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Reviews
Ángel caído (2010)
Angel Caido and the derivative epic
Arturo Anaya's "angel Caido" is a bold, but failed attempt to create an epic saga made in Mexico. The short budget may be used as an excuse for the absolute disaster shown on the screen, but the guilt must rest on the screen-player/director and his clumsiness as a filmic narrator. "Angel Caido" is a parade of one dimensional characters played by abysmal performers running amok through a plot already seen thousands of times before. Maybe the main failure of "Angel Caido" is the construction of real characters, but neither helps the arbitrary camera work, a poor production design or the derivative story and a wandering tempo that makes the whole thing an absolute bore. Perhaps Anaya should reduce the scope of his ambitions in order to become a better story teller, that's the foundation of a director's craft.
Una giornata particolare (1977)
Un día irrepetible.
Mientras la industria cinematográfica italiana de los setenta se debatía entre copias mal hechas de éxitos estadounidenses y sexi-comedias cada vez realizadas con menor convicción, Ettore Scola se las arreglaba para rodar "Una Jornada Particular". Cine intimista y reflexivo que confronta a Italia con su historia reciente. Mientras un hombre y una mujer que habitan en la misma unidad habitacional se conocen, y parecen satisfacer sus particulares necesidades de afecto, en el exterior el país vive un rally fascista al que acuden las masas que creen reverdecer sus imperiales glorias. La apabullante fantasía del exterior es abrumada por la dolorosa realidad que viven el hombre y la mujer en una jornada única e irrepetible. El sobrio trabajo de Mastroiani y Loren, sumado al buen oficio de Scola, dando cátedra del manejo del tiempo y espacio cinematográfico, hacen que "Una Jornada Particular" permanezca como una de las cúspides de la historia del cine italiano.
Espérame en otro mundo (2007)
A total waste
What an experience! I have just paid for see this one and want that money back into my pocket! Nothing can be saved in this movie. The actors' direction is ridiculous (Margarita Sanz had never been worse), the plot is silly and pitiful, the whole "decoupage" is worthy of someone who has never seen cinema, and the project seems the work of some amateur who badly wants to be a filmmaker an has not sensibility o rhythm or pulse or nothing to be consider as one. This film is a painful step back in. It causes an amount of laughs that are not foreseen in a screenplay that is supposed to be a drama. With this movie Villaseñor does that we wonder if " Por si no te vuelvo a ver " was entirely an accident.
Atlético San Pancho (2001)
Mimic...
This film wants to be all and ends to be nothing but a tremendous coca cola publicity. Watching this film comes to mind a bunch of sports movies, of course the main reference is Michael Ritchie's *THE BAD NEWS BEARS* mixed with some ROCKY's "times of truth". Nothing is original in this derivative piece of flick, everything is stolen from other movies, specially from the american sports films. In other hand, *ATLETICO SAN PANCHO* carries the burden of a misconstructed screenplay filled with common places and not even one smart idea. Children are just fuzzy creatures in this one, they are just stereotypicall and vacuom creatures. This mimic piece of film adds nothing to mexican cinema. Hope the negatives burn in hell.
Le testament d'Orphée ou ne me demandez pas pourquoi (1960)
Film Poetry.
Cocteau, as an authentic reinassance man, shown the world how poetry could be inside everything. In this film, a real testament Cocteau delivers us his whole original world, that one that he constructed from life experiences. His unique craft never needed big budgets, Cocteau creates the magic taking a flower and primary cinema f/x. Thats all, what you see on the screen is just poetry.
Pickpocket (1959)
Filming the soul.
In Pickpocket theres nothing but the souls of the characters. Bresson's technique is perfect: the softness on the movements of his camera, his direction of his models ( he never called them actors ), all in form is headed to make a content:a story about crime and redemption. The ending is a breathtaking, a moment of true beauty: The thief on her beloved arms, a resemblance of Michelangelo's "La pietá" in one of the highest points cinema as a major art.
Groundhog Day (1993)
Perfection
Only one word can resume what this film is: Perfection. This instant comedy classic is a fable about making things go right. Murray plays a weather reporter who wakes up on the same day in a boring town over and over. When the situation becomes a chance the film moves from straight comedy to romantic comedy without a problem. A totally round story, an sensible direction and a nice casting with a fabulous Bill Murray playing his character with a touch of cinisism that never lets the film become corny, and one of the best screenplay that I've ever seen, are the ingredients that makes this film a jewel. "Run Lola Run", the Germanic flick is exactly about the same topic, see both films.
Amores perros (2000)
My vote at last
O.k. that was it, after much thinking I guess people should do some justice to this modern wonder. Putting aside all controversies, there's no doubt about the quality of this flick: history, acting, cinematography and, above all, a superb direction. Divine justice: hopefully one day in future *AMORES PERROS* will appear in movies history as one of the best directors debuts. Nothing in common with "Pulp Fiction", highly original and depth, *AMORES PERROS* deserves a remarkable place in film history, aside with generational masterpieces, lets cross fingers for Iñarritu's future works.
Una familia de tantas (1949)
A Mexican classic flick.
This film from the self called "Golden Age" of Mexican cinema is not only one of the most representative achievements of how high was the productions standards in those days, but also an spectacular shown of artistic precision. Filmed in the classic American way with a solid narrative timing based on economic shots and a strong screenplay, this movie shown how much director Alejandro Galindo learned in his pass by Hollywood aside with director Gregory LaCava. The plot is simple but full of heart and mind: a cleaning machine breaks the stability of a conservative family; the modern time has come to fall apart the strong 19 th century comfort. From this point the post revolutionary society enters in crisis: the sons will be raised against his parents to discuss the authority terms. The generational barrier has rise. "Una familia de tantas" is a must see film for all those who likes the best classic cinema and for those who wants to know better the history of Mexican modern urban society in the middle of 20 th century.
Jude (1996)
Love and tears.
Major audiences are not used to films that talks about losers and his frustrations. Michael Winterbottom played his game looking out to the essence of his characters and dealing with them. Here is a lot about tragedy; the encounters of Jude with his cousin seems to be planed by gods playing with their little toys. Even when a door is opened at the end, the couple must deal with their tragic fate. I compare the plot of Jude with some other love histories like "Wuthering Heights", where the surrealistic idea of "amour fou" is all over the film, and even with the sad ending, love exists above all.