OK, let me talk some sense about this movie:
1. This is Italian Drama at its worst 2. There are three different movies crammed into one 3. The narrative cues are typical of soap operas
There, I said it. And I know what I'm talking about since I'm from Brazil and we know all about soap operas.
This is not a great film, period. Put that in your head, Foreign Film judges.
It might have been a good episode (if heavily edited) of prime time TV, but it will NEVER be Oscar material.
First, let me digress about the script. As many of you will see, it's a mess from start to finish. The main topic (abuse / incest) has to share time with a struggling TV director and a some thoughts on lesbianism AND blindness at the same time. Can you guys see the SCOPE of all that? How are we supposed to follow all these very intense plot lines and still care for the main theme?
Well, the answer is simple. We can't. Soon the audience gets divided over plot lines and the main one never recovers. Since this is a scripting problem - mainly from the adaptation from a book, I'm sure - this would already be a major con for a serious drama.
Then we go to acting. The husband gives us the "theater speech" but all we see on screen is an impersonation of a caring husband. He never goes above TV level - just like what they are supposedly mocking. As for the main actress, she is good but her character soon loses steam and she has to rely on pre-fabricated "moments" to emote on. After a while, it gets plain boring.
We never get a feel for the lesbian/blind girl either. She is no more than a mental construct, a "moral in a person" that manages to shine in a couple moments and nothing more. A wasted character, I might say.
The older woman. She appears from nowhere, turns lesbian, says she's straight then proceeds to kiss the blind girl and disappears again.
I have to mention the music. All the cues come straight from a horror picture, making the horrific abuse almost funny. Less strings would be nice. Actually, less music in general would help the movie a lot.
Finally, the directing works really well sometimes. The movie has moments of greatness, of true emotion. It's unfortunate that it is so irregular - whole sequences are destroyed by badly selected shots and artificial mis-en-scene. Again, it gets funny when it shouldn't and many important plot points fall flat. This seems to be the work of a novice director, someone still getting to know the tools of the trade.
It could be so much better. 30 minutes less, it would be a competent drama. This is watchable for the most part - 70 minutes or so, I'd say - but gets irritating and over-extended close to the third act. As always, great intentions don't make a movie great.
I'll end this review saying that I'm stupefied over the Oscar nomination. I still can't put my mind around it and will have nightmares tonight, I bet.
1. This is Italian Drama at its worst 2. There are three different movies crammed into one 3. The narrative cues are typical of soap operas
There, I said it. And I know what I'm talking about since I'm from Brazil and we know all about soap operas.
This is not a great film, period. Put that in your head, Foreign Film judges.
It might have been a good episode (if heavily edited) of prime time TV, but it will NEVER be Oscar material.
First, let me digress about the script. As many of you will see, it's a mess from start to finish. The main topic (abuse / incest) has to share time with a struggling TV director and a some thoughts on lesbianism AND blindness at the same time. Can you guys see the SCOPE of all that? How are we supposed to follow all these very intense plot lines and still care for the main theme?
Well, the answer is simple. We can't. Soon the audience gets divided over plot lines and the main one never recovers. Since this is a scripting problem - mainly from the adaptation from a book, I'm sure - this would already be a major con for a serious drama.
Then we go to acting. The husband gives us the "theater speech" but all we see on screen is an impersonation of a caring husband. He never goes above TV level - just like what they are supposedly mocking. As for the main actress, she is good but her character soon loses steam and she has to rely on pre-fabricated "moments" to emote on. After a while, it gets plain boring.
We never get a feel for the lesbian/blind girl either. She is no more than a mental construct, a "moral in a person" that manages to shine in a couple moments and nothing more. A wasted character, I might say.
The older woman. She appears from nowhere, turns lesbian, says she's straight then proceeds to kiss the blind girl and disappears again.
I have to mention the music. All the cues come straight from a horror picture, making the horrific abuse almost funny. Less strings would be nice. Actually, less music in general would help the movie a lot.
Finally, the directing works really well sometimes. The movie has moments of greatness, of true emotion. It's unfortunate that it is so irregular - whole sequences are destroyed by badly selected shots and artificial mis-en-scene. Again, it gets funny when it shouldn't and many important plot points fall flat. This seems to be the work of a novice director, someone still getting to know the tools of the trade.
It could be so much better. 30 minutes less, it would be a competent drama. This is watchable for the most part - 70 minutes or so, I'd say - but gets irritating and over-extended close to the third act. As always, great intentions don't make a movie great.
I'll end this review saying that I'm stupefied over the Oscar nomination. I still can't put my mind around it and will have nightmares tonight, I bet.