me satisfied. But, as usual, I'm finding that, again, things start to crumble sometime in the middle of the movie.
It starts well and seems to want to become an acceptable flic. But then, the actors begin to display amateurism, the script stumbles and by the end we're not looking at a movie but a farce. Cheap jokes and underdeveloped plots, show once again that Mexican cinema, except for a few and resounding exceptions, does not want to make the effort to mature and reach the level of other Latin American countries that have surpassed it.
Todos lo saben (2018)
Needs some polish, but I enjoyed it
If you're comparing it with other Farhadi movies you'll find issues, of course, many of which have been pointed out: it's somewhat sluggish -there are parts in the middle where it almost slows to a halt- and the plot itself revolves more around what every character is feeling then around the mystery of the kidnapping. That is, it's rather a movie about consequences, than about what's happening. It is tense and emotional and psychologically true, but not thrilling. And if you really want to complain about it, the editing has 2 or 3 jumps here and there too.
But... I loved it. Farhadi went further and crossed some lines this time: he dared out of Persia, made a film in Spanish, used wide open shots and created a beautiful, well lit ambient: color, light, spaces... all those things made the film different from his earlier works. Not even "About Elly", filmed at the Caspian Sea, has this brightness and openness of view. The cinematography was outstanding, well thought out and artistically crafted. It helped to convey the emotion and sculpt the drama. And no, I found the end quite all right. It expressed the contrast between happiness and emptiness and makes you reflect on the impact of our decisions, hidden in our pasts, that come back to touch our lives in unexpected ways. It's amazing how frozen in time our decisions can be and how hard it is to change them after they have solidified in our souls, how impotent we are sometimes to modify them to break free and grab for that happiness that deep down we never cease to hope for, no matter impossible it may seem.
You end up with a sad and bitter feeling, but enjoying it. Because it makes sense, it is deep and suggestive, it makes you feel and think. And after all, that's what you expect from a good movie, isn't it?
Extinction (2018)
They're looking for you to ask for Extinction 2, people
C'mon, it wasn't that bad. It's somewhat plain in certain parts, it has 1227 clichés, lots of stereotyped dialog and some of the most disgusting characters I've had the displeasure to see in a very long time - you guessed who, right? - but it was fun. And it was fun cause the central idea is intriguing. It keeps you moving in spite of those cheesy stereotypes you've got to endure because, yes, there are some questions you've got to answer once the premise is thrown in. And Netflix being Netflix, they let them open because they want you to want a sequel, of course.
Now, on a another topic, I'd like to add that these reviews are slowly becoming a chat, really, because people need that board back! It seems to me that clueless "Was this review helpful" and those yes and no buttons are becoming sort of like and dislike buttons in disguise...
Adán y Eva (Todavía) (2004)
There is a story!
There is actually a storyline. The story goes forward. I don't know if I would watch it again, but I can't say I didn't like it either. I found it interesting to watch and, although I something wondered if things couldn't go faster, I never despaired. Yes, it is somewhat too arty, but not pointlessly so. It is, finally, the true -if not necessarily adequate- portrait of the character's feelings and thoughts.
What I don't know is if I would have known without prior explanation that they are bored to pieces and that that's the reason their sex is so bad. Because it IS bad. You don't see real pleasure, just some horniness at the beginning and naked bodies at the end. This is not something I would call avantgard or outrageous, as they call the film. There is nothing daring in it. Just some lousy, fragmented sex and that's it.
But the question about being there a story or not doesn't really arise. There is one. The real question is rather if there is a plot! Because yes, the characters go from a to b without hindrance, having to change mindsets, learning from their experiences or becoming somebody else. It is a cut into their lives, a piece of it in a certain moment, that shows how they feel and go about it to have some emotion, some change without it affecting the innermost structure, because it simply can't be otherwise. There is no drama about it. It is so. Just like that. So, in the end they are shown, quite unsurprisingly, walking away and fading into the landscape. They will keep on walking no matter what they do. The film wants to say that even sleeping with someone is uninteresting when there's nothing to gain and nothing to loose. You are careless and unattached. And that leads to boredom.
The film says all those things. So it does say what it has to say. The point here is how it does it. And there's why people find it boring.
I wouldn't say it is a *good* film. I'd call it interesting. Not a Sunday afternoon movie, but watchable.
Die Flucht (2007)
Why are we so ashamed to understand that we are humans too?
You see, it is different to be an American than to be a German. Americans won the war. Germans lost it. I've had to deal all my life with my father's flight from Silesia to South America running away from the Russians. You never had bombs falling on your head. You were not an East Prussian, A Silesian... You didn't live in Dresden when the bombers came. You didn't loose your home, your parents, your sons, your neighbors, your country. But my family does know because it was there.
When I read your words, as well intentioned as they may be, I understand why the History Channel shows so many American and British WWII aces shooting down German pilots to bring peace and order to the world. Because they were right. Because they were good. Because there's no doubt that their goodness and rightness was the real goodness and the real rightness that, thank God, won over evil and reigns victorious in the world today...
Because that's what you think, isn't it? It gives you peace and so does it to many millions more. How good you can sleep at night and teach those that were directly underneath your bombs how to behave today. Because, that's all too clear, they have still a lot to learn, a lot not to forget. Keep your righteous words coming. The world needs them. We Germans need them. We are eager to hear them. Thank you so very much! By the way... I loved the film. Though it saddened me deeply to watch it.
Apocalypto (2006)
One of the best movies of the year???
I live in Mexico and I've traveled to Yucatan. I live in Mexico now for more than 20 years.
This is not a movie about the Mayan culture. This Mad Max Reloaded.
First of all let's read again the plot outline: "As the Aztec kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw (Youngblood), a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate." It says the story is about the "Aztec kingdom". Sorry, it's about the Mayan Empire.
Secondly, the thesis that avoiding decline means more temples and human sacrifices is just that, a thesis. It is a good plot, nothing more. The Mayan culture is still alive today, as more that 60% of Yucatan's population is Mayan!! Gibson couldn't have picked a more simplistic approach. The reasons for the Mayan decline are been studied to this day and everything is just more or less reasonable speculation.
Thirdly, I quote: "If anything the strange language only adds to the tone of exotic strangeness that pervades this unusually good and thrilling movie." Well, they speak one of the modern dialects of the area, and only two characters spell it correctly: the young girl of the prophecy and an old man. All the rest, Youngblood included, just seem to read it. Real Mayan people that saw the film were indignant. Why didn't he use real Mayan actors?
Fourthly, the film portrays violence in an "American" way (I'm Chilean and therefore American too. But the word has been kidnapped). This kind of violence is typical of "American" films. Everything is set on fire, crashed, crushed and killed. It's called entertainment. This kind of violence has nothing to do with the way Mayans used violence. Generally speaking, they certainly didn't enjoy violence for violence's sake, as the one guy laughing at the prisoner hanging over a cliff tied to a stick.
Fifthly, what so cool about a story about one big, long persecution? A fast paced Rambo movie, that's all. What has that to do with Mayan culture?
Sixthly, the main actors and actresses just don't look Mayan. If there's something at all to be said about Mayans is that they LOOK Mayan!!! They are so typical, you can tell right away who's Mayan and who's not. These poor guys looked like Navajos and Chicanos, but not Mayan. I'm joking, but you get my meaning here.
Seventh, I've got to quote again: "Its portrayal of the Mayan culture -- including its strange dress, hair styles, costumes, tattoos, body piercing, and decorative scars, as well as its industry, class system, cities, warfare, weapons, myth, and religion -- provide a bizarre and fascinating anthropological backdrop [...]" Well, precisely what's missing most is a) a portentous display of Mayan culture and b) a rightful portrait of Mayan achievements. Both are sorely lacking in this movie. This a portrait of modern American culture transposed to the Mayan environment. Mayans are just a stand in for modern fantasies of a pseudo-American director. Mexican critics have mostly rejected the movie for savaging the Mayan culture. There's not a rightful understanding of the past in this movie, just an extrapolation of modern behaviors and stereotypes and fantasies upon a foreign culture.
Eighth, why are all the inhabitants of the city so dumbed? They looked as if absent. Eerie looks everywhere, as if people were mad or something. Has Gibson been in a Mexican market? Does he know, I mean, really KNOW how Mexicans walk and talk and laugh and dream and buy stuff and look and examine things and eat food and sweat and sleep and just pass by? It seems not. Because that's where the movie more resembled a set in a Mad Max movie. This people were not real!!!! This was not a Mayan city! This is impossible!!! I mean, does he know, by god's sake how Mayans feel???????????
