Cosas Insignificantes (Insignificant Things)

Sometimes films that you forgot about it surprise you not only because after a long time you’re able to watch it but also because the film is good. Andrea Martínez debut is a good film for the story, the performances and most of all for the excellent production values that complement a story that would have been very common and make it quite different thanks to very interesting editing that plays crisscrossing with characters stories.

Not everyone will like the editing as probably will surprise –and eventually annoy- many when what you have already seen appears again when following a different character story; but think that if director have not chosen this storytelling technique, story and film would have been common, will look and feel ‘soapy’ and will not be interesting at all. Still what really blew my mind are the occasional extraordinary takes of a Mexico City that never have seen portrayed so beautiful and yet so dramatic. Just to watch the amazing sights of the volcanoes this film is absolutely must be seen.

But film has also very good performances by an ensemble cast of Mexican and Spanish well-known actors with special mention to Barbara Mori that also produced film and maybe because being a producer –plus a good director- gave a performance that shows that she can really act. But is Paulina Gaitan (from extraordinary Sin Nombre; outstanding Capadocia and excellent Las Aparicio)who steals the movie with her character Esmeralda and her story being the central plot where all other stories converge. Acting in this film is more about body language and facial expressions that tell a lot more than what words could ever do.

The movie is a feel-good movie as has a non-conventional positive ending but story deals with sadness, unhappiness, illness, rage, no-future, loneliness, despair, unfaithfulness, etc. and how an unconventional incident (a beautiful snow alike ash rain) detonates characters change of heart for the better. Title comes from Esmeralda’s collection of little and insignificant common things stored in a small box.

I liked the movie more than I could ever imagined but believe that definitively is not a movie for general audiences as storytelling style is not ‘normal’ and there is no ‘explosive’ drama that will move viewers. This is a film that can move viewers because the little insignificant-and-significant things that happen in narrative and visually. Definitively must be seen for those that like arty cinema with a Latin American flavor.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

La Yuma

Not very often we have the opportunity to watch a Nicaraguan film (first film in 20 years) and much less one that is above the good threshold as this Florence Jaugey’s film is. This is Jaugey’s “work of love and persistence” as ‘only’ took her 10 years to have her screenplay (she co wrote final version) produced into a movie that was a box office success in Nicaragua and has been collecting honors while traveling the festival circuit.

The film is not flawless but has a good positive story told in a colorful way with non-actors that create characters that look and feel real, especially Alma Blanco’s good performance as La Yuma, the strong-willed young woman that reaches her goal no matter what she has to do. Blanco steals the film and just to watch her makes this film more than worth-watching.

Film tells about Yuma the strong willed young woman from a Managua’s gang-infested poor neighborhood that dreams of becoming a boxer and about finding a way to leave the neighborhood. This is not a drama like –for example- Million Dollar Baby, this is a drama that very credible portraits reality and no doubt that helps that story is based on a real-life story. Most interesting is that even when portraits reality the film does it in a very entertaining non-disturbing storytelling style which absolutely appeals to wider audiences.

I didn’t enjoyed the ‘different social-class’ romance especially because actor playing Ernesto had a not-good performance, but somehow I understand that was important to learn how Yuma for the first time was exposed to the world beyond her miserable surroundings. Excluding those moments I found the film and story quite enjoyable and surprisingly very entertaining.

I do recommend the movie as a good woman centered story and as an easy-to-watch entertaining film that portraits reality so well.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

La Nana (The Maid)

Not an easy movie for me to review, so I cheated and read a lot of critics and users reviews to get some inspiration. Unfortunately all reviews or viewers comments refer to the story, including those from 'professional' critics, so I have no choice but to share with you all my personal experience with this movie that was not what I expected, a comedy, but a drama that could touch many in so many different ways. Yes, definitively has a powerful story that if you identify with it or not, you will absolutely get absorbed by it.

Why is not easy for me to write about this movie? See, I had a live-in maid when I was growing up and she was part of the family. When I grew up and became independent, never had a live-in maid -came and go everyday- but still became part of my family. The point, I have always had a maid, no matter where I lived and always developed a very close relationship with them. So, the story touched me in several levels regarding this point, one is related to my own experience with maids as being part of my family; another is how maids take control of your domestic life, another how your privacy is invaded by maids, last how maids have an awful position within your family as they really don't belong to your family (period). All the above is a subject matter no one discuss or talk about no matter which country you live in.

But this sad tale with a few tragicomic moments also touched me on a human level on how we human beings could lose perspective of our own lives and end up living lives with other human beings that care for you when is convenient for them and how you become an 'object' they get used to see every day and can't or aren't willing to get rid of it. It's up to each individual to face true reality -against imaginary reality- and get out of a situation, or accept it as such to live a happier life.

Very complex and layered story in a movie with outstanding performances by most of the supporting cast, but the lead Catalina Saavedra performance is truly amazing from any point of view that you analyze it, with special mention to how she transforms right in front of your eyes. Great performance. The movie as a movie has its flaws, but you won't be able to easily see them as the story will grab your attention quite fast and will hold it until the very end. This is the incredible good work of a filmmaker, Sebastián Silva, than in his second film shows great timing mastery, so good that kept the story flowing flawlessly.

The story is very simple, a live-in maid discovers her reality and is allowed to live her own life for the first time in twenty years, since she came to the home of a wealthy Chilean family when she was very young. Obviously for her to finally be able to do it many, but many, things will happen that will portrait her as a villain, a manipulative woman, a caged woman, a very tired woman, an innocent/naive woman, (etc.) up to a more assertive woman that accepts and starts to enjoy her 'real' life.

Did I like the movie? Today I do, but when I saw it I was feeling so 'not good' that I almost regretted having watch it. The story was too close and personal, absolutely identified with it and touched so many 'forbidden to talk' issues that became unbearable. Not many stories in film make me feel so many 'not positive' emotions and took me a long while to realize that I liked the movie (a lot) as this incredibly good performed and directed story broke some of my own taboos.

Will this happen to you? Probably not, but IF you have had live-in maids while growing up or today, then maybe. Still, I strongly suggest you don't miss it as is an awfully good story in a good film that some critics dared to claim has reminiscences of Hitchcock or Godard and yes I do agree with them. The film became a huge success in the festival and awards worldwide circuit and got 24 wins, plus 7 nominations, including a nomination at the 2010 Golden Globes in the Best Foreign Language Film and winning the Grand Jury Prize at 2009 Sundance fest plus Special Jury Prize to Catalina Saavedra.

Again, I suggest you don't miss this amazing film.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

52nd Ariel Awards Winners

Recently the Mexican Academy had their award ceremony and here are the winners for the main categories.

Best Film: Cinco días sin Nora (Nora's Will), Mariana Chenillo
Best First Film: Cinco días sin Nora (Nora's Will), Mariana Chenillo

Best Director: Carlos Carrera for El Traspatio (Backyard)
Best Actress: Azur Zagada in El Traspatio (Backyard)
Best Actor: Fernando Lujan in Cinco días sin Nora (Nora's Will), Mariana Chenillo

Best Ibero-american Film: El Secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes), Juan José Campanella, Argentina and Spain

To check winners in all categories go here available only in Spanish.

Solo Quiero Caminar (Just Walking)

Imagine a movie with Victoria Abril, Ariadna Gil, Elena Anaya and Pilar López de Ayala. Can you? This movie has this stellar cast and surprise, is entertaining with particular nod to quite interesting and good cinematography. Okay, is not perfect as it has its moments when is too predictable, long unnecessary dramatic takes (they had to allow dramatic screen time to each leading role), the narrative is fragmented as if they want us to know everything about the background but left to our imagination many things and among all the macho Mexican men there had to be one that was not that macho Gabriel (Diego Luna). But in general is entertaining, grabs your attention beyond watching the actresses, and there are some moments where you really get into the story about half the movie.

Someone who reads this blog was asking for the female Ocean Eleven and yes this is the one as is about a heist; the difference to Ocean is that here are only four women that can do everything (and more) eleven men did in Ocean. Do the math and you will guess that these women are not the traditional weak females cinema love to portrait and no matter how skinny or tiny the actresses are at moments whatever they do is quite credible; helps a lot that in many scenes they look like if they’re not wearing makeup.

This Agustín Díaz Yanes mainstream oeuvre (he writes and directs) starts with the four women doing a heist to Russian gangsters in Spain; something goes wrong and one ends up in jail. Simultaneously we meet two Mexican gangsters in Mexico City, who eventually travel to Spain and meet two of the women. One Mexican decides to marry Ana (Elena Anaya) and the action moves back to Mexico where eventually the women get together to execute a plan to steal from Ana’s husband. There are many little twists in the story, some are successfully unexpected but some are not.

The movie was honored with a 2009 Goya for cinematography and Ariadna Gil won Best Actress at the 2209 Cinema Writers Circle Awards from Spain, an award that Gil deserves as she delivers quite good the best role of the four.

I was expecting a light movie (still in the same mood) but this is not light, is darkish and not only because the cinematography but also because some of the spoken dialogues which definitively was an unexpected surprise that allowed me to enjoy the film beyond watching the strong female portraits by actresses I could not imagine doing those roles at all.

