Change Your Image
brucia
Reviews
Lucía y el sexo (2001)
Not worth seeing, I'm afraid...
Three of us saw this film together: my Spanish wife, an American girlfriend of hers who teaches Spanish, and I. (We have all lived in Spain). None of us liked it. I thought it fell into the traps that characterize much of contemporary Spanish film: it was too 'artsy', the amorality seem self-conscious and posed, the music frequently was inappropriate to the scenes, and the plot was too convoluted by half. The sex was uninspiring (frequently depressing!) and very somber (i.e. very Spanish). The subtitles were usually ok, but some of the translations were a bit forced (I've seen worse but I've seen better). The film was overlong. Since the overall impact was to depress one, the time passed slowly. The overall effect was Fellini updated for the 21st century, but by an inferior talent trying to work outside of his limits. If you want to see a better film, I recommend Amenabar's 'Abre Los Ojos'.
Varian's War (2001)
Gripping story, well told...
This movie successfully takes one back to the dark days after the fall of France. Jews have escaped to Vichy (unoccupied, southern) France, where they are trapped as the puppet French government and Nazi forces prepare for deportations to concentration camps. (The construction of death camps still lay in the future....). Varian Fry is an American of conscience who goes to France in the days when the U.S. was still a neutral power to see if he can assist prominent Jewish intellectuals to get out and to the United States. This documentary tells the story of his actions, and the first group out. It is low-key, subtle, but gripping in a very human way.... It truly takes one back into a time when good and evil not only coexisted, but shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, dined together, and smiled across the abyss at each other's visage.... Put this on your 'must see' list -- and take the kids, too!
The Farmer's Wife (1928)
Funny -- and the craftsmanship shows...
This film made me (and my wife) laugh... the pathos and the humor both STILL work. The composition in the outdoor shots is excellent, and the work shows a lot of planning. (In one scene two hens scuttle across the road from left to right, as the farmer approaches a hidden intersection... he follows them to the right a few moments later. I would love to know how they got the hens to participate...) In some places the acting is a bit 'broad', but a lot is communicated by very slow pacing and a lot of subtlety -- in facial expressions, glances, and body language as well as the well-written title cards. (There could have been more of them, but the acting usually filled in well for the deficit). The title cards are written in dialect, which helps if one is familiar with the way in 'country-folk' talk in rural England. This film is worth seeing two or three times to catch the easily missed (almost subliminal) details...