Wow, just, just wow. I'm in half a mind to just not write a review of this one, not until I've seen it a few more times, but then there is something to be said for getting thoughts down from a first impression, even if inevitably such thoughts may only have a shallow grasp of the film and thus cannot quite adequately put its greatness into words. Put briefly, Amer is a remarkably intense art-house film dealing with three episodes in the life of a woman called Ana, first as a young girl, then as a teenager and finally as a grown woman. Not the most arresting plot one might think, but the film is fed by themes and visual tropes of vintage giallo cinema, it also employs a number of classic musical themes from the likes of Ennio Morricone and Stelvio Cipriani. I'm not that well versed in giallo films, just enough to get a hold on what I was seeing and the films Bava homage at one stage, but I did notice Cipriani's theme from What Have They Done To Your Daughters appear, to my delight. So it has a solid horror edge to it, particularly in the first and final sections, the middle one fired with subtler menace. The film is from the woman's point of view and contains minimal dialogue, all the better for it to astonish with a constant barrage of powerful imagery and directorial invention employed with such flair and vigour that one wonders early on how it can possibly be sustained, then is left awestruck as the film does just that. Shots slow down and speed up, slip out of focus, draw into disturbing close ups, there are all manner of colors, angles and distortions, combined with startling editing (this film has some of the most cuts I have ever seen) all impeccably backed by sound design so rich and detailed there is almost a feel of physical presence upon the flesh while viewing, a moment with a comb on a tongue typical of this. For those who decry such styling the film is best avoided, but the usual criticism of empty style is useless here, the sound and images represent experience, mental states of longing, fear, trauma and desire in the most inescapable way, it is a tremendous work of turning style towards substance Nothing in the film is separate from Ana and her experience, it seeks to overwhelm and does a monumental job, a film to near drown in as our heroine moves from longing to fulfilment, childhood fear to adult terror and simply, innocence to experience during the course of her life. The visual styling also serves to deconstruct the giallo genre homaged so heavily in the film, its visual tropes broken down to their psychological significance and assembled as narrative of the psyche, it's a dazzling treatment of the genre and a crucial aspect of the films transformation of style into substance. Acting is superb as well, from young Ana's skittery, immature behaviour and fear, through teen Ana's sultry sensuality, to her final stages as mature, disillusioned woman coping with events as everything comes to a head. And indeed the finale is a terrific example of development and binding together of themes, all comes together in tense and ultimately satisfying fashion. For writing/directing partnership Bruno Forzani and Helene Cattet this is as auspicious a debut as is humanly possible, certainly the finest new film I have seen this century. Its only imaginable drawback is that it simply isn't likely to appeal to those who crave conventional narratives or dislike art-house cinema, it is certainly not a film for the layperson. But really, that doesn't mean a thing in the end, brilliance is brilliance, populist or not. A truly deserved 10 out of 10 from me then.