The film cinematography is interesting but this is a mainstream movie that I believe could appeal to adult audiences as an escape moment and as such I do recommend it. If you like watching any of the actresses, then the film is must be seen for you and I strongly recommend do not miss seeing Ariadna Gil as probably you’ll be as surprised as me with her performance.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Backyard (El Traspatio)

Ciudad Juarez is a small town across the border from the U.S. where women have been disappearing, only to be found later raped and murdered. Though the numbers keep growing, seems like no one really cares. These women come mainly from the poor classes, cheap labor for multinational businesses on the area, and these crimes are, at most, a nuisance to the authorities.

This Mexican movie from director Carlos Carrera focuses on that reality, and does so in a perfect way. Maybe that is why it’s Mexico’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film to the Academy Awards, and I hope it gets nominated so that there’s a chance more people will see this movie.

Written by Sabina Berman, this movie has a very interesting plot, as it seems to portray men and women on different sides (with very few exceptions). Women are the victims, men the perpetrators; women are moving things and trying to give the situation visibility and to find solutions, men want to cover it up or ignore it. Women are worried about the victims, men are worried about their careers. This makes for a powerful play about gender struggles, even if you can see that there are other things in stake, as money and political ambitions.

Talented and beautiful actress Ana De La Reguera portrays policewoman Blanca Bravo, doing all she can and some more to solve and stop the crimes. She doesn’t look glamorous; she looks real, as real as this story is. At first she was not considered for the part, as there was the fear she’d look “too sexy” for it. As you’ll find out watching the movie, clearly it wasn’t a problem. There are other relevant characters in the movie and acting is very good. Apart from Ana, I want to mention Amorita Rasgado and Adriana Paz.

As I said, what goes on at Ciudad Juarez is unfortunately reality, not fiction, and the director does a good job at making you see it as so.

Quoting the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights:

The victims of these crimes have preponderantly been the state of young women, between 12 and 22 years of age. Many were students, and most were assembly plants workers. A number were relative newcomers to Ciudad Juarez who had migrated from other areas of Mexico. The victims were generally reported missing by their families, with their bodies found days or months later abandoned in vacant lots, outlying areas or in the desert. In most of these cases there were signs of sexual violence, abuse, torture or in some cases mutilation.

I’d also like to recommend a visit to the movie official site, very interactive and with lots of relevant information.

I’ve seen this movie portrayed as a Thriller and I’m afraid it will give the wrong idea about the movie. I guess they have to “sell it” any way they can, and if it brings more people to watch it, so be it. But it is not an eat-some-popcorn-and-relax flick.

If you are looking for an entertaining movie, this is not it. I didn’t enjoy myself. I was moved, and worried. By the way, sex-related crimes against women are on the rise, everywhere.

Green light!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Sin Nombre

Incredibly hard to watch story, but truly mesmerizing, in an extraordinary and outstanding debut film by Cary Joji Fukunaga who definitively is a master storyteller and a master filmmaker in the making. All the honors that he and his film have been collecting are more than well deserved and I really hope that as long as continues to travel the fest circuit more honors will come to this remarkable and unforgettable film.

It is not the first film I watch about Central American immigrants to the North. I have read about their stories in newspapers, have seen one or two buildings in one country were they keep the ones that get caught, and have seen photography essays that capture reality one moment at a time. But never have I seen such great moving pictures with this subject that everyone wants it to go away, close their eyes to it and many more don’t even know that it exist. Like Fukunaga says in an interview, this is Immigration 2007. It’s not a century ago, is two years ago, is what is happening today.

The immigration story is not about reaching the US border, is about a trip from Honduras into Guatemala and Mexico and the unthinkable that people have to deal with; from endless walks, corrupted authorities and gangs.

If the immigration story was not enough hard hitting, the story also tells about something that I have to admit that I have been avoiding watching movies about. I’m talking about the Maras (gangs) and particularly the very infamous Mara Salvatrucha that from Los Angeles CA went years ago down to Mexico and now inhabits almost all Central America countries. Thousands of men and women are real “Mareros” from Salvatrucha. So, what I have been avoiding was exactly the beginning of the movie with a Salvadorean Marero boss in Tapachula, Chiapas.

I could have stopped the movie that instant, but I didn’t. Is the truly amazing Fukunaga’s storytelling abilities plus extraordinary camera moves, framing and cinematography what captured me and allowed me to watch this outstanding portrait of the violent and totally business oriented (they do what they do to make money) Maras.

Yes this is a movie about the Mara Salvatrucha and traveling illegal immigrants. But the film has a story, well, two stories that eventually merge. One is about El Casper a marero from Tapachula with a drama evolving due to sentimental reasons into revenge and fleeing from his colleagues that want to kill him. The other is about a young innocent woman, Sayra, which her deported father wants to go back to USA and this time takes her daughter and brother from Honduras into Guatemala and Tapachula. Is very close to Tapachula where the two stories merge when El Casper saves Sayra from being raped. It’s an intense story that will make you feel lots of emotions thanks to great actor’s performances and a director with great filmmaking skills.

