Change Your Image
NBernard88
Reviews
La pianiste (2001)
An awful woman in a wonderful film
Michael Haneke's film The Piano Teacher is a classic example of the proverb "Be careful what you wish for
" Erika Kohut is a teacher at a conservatory of music who is a closeted masochist. She's talented but is very aloof and bitter. She lives a miserable life where she sleeps in the same bed as her mother that is very overprotective of her 40-year-old child (she looks in her closet for inappropriate clothing and hounds her about her whereabouts like she's 14).
She seems to get off on making men uncomfortable. Walter, a student, who has no qualms in showing his attraction towards her, pursues her. Their first sexual encounter occurs after Erika does something horrible to one of her students. One example of this is when she walks into a porn shop (filled with only men) and brings a instant discomfort in the room.
What makes Erika so fascinating is the way she carries herself. She's so uptight and defensive. It's no wonder how she got this far in life without anyone (aside from her mother) didn't know how insane she is. For the first half hour it's slightly difficult to understand her because she is so indecipherable. This aspect of her personality is the antithesis of Walter's. It's obvious what he is about from the beginning. He has a very high view of himself arguably higher than what he really is He has a care free aura about himself often associated with youth. When they first meet, Erika recoils even more but this is when her personality is most revealing.
Much of the film Erika is not doing much of anything. She is mostly walking down the street, sitting in her room and other mundane things that contribute nothing to the plot. However, it never seems slow paced or boring. It's in these moments that you realize that she is like a volcano waiting to erupt. It's hard to watch because Erika Kohut is a horrible and evil woman who takes pleasure in being sexually embarrassed. She is a victim to her own self- masochism.
Notes on a Scandal (2006)
Jerry Springer topic done with class and finesse
Judi Dench as Barbara Covett in Notes On A Scandal is a complete wretch to watch on screen. However she still manages to invoke pity and sympathy for. A character that begins as a spinster who is that strict teacher in high school that everyone can recognize during their own time in school to a complete psychopath that leaches on to a woman's family. The Sheba Hart (played by Cate Blanchett) is no innocent victim herself. She's a flighty and free-spirited new art teacher who begins to have an affair with a fifteen-year-old student. When Barbara finds out about the affair she uses it to her advantage to blackmail Sheba with great subtlety. Barbara clearly lusts after Sheba.
Barbara is able to take advantage of Sheba because she is so vulnerable; a first time teacher in an unhappy marriage with a special needs child. When Barbara is getting to know Sheba, it's evident that she had no conscious intention of using her until she is blessed with an opportunity (Sheba's affair). It's interesting because while she is never really malicious, she is manipulative. When it's realized why she acts the way she does, it's still capable to feel some sort of pity for her. It also helps that Sheba is not perfect. Her husband (played by Bill Nighy) sums her up perfectly "You've been a good mother but at times a lousy wife."
Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett make a good pair and their performances give and take from one another. However Cate Blanchett's strong screen presence makes it very hard to imagine that Sheba would be so careless and keep making mistakes. She doesn't seem that weak or prone to selfishness. One can imagine that Sheba would carry a sort of vapidity about herself. The screenplay is very sharp and Barbara's voices over (her diary entries) contribute to the film and not detract from it. However the score practically ruins the film. It tries to hard to heighten the drama in scenes where it's unnecessary and is very loud. It has to be almost assaulting in a movie theater.
Diarios de motocicleta (2004)
The Man Before The Legend
The Motorcycle Diaries is the story of two young men who travel 8,000 mile throughout South America in 1952. While this may sound like familiar story one of the two men is Ernesto Guevara de la Serna who later in life becomes "Che" Guevara the Argentinian Marxist revolutionary. Ernesto's travel from Argentina to Peru can somehow be compared to George "I cannot tell a lie" Washington and his cherry tree; the adventures of a young man who would grow up to become a leader. It's a strategy that allows you to separate the image of a historical figure from the story being told.
Accompanying Ernesto (Gael García Bernal) on the trip is his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) the doctor and writer. The two travel through beautiful South America on a shabby, old motorcycle the skids and falls constantly. The two first stop at Ernesto's girlfriend's house, Chinchina. It's almost surreal to see him as shy and slightly awkward around people. Ernesto and Alberto are also the antithesis to one another. Ernesto is honest with the people that they meet and receive help from although he doesn't always get good results. Alberto, however, likes to take advantage of people by manipulating them.
Throughout their journey, the two meet people who foreshadow who Ernesto will one day become. There is a couple that is forced off of their farm because they are communists. There are also managers of a miner company who neglect and take the upper hand of workers. The director, Walter Salles, comes up with an interesting way of showing how the images of poor people are ingrained into Ernesto's mind by showing them staring at the camera very still and in black and white. It resembles a photograph.
De La Serna and García Bernal have great chemistry together but it is the latter that carries the film. With such material, it is only natural to assume going into the film that it is going to be heavy-handed. It's not nor is it tedious, which can also be expected from a road trip movie. It is interesting to see that man before he became a revolutionist and rose to ubiquity in pop culture.
Hable con ella (2002)
Almodovar's most mature effort
Someone who is looking for the usual comical Pedro Almodóvar might be disappointed at first when watching Talk To Her. It is probably one of his most serious efforts and is apparent right from the beginning. There are moments that are set up where he could have easily taken to his usual dry humor but chooses not to. Not adjusting and accepting Almodóvar's new approach would be unfortunate since it is one of his finer works. The film begins with two men are in a theater watching a blind woman wander around a stage while a man moves chairs and tables out of her way. The story on the stage foreshadows the lives of the two men.
Benigno is a nurse who has dedicated his life to one woman for four years, Alicia. She was a dancer who becomes comatose after a car accident. Marco is journalist from Argentina who falls in love with Lydia, a bullfighter. Both of them are on the rebound from relationships that have ended badly. Unfortunately, Lydia is gored and is comatose as well. The two men strike a friendship when Lydia is brought to the same facility where Alicia and Benigno are. Benigno and Marco have two different views of their loved ones conditions. Benigno talks to Alicia, he brings her outside for fresh air, reads to her, and shows her magazines. Marco is very hesitant to the idea and brushes off Benigno's suggestion that he should talk to Lydia. He thinks there is no point if she can't hear him but eventually somewhat relinquishes to Benigno's ideas.
What is interesting is that Almodóvar switches the roles of men and women. It is the men who devote their lives to the woman. Sadly, they must live their lives through caring for them and not with them. Benigno doesn't mind working extra hours bathing, cleaning and essentially taking care of her. Marco is frustrated that he can't do any of those things for her. With Marco it is an infatuation while with Beningo it's an obsession. The main theme of Almodóvar's film is caring and hazard of caring too much.
21 Grams (2003)
No bathroom breaks while watching this film
If one is unfamiliar with Alejandro González Iñárritu's work than the first half hour of 21 Grams will probably be the one of the most confusing beginning of a film that's been ever viewed. Three characters are on their own paths and eventually come together but with the when, how and why they do jumbled up throughout the movie. Jack Jordon (Benecio Del Toro) is an ex-con who has found Christianity to strengthen his family. Unfortunately with his persistence it debilitates it instead. Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) is approaching death if he doesn't receive a heart transplant while his wife wants to be impregnated by him. Christina is a recovering drug addict who has lost her husband and two daughters. Like in Iñárritu's previous film, Amores Perros, the three stories come together with a car accident.
Iñárritu is more progressive with his editing than previously and his shuffling of scenes can make pivotal scenes feel isolated. Also, there is really no suspense as big plot points are revealed and in quick flashes and the aftermath is pretty much how the characters get to that point. There is really no sense of foreboding. However, the director does conceal things only to be revealed at the right moment. Even simple things like the fact that Paul used to be a mathematician, something that is unexpected because of the way he carries himself. It's a smart film and it allows its viewers to be astute along with it.
So the question is: if Iñárritu decided to tell this story in a linear fashion would the film still be effective? Yes, it would. Looking past its random order, it's a compelling story. Despite some plot holes it can hold up without a contrivance. Not only is it a character study but it's also questions predetermination. It asks if everything that humans do part of a divine plan or do things just happen just to happen. Is it overtly ostentatious to jump around instead of playing itself out? No, probably not. One thing it does is keeps your attention. No bathroom breaks while watching this film.
Todo sobre mi madre (1999)
A Strong Melodrama
Pedro Almodovar's film "All About My Mother" can be considered a tribute to actors and mothers. Manuela is a mother whose son Esteban is an aspiring writer who the utmost admiration for an actress named Huma Rojo. He chases after her for an autograph and gets hit by a car because of it. Manuela herself was an actress in her younger days and unfortunately must relive a scene she has acted in her actual life. She must decide whether or not to donate her newly dead son's organs. Thus beginning Manuela's trip to Barcelona to tell her son's father about this death.
On Manuela's trip, Almodovar's gift of creating interesting and unorthodox characters is in its fullest effect. There is Agrado who is a transvestite prostitute. Hermana Rosa (played by Penelope Cruz) is a nun who is impregnated by another transvestite woman. Huma Rojo's theater production of "A Street Car Named Desire" is in town and is struggling with her co- star/girlfriend Nina, a coke-addict. Almodovar has a talent for taking individuals that can easily be caricatures and making them into fully fleshed out characters through their circumstances and temperaments. For example when Manuela asks Agrado is her Chanel suit is real, her answer is "How could I buy a real Chanel with all the hunger in the world?"
While Manuela is the main character, the spirit of the film is with Agrado. There are two scenes in particular where the content of her character is prevalent. The first is her monologue in which she describes herself as real because she fixed herself to look like who she thinks she could be. The other is a scene where a man asks her to perform a sexual act for him and her reaction. She is the most noble and sincere person in the film among overall genuine characters.
Almodovar great love of films is apparent in the film, referencing Bette Davis in "All About Eve" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" which was adapted from a play. In the end, he dedicates the film not only to female actors but mothers as well. In a sense he implies that mothers are actors themselves when it comes to keeping things from they're children.
Amores perros (2000)
Ambitious film
Amores Perros by Alejandro Gonzalez Iniarritu combines three stories with a car crash. The first is the story of a young man Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) who is in love with his brother's wife, Susana. He uses their dog for fighting to earn money and run away with her. This sounds seedy except for the fact that his brother is no good and abuses her. The second is of Daniel, a television producer who leaves his wife for Valeria a beautiful young actress. They move into an apartment across from a billboard of Valeria. The third story follows El Chivo who appears to be a poor street person but actually murders for a living. He is hired to kill a man's brother.
These three stories combine in a car crash, which is shown from each of the stories three different perspectives. The segments are shown in consecutive order with occasionally a scene from a different segment. In the first third, the main story is Octavio and Susana. The second (and probably the most hollow) is Daniel and Valeria and the third is El Chivo and Maru. Unfortunately, the screen time is too long and with that the El Chivo story suffers. By the time the most touching story of the film comes into full fruition, it's difficult to sit through the exposition scenes after almost an hour and a half. Also, some parts of the film do seem a bit uneven.
However, the best part of the films is the characters relationships with dogs. The humanity of all of the characters is best shown within the relationships of their dogs. Octavio constantly argues with each other about who is the owner of their dog. The majority of the story between Daniel and Valeria revolves around their dog Ritchie who has fallen through a hole in the floor. El Chivo nurses Octavio's dog after the accident. Iniarritu's style when it comes to films could be compared to Quentin Tarantino particularly with the graphic violence. He also shows a talent and an incredible ambition for balancing stories and characters of various dispositions.
Padre Nuestro (2007)
Good cast making the most out of an impossible script!
Despite a good cast and great directing, the first noticeable thing about Sangre De Mi Sangre is the improbabilities of the screenplay. Pedro a young man easily crosses over the Mexican/U.S. border with a truck waiting (unhidden) to take illegal immigrants on a rather rapid, non-stop trip to New York City. He is looking for his father who he believes is the owner of a French restaurant by stopping at every one listed in the yellow pages. It's like a series of unlikely events.
While in the truck he meets Juan and tells him his story. Juan decides to steal Pedro's identity to take advantage of the situation. Pedro tries to find his father by the help of Magda, a rough around the edges girl who uses her smarts to survive. As dubious as the story may seem, it is never predictable. Pedro doesn't fall in love with Magda but does care for her sincerely. Pedro's father Diego doesn't welcome a deceitful Juan in open arms even after he believes that he is his son. However, Diego comes to love Juan and what's strange is that Juan grows to love him as a father too. The relationship between the two of them is the strongest in the film.
Pedro's scenario is more of a story of hard knocks. He learns that he can't trust everyone and how to survive on the rough streets. He must do things against his convictions for money even compromising Magda. He's not as cunning as Juan is and is much more noble. The antagonism between the two characters is apparent even though they are only together for two scenes in the film.
The actors elevate the weak material particularly Jesus Ochoa (Diego) who manages to make the most mundane things, like sewing faux rose petals, interesting. Armando Hernandez plays Juan's impersonation of Pedro is so believable that if the film began twenty minutes in; there would no reason to believe that he wasn't Diego's son. Jorge Adrian Espindola's (Pedro) innocence and Paola Mendoza's (Magda) brashness compliment each other. It would have been great to see what they could've done if they had better material.
La mala educación (2004)
A film that has a distinct love of films
Bad Education by Pedro Almodovar is a film that has a distinct love of films. The main character was Enrique Goded is a film director looking for a story for his next film when he is stopped by his first love, Ignacio, who gives him a script based on their childhood in a Catholic school. The script is visually shown throughout the film without getting too confusing or muddled in Their first moments together also take place in a movie theater.
Despite the tricky plot the film doesn't get too complicated to follow although it does seem to get away from Almodovar a bit at the end. It starts out as a tragic love story in the and slowly becomes a film noir. There is even recognition of this when two of the characters exit a theater show film noirs and one of them comments "It's like they were talking about us." At this point of the film it turns into something else but not necessarily for the worst.
Gael García Bernal's role is an intricate one. He plays several characters (one within another one) bravely and with distinction between one another. Although he is more of an antagonist than the protagonist, he is the one with the most screen time and carries the film. Fele Martínez (Enrique) also is fantastic, although he has little to work given as he has the less showy part.
Almodovar uses interesting, elaborate transitions for certain scenes. Partcularly, they are used to guide the viewer into (and sometimes out of) the screenplay within the movie. And while the subject matter is of child molestation in the Catholic Church, it is of a particular story of this one man and this one priest. There is not much accusation of condescension. There also was no touching on homophobia (although one or two of the characters were in the closet). This may be Almodovar's way of making homosexuality conventional as heterosexuality in this film.
La Môme (2007)
A solid but taxing film
It seems that with bio-pics on music sensations, filmmakers tend to take great leeway with the artist's life. In the case of Édith Piaf in La Vie En Rose (La Môme), you practically have to separate the Édith Piaf in the movie from the one that really lived simply because it's difficult to separate the myths from the facts. Taking, that aside La Vie En Rose in itself is a fatiguing film to watch. Poverty, prostitution, tragedy, child abuse, terminal illness (an that's just in the first 30 minutes) all weigh this film down. It makes Ray seem like a walk in the park.
The film seems to make Piaf a victim of her circumstances that has to be rescued to overcome them. They show when she was a child and went blind due to an illness only to inexplicably recover. She sings for money on the street until a club owner and begins her career. When he is murdered she is found a suspect only to never be followed up on. It seems that the most interesting things in her life (like how she was considered a traitor for willingly performing for German Forces in then occupied France or how she was considered a contributor to the French Resistance) were excluded because it wasn't depressing enough. When it comes to the point in the film when she begins an affair with a married boxer, you can't help but anticipate some sort of catastrophe.
The film spends more time wallowing in Piaf's misery instead of her talent. When Piaf sings (incredibly lip synced by Marion Cotillard) it seems to act as a bridge between one sad scene to the next as the film jumps around between her last few years of life. Because the film jumps around, it's never boring although it's not very hard to follow. However, it gets very flashy. Particularly one tracking shot where Piaf learns of death and goes from hysterics in her bedroom to the stage. After seeing so many scenes of Piaf suffering, you almost become desensitized to it. Which is why the best scene in the film is the final one where Piaf sings "Non! Jen ne regrette rien" (No, I don't regret anything.) Which seems to sum up Piaf's light without ending on another too dreary note.