Ninth, the plot itself, a very simple one at that, doesn't help to understand the Mayan culture. Its underlying message is just about the law of the fittest, nothing more.About being smarter, faster and more powerful and about getting revenge. This is Rambo, this is Schwarzenegger, this is Hollywood. Mayan life had nothing to do with it. Climb up one of those beautiful pyramids-temples, watch the carvings, let your eyes wander over the jungle, look down at the ceremonial spaces between the pyramids, take a look at those incredibly old trees, breath in the incredible beauty of all those places.... and you'll understand why I'm writing this. This is not Marlboro country by God's sake! There's such poetry in the air, such art and majesty... how could he not have gotten that?
Tenth, while we're at the pyramids... when you are up there... the scenery doesn't look like that. It doesn't look at all like that...so odd, so opaque, so weird. And, by the way, what a strange melange of Aztec and Mayan rituals, Mr. Gibson!
- - -
The plot outline and the comment that appear on the first page just display this same lack of knowledge and appreciation. But that's the kind of target it was created for. Sadly. Too bad the rest of the world must learn from this very poor example how Mayans supposedly lived around 500 years ago.
Mi mejor enemigo (2005)
Defending my patch of land at the end of the world
At the very south, a squad of 5 Chilean soldiers and its commanding officer are sent to the border with Argentina sometime in 1978 in the brink of a war between both countries over 3 desperately lonesome islands nobody until then used to care about. They have to explore the area and report "every suspicious activity". But while they get there, a soldier breaks the compass, they get hopelessly lost and are forced to dig a trench in the middle of nowhere, ignoring if that spot is in fact still homeland or enemy's territory. When they think nothing worse could happen, suddenly a squad of 6 Argentine dig another trench a couple of meters to the East and point their arms at them. There's no water around to be found, and the only order they get through their vanishing radio is to sit and wait. Problem is, nobody knows if the war will start or when and they've only got around 20 bullets each to defend the country...
This film has a lot of subtleties for those who can see them. It is not only a universal story about war and peace, but a description of a difficult vicinity. Through this very real approach to being friend or foe, drawing the frontier "two steps to the left" or "two small steps to the right", Chilean and Argentine have been neighbors for the best part of 500 years, feeling very much part of the same family and at the same time quite different people.
One look says it all: it is at times difficult to recognize each countries uniform. Both are standard military green and have the same helmets, alas if one part uses goggles on them. But when it comes to behavior, Chilean are stiffer and disciplined, while Argentine are more relaxed and less hierarchical.
The film draws most of its conclusions from a small patch of land, divided by a very fuzzy line that both squads have drawn one day by common accord to avoid useless quarrel. In fact, nobody knows where the limit really runs. It is an abstraction. Both groups arrive at the scene willing to defend this idea to death, and end up having to wait for the order to do it. Meanwhile reality sets in and catches them up: once, it's the Chilean who need penicillin for a wounded soldier, another time it's the Argentinians who wish to eat meat from a calf given away by a shepherd to the Chilean. Both squads end up sitting on the border roasting it together, taking pictures of one another, telling stories, and playing (soccer) football. In the end, pride and honor take a different, much more approachable,dimension. When war fails to set in, Chilean and Argentine become once again that what they are: just neighbors, very similar people. In fact, as one of the soldiers puts it, "some families cross the border every day for work's sake, and they do it 'just like that'".
The film empathizes once and again the vastness of the pampas and the impossibility of drawing a "border" there. This complete nothingness is underlined by the tiny number of soldiers of each squad: 6 on each side. These proportions cannot but entirely dwarf the heroic intentions of "defending the motherland" at all costs, etc. The reason for the possible war were as ridicule as the situation itself: 3 lonesome islands at the end of the world, nobody's concern until two countries were willing to kill and destroy for it. But that's exactly what Argentinians and Chilean have been doing for centuries: fight for land. Sometimes over 1 000 000 km in Patagonia, sometimes about 3 tiny islands. But when these matters are settled, both countries unite very easily. This jumping from cold to hot mood in a matter of minutes portraits very truly the Latin character: getting exited about small things and arguing to death and then falling into each other's arms laughing about the silliness of it all.
The picture is not about archetypes of peace and war, it doesn't reach Olympic heights or neck breaking depths, but its insights are fresh because it shows the same eternal questions viewed by two peoples that commonly don't show up in our cinemas every day. It is an honest, well crafted movie, and surely entertains while making you think.