For me it’s really remarkable than an American director (well, his father is Japanese, his mother Swedish and was born in Oakland, CA) could tell so well a story of a different culture and in Spanish. Yes the movie is in Spanish, but I strongly suggest you watch it with subtitles in any language you also understand as when the mareros talk it is not your regular and normal language. The point is that Fukunaga did many years of research into illegal immigration in the South of Mexico and with the Mara Salvatrucha; and he did three different train trips along with the illegal immigrants, so definitively he knows what he wrote and what he captured so vividly in the screen. Big Chapeau as a researcher, a writer, amazing storyteller and for making a film so well crafted that definitively belongs to the serious cinema, art cinema and arthouse cinema style.

If you feel like reading about Fukunaga experience I suggest you read this UK interview.

I strongly recommend this film as a Must Be Seen to everyone that lives in a Central American country; but I also strongly suggest to those that live in America to watch it, as probably will give you a different perspective about the illegal aliens that many see (and fear) standing at a Home Depot (or similar) corner around many American cities.

But must of all, I strongly recommend this film to everyone that likes to see Art in the screen.

I can’t hardly believe that this is Fukunaga’s first feature film, as he is Impressive. This is one director that I hope won’t be seduced by Hollywood into making blockbuster movies (he has already projects with two main studios… pity) and continues to make something that is truly rare: American art cinema with hard hitting emotional stories.

Big Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Venezianimation Award Winners

Here is the news release with the winners.

Today, Wednesday 2nd September 2009 – the opening day of the 66th Venice International Film Festival – the winners of the Venezianimation online competition, organized by La Biennale Channel in association with the Festival, have been announced. The competition is aimed at 18 to 26 year-old participants coming from all over the world, for the production of a short animated video of any subject and of a maximum duration of five minutes (5’).

The winning short films were announced today by the President of La Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta, during the opening press conference of the 66th Festival:

1) A Bicycle Trip, Nandini Nambiar, Italy
2) Tempus, Carlos O. Navarro, Mexico
3) Il Naturalista (CSC), Gianluca Lo Presti, Italy

To watch the shorts go Movie On Companion

Los Bastardos

The second feature film by Amat Escalante has signs of a great filmmaker in the making but it puzzles me why I always have to find relationships to films by other filmmakers. This time the story and also a little the style seems a lot like Michael Haneke’s original (not the american version) Funny Games where two men play “funny games” with their hostages. Then I was hoping that cinematography improved over Sangre and well, there are a couple of long shots (opening and closing scenes) that are great, but the rest are not really great compositions.

The films tells less than 24 hours in the life of Jesus and Fausto, two young alien day-laborers like those that stand in a corner of many USA cities waiting for someone to pickup them to do the most banal and bad paid jobs. As their normal day evolves, we see them being picked up for a construction job, going into a park to have some beers in the shadow not before almost getting into a fight with some Americans that treat them derogatively; but as they will do any kind of job for a few dollars, today is a special day as the job they accepted means more money and to carry a gun. Finally they arrive to their well-paid job and enter Karen’s house where you are totally sure that something bad is going to happen and well, it does. But it comes as a “jumping from your seat” surprise as it is totally unexpected. Film closes as it began, with a beautiful long shot in a field that according to Escalante means that everything will grow again.

I was expecting a much more terrible and even violent film, as not only I read summaries about the movie but also has a very suggestive name. In this sense the film is almost violence free, except for a few minutes in the movie climax and since the very beginning moves the story at a very slow pace with banal and not relevant things happening until both get into the house. The pace inside the house is a little bit more faster (actually not much) and things start to happen that start to make you uneasy; but while you expect things to happen they do not. So, that’s why when finally something violent happens becomes truly surprising.

As a movie is above average with very good use of sound (especially in the beginning) and remarkable editing (editing was done by Escalante and Turkish Ayhan Ergürsel that’s Nuri Belge Ceylan editor) and have to admit that even if I definitively did not enjoyed the characters, the leads are exceptional and very credible especially when were performed by non- professional actors. The film was premiered at 2008 Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section and has been collecting honors in the fest circuit including Best Mexican film at 2008 Morelia fest, Best Film at Sitges 08, Best Latin American Film at 2008 Mar del Plata fest, and Best Director at 2008 Bratislava fest.

I don’t believe that this film is for the usual art or art cinema fans and because of the story tend to think that men, more than women, will like it better. For me the experience was not pleasant and definitively liked a lot more his first film Sangre and hope that in the future his films become more interesting to watch both in story as visually. After all his mentor and co producer of this movie is Carlos Reygadas.

I cannot recommend this movie.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion