The Peruvian journalist Pedro Salinas writes, "Behind Gods, the movie, lurks a revolutionary, a teacher from the magic of living, who at the point of close-ups and frames studied achieved a description of one of the usual problems of Peru... Mendez set out boldly onto the screen his vision of a minority of Peruvian in which everyone talks, they meet, they drink and they are happy, while another Peru, a most impoverished majority, serves the needs of this frivolous few." This richly drawn, psychologically complex film paints a dark picture of a privilege life side by side with poverty in Peru. But Mendez' use of a light hand, an unsparing humor, beautiful bodies and settings make for an enjoyable and thought provoking hour and a half.
Reviews
3 Reviews
À Tout de Suite
(2004)
Not Going Places, won't leave you Breathless, not An Education here, nowhere near a Baader Meinhof Komplex
15 November 2009
The film is based on Élisabeth Fanger's autobiographical story, J'Avais Dix Huit Ans of (translated as either "I was 18" or possibly "When I was 18"). She was 18 and in her last year of high school when she fell in love with Sid Mohamed Badaoui, a bank robber. She was still 18 a few months later when she fled with her lover and started her 2 years as a fugitive in Spain, Morocco and Greece.
Along with Garrel's more notable effort, Les Amants Réguliers, these two French filmmakers (both over 60 years old) might be trying to re-live their youth and make a film they could have made 30 or 40 years before. They aspire to create cinema like the best of the French filmmakers a few years their senior, but fail to note that these successful French film makers from the 60's and 70's made deeply personal films. It's not the pacing of the efforts that is at fault, but a lack of anything concrete to say. Just a long dose of ennui with a little existential nausea thrown in for good measure.
Along with Garrel's more notable effort, Les Amants Réguliers, these two French filmmakers (both over 60 years old) might be trying to re-live their youth and make a film they could have made 30 or 40 years before. They aspire to create cinema like the best of the French filmmakers a few years their senior, but fail to note that these successful French film makers from the 60's and 70's made deeply personal films. It's not the pacing of the efforts that is at fault, but a lack of anything concrete to say. Just a long dose of ennui with a little existential nausea thrown in for good measure.
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
(1978)
Absurdist examination of a Very Important Question
31 October 2006
What does a women want?
I think the recent popularity of films like the Science of Sleep, I Heart Huckabees and Being John Malkovich deserves to rekindle interest in this important but largely forgotten director.
Through the late 70's and 80's, Blier single handedly kept alive the French tradition of Absurdist Theater. While films like Being John Malkovich and I Heart Huckabees incorporate elements of surrealism, they remained tied to conventional narratives that require that ultimately everything ultimately make sense. Kaufman and Russell are relying on throwing a few nonsensical elements into their conventional narratives. Blier (and to a lesser extent Gondry) stop making sense and embrace the absurdity of life.
I think the recent popularity of films like the Science of Sleep, I Heart Huckabees and Being John Malkovich deserves to rekindle interest in this important but largely forgotten director.
Through the late 70's and 80's, Blier single handedly kept alive the French tradition of Absurdist Theater. While films like Being John Malkovich and I Heart Huckabees incorporate elements of surrealism, they remained tied to conventional narratives that require that ultimately everything ultimately make sense. Kaufman and Russell are relying on throwing a few nonsensical elements into their conventional narratives. Blier (and to a lesser extent Gondry) stop making sense and embrace the absurdity of life.
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