User Reviews

impressive movie-documentary, one of the most amazing filmworks i have seen lately. the power is not in the images themselves, nor in the spoken words themselves or in the music itself, but in the way they feed each other in the fortes and pianos of the score of the movie, which flows like a symphony where everything achieves its own meaning at the right time with the right tempo and the right volume in the right light and signification: it all works symbiotically and emotively like as guided by a heartbeat metronome. the original dub/techno/trance groove, scripted for the movie by sofa surfers, drives to resonance colors, lights and dramatic power of the film images; it creates a wonderfully timed counterpoint with the frantic monologues, a patchwork of urban philosophy over the sense of life and junk reaction to the nonsense. music calls for the whole body to vibrate with the eyes and brain: it's a full-immersion multimedial experience, which has to be lived in a dolby-surround theater with a large screen: eyes, ears, heart, guts and nerves are all called to participate in the rhythm of the movie. and this is the reason why i don't personally think it's worth it to be watched on a DVD at home.

Just saw this film at SIFF. I didn't think the film showed respect for the people/situations being filmed and appeared more driven by a desire to manipulate/control the audience than anything else. The film takes the viewer to scenes with the potential to provoke meaningful thought and discussion long after the film is over, but instead chooses to make sure the audience is getting it the way the film maker wants it to be got which leads to a very long, drawn-out musical-visual head-banging of the self serving variety. The tortilla-making couple with dreams of travel to Los Angeles was a beautiful contrast in dreams vs. reality and the film maker's respect for this couple was clear. This also came across with the people gathering items discarded in the water. Rather than listening to a one-liner statement about themselves (directed by the camera where to stand), we were able to listen in to a conversation about how they were collecting discarded items and were not thieves -- in their own words. This was not the case with some of the more difficult-to-view segments where the the film became more manipulative/exploitive such as with the dye worker. The scene with the dye-worker, as with many of the scenes, forced the character to stand there for the camera and give a canned statement about their dreams which told us nothing about the character other than that he or she was cooperative with the film maker. It would have taken more time and effort to show some respect for the characters, but I felt the goal was to get some quick footage for his film and then get the hell out of there.