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Io e te (2012)
From before the revolution to after the revolution
It could have been a sort of explosive mix between Last Tango in Paris (seclusion) and la Luna (incest, drug-dependence, difficult teenager). A teenager and his older half-sister secluded in a basement for a week get to know each other for the first time. But Olivia's too busy going cold turkey with heroin and Lorenzo lacks audacity. He also suffers from narcissism, so he's not particularly inclined to let go and explore. So no sex, no kinkiness, no demolition of bourgeois values, no anarchy of bodies and minds. All this adds to the realism of the movie, but leaves you a bit disappointed if you expect a Bertolucci-like cinematic experience. I honestly expected to be shocked and disturbed one more time, with style and good taste of course. Instead, the result is quite bland. Certainly, it has its good moments and shots, but the acting leaves much to be desired and the atmosphere is somewhat post-revolutionary.
Melancholia (2011)
About gray woolly yarn clinging to your legs
Is Melancholia about depression? Of course it is. Of course it is not. Melancholia is a literary topos, and a category of the spirit. The one Albrecht Durer engraved, masterpiece described by Moravia in the incipit of "1934". Depression is just a clinical object. But Justine is never said to be depressed in this movie. And we don't see doctors and pills. Science is not welcome in these kinds of movies. Even better if science is insulted (if you want to learn what a rogue planet is look for a discovery channel documentary). Thank you Von Trier for not making a movie about your depression, or about rogue planets! Nietzsche fell in love with Wagner watching Tristan und Isolde, whose prelude makes this movie float in the air (and, by the way, Nietzsche only pretended to be crazy). Listening to the prelude of Tristan und Isolde will always make me think of this movie and Kirsten Dunst (and maybe Nietzsche), just as Shubert's trio op. 100 andante con moto always makes me think of Barry Lyndon. This is already a great achievement. Justine is not depressed, she just sees things, and she's trudging through this gray woolly yarn. It's clinging to her legs. Very heavy to drag along! There is no mother or father to blame for this. I think this is it. Ah, if the shaking in the first part of the movie makes you sick take a pill and keep watching, you don't want to miss the best part, when Melancholia hits Earth.
The Perez Family (1995)
Nice comedy about immigration with a sensual Marisa Tomei
The first scene, composed of three tracking shots, and showing happy pre-Castro Cuban beach-goers is pleasant and appealing. A political prisoner (Juan Raoul Perez) flees to the US looking for his wife (Carmela)and his daughter (Teresa) he hasn't seen for 20 years. On the boat and in the fugitives' camp he gets to know a girl (Dorita Evita Perez) with whom he starts a fake family to speed up the immigration procedure. By the time he manages to meet with his wife Carmela he has already fallen in love with Dorita, and Carmela with a policeman. Happy Ending. Dorita is an exuberant, sensual and sweet character. Juan well represents the estrangement of a prisoner and immigrant ( in a way, he recalls the Castaway of "L'invenzione di Morel"). The movie is worth seeing for few good scenes (like the one where Dorita learns that John Wayne is dead and starts crying), Marisa Tomei's beauty, and some Cuban music.