Change Your Image
enrpat
Reviews
El laberinto del fauno (2006)
Where is the fiction in this tale of adult violence?
When I got into the theater I was expecting a better movie than 'The Lord of the Rings' or 'Narnia'. Any director, at this point, must have learned about doing a technically good movie, that's a fact. What we, the audience want, is a good story. But after a while, I was sure of something: I was going to be disappointed. But I waited longer and longer, and the sensation didn't disappeared, only got stronger. Del Toro made a movie about a fabulous tale, but fail on the point of telling the story of Ofelia, a girl taken to the middle of the Civil War in Spain -that actually never concerns or interests her-, and confronted to an evil man who is meant to be his stepfather. She finds a labyrinth that nobody has explored even if is located near the soldiers camp, she goes down and finds out that she might be a princess, but has to go through three dangerous tasks. The faun, Pan, doesn't look believable and the story, itself, doesn't, either. Is she is the lost princess and the king has lived for centuries waiting for her, why does she has to confront dangers and prove it? The movie seems to be conceived as a horror movie, full of creepy sounds, with an evil man (Vidal) in the main character who becomes, at the end, in the only half-developed character in the movie (the mother, Ariadna Gil, appears like a ghost, an empty character), and has dozens, hundreds of unnecessary violence, shootings in the face, torture, blood and only more blood. What a way to waste a good tale and a good story. The girl, at the end, doesn't have but very short encounters with the fictional world. The real and violent adult world prevails.
Children of Men (2006)
Was it a war movie or what?
I couldn't get it. If this one was a movie about the hope of a woman giving birth, about the crisis of human being for some strange reason, why this movie ended up becoming a film about people killing each other, in a war that grows without any logical reason, in a world where is not clear why the refugees are trying to hide in the UK. Well, I know: woman aren't able to procreate any more. But if all human are going to die, why would they anticipate a war and try to live in the UK? Good performances, yes. But, any way, the story is a long and stressful movie, with unnecessary images of violence. And, at the end, there is no hope. My only hope was to see the final credits and get out of the cinema.
El acordeón del diablo (2000)
Music with a touch of magic realism
The movie seems to follow the principles of magic realism. Schwietert, the director, actually loves Gabriel García Márquez. But it´s reality. Magic reality, yes, but reality, in fact. I know like my own hand the Caribbean and Colombia, and I know that things that might look weird actually happen there. The accordion, vallenato and the Caribbean style of life is very well told in this documentary combined with poetry and a touch of loneliness. Different. Original. The documentary rescues the music of a brilliant old musician, Pacho Rada, (like Buenavista Social Club does), but with a deep look inside his life, generations, music and difficulties. A duel of two accordion men is absolutely delightful. Not about Colombia, actually, but about the Caribbean, a place that I see as a whole country bordered by the sea.
Here on Earth (2000)
predictable and stupid film
What a waste of time. This very poor movie considers true love the one of a pretty face with flowers and a night of pleasure instead of the one of every day, the one that lovers build every minute with every gesture and breath, the not so predictable. I always knew what was going to happen next in this movie. It´s awful how can someone spend millions in a movie that relays on a plot that anyone can predict. And forget. Besides, the end (she is dying and Carter comes before she dies) is a very easy way to solve the trouble of confronting lovers in a real life situation and see if in everyday life he would choose her anyway. A poor, stupid movie.
Titanic (1997)
award winner this?
I don´t know what idea of great movies does the Academy have. Movies like this one are about the same soap opera story that we have always seen in TV for years, with the only difference of good special effects. Nothing else. The Oscar shouldn´t be given to movies like this, but to innovative way to tell stories. And Titanic, for sure, is not one of those.