Nothing Personal

Not an easy movie to explain but wonderful to watch in so many levels that honestly I'm wordless when trying to write about it. So I will ramble. An extremely beautiful to watch pas-de-deux between Stephen Rea and Lotte Verbeek that maybe is a non-traditional love story or maybe is a quiet, slowly, peaceful expression of human relationships told in this story by two lonely individuals that find each other. One chooses to be lonely, the other is a widow. One doesn’t want to be found, the other doesn’t want to be alone. In the end is all about irony. See, no matter what I write it really doesn’t express what you will see in this movie as I believe everything I wrote above is in this movie but doesn’t really explain the story or what you will see.

For the first time I’m going to cheat and write an excerpt of the synopsis as written in the movie official site that surely will describe better what this movie is all about, if you want to read more go here.

A young female rebel and an old sage challenge each other in a story about personal freedom and attachment. She is a young Dutch woman, who after throwing away all her possessions becomes a vagabond by choice and finds the solitude she was looking for in an austere landscape of Irish Connemara. He is an old man who lives a solitary life in a secluded house in Ireland. She is radical and uncompromising. He is wise and ironic. What connects them is solitude they both see as freedom.

Alright that’s what the filmmaker intended but I’m sure that some of you after watching will discover other meanings, story and/or interpretation. I did but I’m not speechless, I’m wordless. Since writing here is the first time it happens to me. I also suggest if you want to learn more that you read an interview with director and writer Urszula Antoniak that’s here as will give you some insights about her film.

As a movie is almost perfect. Extraordinary landscapes of Irish Connemara, great cinematography, silences, very little dialogue, more actors expressions, very-slow pace, and a very attention grabber story told in five acts via words in black screens: Loneliness, The end of a relationship, Marriage, Beginning of a Relationship, and Alone but the words tell nothing about what follows or better, tell everything in a tangential way.

As you can tell I’m absolutely perplexed by this film that’s absolutely (cacophony on purpose) a work of art with a very-intriguing story told in the most unconventional possible way.

This extraordinary film collected major awards at 2009 Locarno fest including Best First Film for Urszula Antoniak and Best Actress for Lotte Verbeek as well as more awards and nominations in festivals around the world.

I strongly recommend the film to those that appreciate Art and European cinemas, but as the film has a clearly told story maybe some of you that don’t like this type of cinema could enjoy it too. To close a photo of one scene that I need to have here.

Big Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

Altiplano

I was really looking forward to watch a film that has been called "unusual" because "narrative style combines realism, symbolism, almost mystical lyricism, and strong visual approach with superb cinematography". A mix of documentary and narrative. Alright the movie has all the above plus an intriguing cast with two actresses I've been following, very exotic Magaly Solier and also exotic Jasmin Tabatabai, BUT (and is a big but) I didn't like it!

I find it an absolutely pretentious mix of many styles -some from many of my favorite directors- to tell a tale that's more serious, down-to-earth, simple yet complex, and never a dream (like filmmakers say) as tells something that really happened in Peru. But actually what this film absolutely lacks is great storytelling and great filmmakers, which -in my opinion- both directors and co-writers absolutely are not.

This is the third role where Magaly Solier plays a Quechua and can't be more different to her previous two roles in Madeinusa and La Teta Asustada (The Milk of Sorrow). So different that while watching I think I discovered what was really missing in this movie was a great director and a superb storyteller like -for example- Claudia Llosa that in her movies explores almost same Peruvian mysticism and symbols with realism but she does it with a magical narrative and is able to extract true awesome performances from her actors.

In Altiplano Magaly Solier doesn't have an awesome performance as she looks and feels woody, theatrical, underused and sometimes performing the absurd; the same happens with Jasmin Tabatabi, just add that she's distant and never feels inside her character. True shame that such good actresses were subjected to an underuse of their respective capabilities.

The film tells two stories, one about a small village in Peru where an US company discovers gold, contaminates with mercury the town of Turubamba, and inhabitants start to die. The other about a war photographer (Tabatabi) suffering from depression that loses her Belgian, humanitarian doctor husband to the hands of the Turubamba inhabitants rage against foreigners and leads her to initiate a redemptory journey to the small Peruvian village. The two stories never merge according to me, unless you consider that the "symbiotic/symbolic" merge of Grace and Saturnina makes the story merge at the end. I don't.

I don't recommend this very pretentious film unless you have never seen the beauty of Peruvian (and sometimes thought was the Chilean) Altiplano. But then, you better rent a National Geographic documentary or watch the NatGeo TV channel and will be able to watch the Altiplano beauty without all the nonsense in this film.

The film really upset me for under-using great actresses; but most of all, for so unsuccessfully copying -or trying to copy- styles that belong to great master filmmakers.

Sigh.

Watch trailer (at your own risk) @Movie On Companion

La Rabia

Very interesting film by Albertina Carri that definitively is art cinema with great slowish pace that allows full contemplation, some truly amazing Pampa photography, great bare setting in an Argentinean Hacienda and good actor’s performances that totally convince that neighbors are not always welcome to your life and if you do so, take responsibility for the consequences.

Produced by Pablo Trapero (director of great Leonera), the story written also by Carri tells about a mute little girl, Nati, that has her life upside down because she has seen her mother having sex with the neighbor. Nati tells us the story with her drawings that become quite interesting animated inkblot drawings; when the drawings are animated they tell what the girl saw and what will come next. Some call the story an erotic tale, probably because Nati’s mother and the neighbor have raw and noisy sex; but I found nothing erotic, as I tend to believe that their sex is violent just as everything else that happens in the story. But violence is raw and very similar to life in the country of many Latin American countries.

Be aware that if you have not experienced life in remote areas where animals live and die just as humans, you could be offended by the use in this film of unfaked animal deaths. By the way La Rabia means “the rage”, but here is the name of the sleepy village and is also what all the characters feel at one moment in the story.

I found many scenes similar to what I have seen in Carlos Reygadas movies, including the use of fix and/or slow panning camera to capture nature at its best. These scenes make the film breathtaking. But I found one key difference; in Reygadas movies I can’t guess the story, while in Carri’s film I guessed the story right quite early. Still it was a pleasure watching the great tech specs of the film.

The movie was screened at the 2008 Belinale in the Panorama Special section and traveled the festival circuit where was honored with nominations and awards, including winning Best Director in the 2008 Havana Latin American fest and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2008 Transilvania fest.

I know that this film is not for all audiences not only because is art, but also because the animals that are killed and the raw/noisy sex scenes; but I do recommend the movie as an excellent example of the new wave of Latin American art cinema.

Definitively this is one female director that I'll try to see more of her work.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Tôkyô Sonata (Tokyo Sonata)

I had no idea that Kiyoshi Kurosawa is known for his horror movies (a genre that I do not particularly like), but from following fests I knew that this film was no horror at all and once more I find a reason to be so glad to follow fest as otherwise I would have missed this great movie.

Have to start by telling you that after watching for a while I couldn’t relate to what was happening in the story. It was like if what I was watching made no sense to my western eyes. Then suddenly I realized that the problem was that the story was set in modern times, as if the story was set before and the characters were wearing traditional Japanese clothes then everything will have made sense as definitively the film is quite similar to any of Ozu’s ordinary families stories. Realizing this fact allowed me to think about what I already saw and what will follow with different “mentality” and definitively allowed me to enjoy more the story and the film. Perhaps this happened only to me, but just in case it happens to anybody else I had to share it, as this is an excellent film that for no reason should be dismissed as not extraordinary.

Kurosawa’s film tells about an ordinary family that hides things to not disturb their fragile existence. The father, Ryûhei Sasaki, lost his job and tells no one. The mother, Megumi Sasaki, feels lonely and not appreciated. The older son, Takashi Sasaki, never is home and decides to leave Japan to join the US armed forces. The younger son, Kenji Sasaki, wants to learn to play the piano and his parents do not allow him. As everyday situations happen –and unexpected things start to happen- the story slowly unravels the drama that will change this family forever to allow them to have a fresh new start. But to me this is a story that deals with the ever changing/transforming Japanese society that has to deal with their strong cultural traditions while trying to cope to adapt to modern times and as such it becomes more universal, as applies to any society with strong traditions and new generations having real problems to follow old cultural rules and accepted behaviors.

Then the story also deals with something that is very relevant nowadays, the financial depression with companies downsizing and outsourcing to other countries with cheaper labor, high executives unemployment and their inability to find a similar new job and finally ending doing below their social status jobs; families lack of communication, generational lack of willingness to understand each other, and women that start trying to fulfill their empty lives but have no idea of what to do. So I can say that the story has many layers -as well as many readings- and will be up to the viewer to see whatever they want to see or want to relate to.

Also this is a movie where the finale is the climax that closes the movie in a grandiose way and makes sense to everything that you have watched, including the bizarre plot twist that allows the presence for a few minutes of great Kôji Yakusho that plays Dorobô, a character that propels Megumi liberation.

But the film develops quite flawlessly and very easy to watch what happens in the screen. Is when you try to tell others what is all about that becomes quite complex, as you all have realized by now with my long writing about the story.

Nevertheless the film as a film is quite spectacular with a grainy grayish cinematography that totally contributes to the Sasaki family spiral down to breakdown and absolutely allows the finale to become more grandiose. Performances are truly outstanding with Teruyuki Kagawa impressive performance as severe Ryûhei trying to “save face” in front of his family members (he was also in the third story in Tokyo!); and both Kyôko Koizumi as Megumi and Inowaki Kai as Kenji delivering remarkable intense characters.

The film was premiered at 2008 Cannes at the Un Certain Regard section where won the Jury Prize and did the fest circuit to many accolades and honors, including Kurosawa winning Best Director at the 2008 Mar del Plata fest, Best Film and Best Screenwriter at the 2009 Asian Film Awards and Best Film at India’s 2008 Osian’s Cinefan fest.

Definitively a film that I highly recommend especially to those that truly enjoy Japanese cinema and one that I strongly suggest to watch until the very end as the movie climax and finale is truly extraordinary, outstanding to watch and to listen, and closes the bittersweet story in somehow an unexpected way.

Big Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion