Reviews

Piggy is a drama-horror movie about Sara, a young overweight girl who gets heavily picked on by a trio of mean girls, one of which is an old friend of hers. She is also the laughing stock of her small village, and lives with her overprotective mother and nonchalant father and brother.

One day, after the mean girls bully her, steal all of her clothes and almost drown her at the pool, she witnesses the kidnapping and possibly killing of one of the girls. The kidnapper, a man she noticed earlier at the pool, poses a somewhat nice gesture towards her by giving her back a towel.

Later, she decides not to say anything to her parents or the police, even though all three girls are now considered missing, and keeps that secret to herself. We see the kidnapper and possible killer take a liking to her and follow her around. She eventually runs into him and for some reason, seems to fall for him.

Up until then, the movie is pretty good and sets the way for something very interesting, and I was ready to be rooting for the mistreated main character taking revenge on her bullies, even with the help of the bad guy. I wouldn't have minded a twisted love story between a killer and an outcast girl at all. I thought it was a nice, somewhat original plot. But that's not what I got.

Instead, the final act feels rushed and incomplete. There is absolutely no character development whatsoever. Why does she like the killer? Why does the killer like her? Why does she suddenly not like him anymore at the end? Why does she save the girls instead? Who is the killer, what's his story, his motive? We just don't know. There is almost no dialogue between Sara and the bad guy. We don't know what brought them together, and then not.

I felt like there was a huge chunk of the story missing from the movie. Some scenes between when she leaves her house, and the ending. Character development between the two runaways. What the heck just happened at the end? I have no idea.

The ending also doesn't feel satisfying, as the main bully lives. And yet this girl learns no lesson at all, as she still gets saved even though she keeps on insulting our main character even when she is the only one to save her. Pretty frustrating.

Overall, this was a decent movie with some potential, but the ending ruined a good opportunity to turn this story into something deeper. (PS: Do not watch the dubbed version of this film; it is terrible. Find the original with subtitles.)

Marie Heurtin is based on the true story of Soeur Marguerite, a sister who lived in a covenant in the 1800, in France, and Marie Heurtin, a young girl who was born blind and deaf. She grew with almost no education, and at the age of ten, her parents brought her to the covenant les Filles de la Sagesse, which was specialized in taking care of deaf girls and teaching them sign language. However, Marie proved much of a challenge because she was also blind.

The film relates the early life of Marie Heurtin, who was taught sign language by the kind and determined sister Marguerite. Although Marie is very difficult to teach to, Soeur Marguerite's perseverance and the bound they build together is extremely touching. The movie doesn't have a lot of spoken dialogue, in fact most of the dialogue is through sign language and is intentionally not subtitled, because we are meant to feel it; the words are not important, we can figure out their meanings just by looking at the emotions the characters convey to us through the screen. Isabelle Carré and Ariana Rivoire's performances are poignant and real.

The only thing I found disappointing is that the movie only shows us a very small portion of Marie Heurtin's life, and makes it seem like Soeur Marguerite only taught her for about a year or so, when in reality, she taught her sign language for around ten years of her life, and Marie was 25 years old when her teacher passed, not 10 or so like in the movie. Then Marie Heurtin at her turn taught sign language to many other girls, including her young sister who was also blind and deaf. I think it was a mistake to omit her later years from the movie, especially since it runs a little long. Seeing her grow up would have been a real plus to the movie, so that's a missed opportunity.

Nonetheless, it's a beautiful and heart-warming movie that shows us the importance of what love and interaction between people can bring into our lives, and the power that being able to convey feelings really gives us.

(This review does not contain spoilers, but someone flagged it for no reason so I guess someone was over-sensitive..)

I watched this movie with no expectations, and it definitely wasn't what I thought. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Horse Thieves is a drama that takes place 200 years ago. The movie first introduces two homeless brothers who join the army to get food and shelter. The big brother is a tough one, who always needs to protects his weak little brother, but really loves him. It's seizing how the movie manages to share the emotions with the viewer in the way you can feel how much the brothers care for each other until an unfortunate accident arrives.

The movie then switches to another pair of brothers who are involved in the accident, and who share a similar relation, although this time the older of the two is a real brute unlike the one in the first part of the movie. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's a tale of revenge, brother love, and all these emotions the movie will make you share with the characters.

If you enjoy touching, but tough movies, without any doubt watch this one.

This is a remake of a Japanese movie I believe, a drama about a family like every other. The mother and her husband are very much in love, and their 16-years old daughter is going through her teen phase; friends, boyfriends, drugs, anger against parents who love her. This is very hard to live for her mother who only wants her good. One day while they are both in the car arguing, they get in an accident where they both nearly die. When the mother wakes up at the hospital, her daughter is dead. After something strange happens, she awakens in the body of her daughter, and her own body is declared dead.

She doesn't understand what is happening and tries to convince her husband that she is the mother, not the daughter. Obviously, at first the husband doesn't want to believe her, thinking she is still shaken from the accident. Eventually he realizes that she is telling the truth, but even though they are in love as husband and wife just like before, they cannot consume their love as the father finds it awkward to have his wife inside his daughter's body. The situation is very hard on both of them as they are so close yet so far.

During the movie, the mother tries to continue her daughter's life in hope that she will one day re-emerge. This brings conflict to the relation between her and the husband, as she feels as if she is re-living her teen years through her daughter's chaotic life. The main actors really brought a lot of emotion to the characters, and their love story even brought tears to my eyes. There are a lot of touching and sad moments. The movie's production feels a little bit cheap but it's a great story told brilliantly. The main actress playing the daughter did an amazing job at conveying the feelings of this adult-teenager girl torn between two lives and so many emotions. Very beautiful movie.