DhariaLezin Reviews

Little Sister (1995)

Better than expected

[7/10 · 22 October 2017]

The subjective camera or found footage has been over-used in the last decade, and I was hesitating to see the movie when it started because almost all the movies I've seen in that format from before 2001, are not successful in many different genres for so many reasons: the script, the genre, making it hard to watch because the camera moves too much, etc. However I decided to give it a go and I didn't regret it. In this case they made it work. All the movie you keep on wondering what happened between the characters when they were kids to make them act like that during the movie, and in my opinion, the relationship between the two main ones (brother and sister) is very well handled, with the ups and downs of painful and beautiful memories from childhood. Sometimes you hate a character, and suddenly you jump hating the one you liked better at the beginning, which I find really hard to do and something very well accomplished. The actors (all of them) are great. The movie touches taboo themes though so if you are weak of heart perhaps this is not going to be the best choice for you. Perhaps if I would have seen it when it was first released I would have given it a 9 but of course times change and it is not as actual as I guess it once was. Still, I would recommend it if you are searching for something different.

Richness of Internal Space (2012)

Has potential, but...

[4/10 · 3 July 2015]

Although the movie is based in true facts, that are the reality of the kidnappings in Mexico, at the same time being something sadly common for the Mexico City Citizens, and where the kidnappers won't hesitate to get whatever they want, and the movie started quite decent, it went from good to so-so, falling and falling and in the middle there was an introspection pause of the main character where actually nothing happens but his memories that immediately sent me to the images of 127 Hours (Danny Boyle, the star is James Franco), where actually some dialogs or thoughts are quite alike for me on one and the other. You begin to wonder if the character is gonna scape, kill the captors, kill himself, and actually want something to happen, but nothing does until the end. To make the story short, the movie would be quite good if it didn't have the 50 minute (or whatever) middle section when you get bored to dead. Besides that the acting was cool, the location was believable, and for what we read on the news everyday, the relation with the captors was also well handled.

The Last Call (2013)

Finally some great acting!

[7/10 · 1 July 2015]

For the very first time in Mexican contemporary cinema, I see a movie where I actually like each single one of the actors (and actresses, obviously). They are fabulous. They are entirely believable, the reactions are awesome, the characters are not stupid and empty and each single one of them has essence. Hurray for Francisco Franco Alba, the director, that despite of directing loads of characters, he got every single one to stand out over the rest because each one is different and has its own issues, he got it. The cast is of course great, I know many of them from different movies but together create a perfectly realistic and chaotic life of the backstage of the Mexican theater. Some selfish, some junkies, some shy, some kind of divas, some confused, but where the only thing that keeps them together is the willing to see their theater play on a premiere night. And between all this chaos, some of them are really and actually funny, and still, keeping the tone of the movie. I didn't like the script too much though because it takes forever for something to happen and at the end, the premiere, gets to a common place that we've always seen in movies. After everything against them, they finally make it to the premiere night, and the play runs (of course). I think that for once I would have liked something different to happen because the same old ending makes it entirely predictable. Since the very beginning you know that the play is gonna run in the last scene... and it does. But despite this, all the cast gives a very old common place story a lot of flavor, color and funny drama.

Volando Bajo (2014)

Don't watch this crap

[1/10 · 1 July 2015]

Horrible acting, horrible costumes that actually look like Halloween costumes instead of actual characters, horrible script, horrible direction (of course horrible direction, otherwise the movie would actually have something good). Full of clichés that actually offend instead of being funny, and old fashion jokes that instead of making you laugh, they make you feel uncomfortable. It is supposed to be comedy but ends up like a terrible done farce that each second becomes more annoying, the camera is boring and the script is so boring and surrealistic that you cannot actually believe that someone produced that... thing. No wonder Mexican Cinema has so bad fame all over the globe if this is exporting material.

Tlatelolco, Verano de 68 (2013)

Soap opera drama between history facts

[6/10 · 29 June 2015]

In Mexico, in 1968, in order to keep the "peace" during the Olympic games that were about to start, the government decided to silence a students peaceful movement by shooting them all in a big plaza during a meeting. They were fighting for freedom of speech and no repression. This happened on October the 2th and it is a date that many still remember with indignation and sadness. The Olympic games went through beautifully without Mexico letting know the rest of the world that they had just butchered thousands of students one week before the opening of the games. So, this movie relates a lot of historical facts along a love story, that is the part that I don't like. The accuracy of the events is excellent, the students organizations are very well reflected, and the shots of the actual documentaries that recorded part of the situation in that year, give the movie a really good vintage essence. However, the part of the love story is kind of cheesy, not entirely believable, since it is the same old story mixture of Romeo and Juliet or Cinderella (where Cinderella is the man), and where nothing else than love matters. Despite all the laws and morality that "protected" women during those years (not even to mention their families), in order to get virgin to marriage, to be a good house daughter/wife and (of course) religious. That story would have not been allowed in any possible way. I still hear stories about girls that ran away with their boyfriends during those years without getting married and the families would never allow them back in her place (it still happens today). This of course doesn't happen in the movie although the parents of the girl are conservative and with old manners. The movie of course has not Hollywood budget, and although I think the message was quite well achieved, there are not enough characters, for example, the president, doesn't appear with more than two or three persons by his side in any scene. The brother of Felix, the main character, is an undercover policeman, and you find funny that he is present in every single one of the situations repressing the students. I hardly believe there were just 5 undercover policemen during those days. In this movie as well, is very well exposed the winning side (the Government, the politicians, etc.) and why they did what they did (even it is right or wrong), but however, the loosing party (the students) have not enough depth in their part of the story. For those who are not familiar with the events of 1968, will not get clear what the students were searching for, what where their convictions and what changes they wanted to do in the society. So, to make this shorter, the story is kind of OK, the art is quite decent remembering that the budget is short, the costumes are very good, and the acting of some people of the cast is amazing, Juan Manuel Bernal (the father of Ana Maria, the girl), is wonderful (I would recommend you to see him in Obediencia Perfecta; Cassandra Ciangherotti (Ana Maria) is very good too; same as Christian Vazquez (Felix); but the story leaves some blanks that I would have liked to see covered, and this subject still has a lot to offer to make a way more deep and controversial story.

Huérfanos (2014)

Had potential but is too theatrical

[3/10 · 25 June 2015]

There is a problem in Mexican movies. Most of the actors belong to the old school, that is the theater school, even the young ones, and as far as I am concerned, there is not one single good camera acting school, so the few ones that are not overly acting, theater kind, are autodidacts, and they are a big, big exception. And it seems the movie directors either don't mind, or even like that fake tone. So, specially in contemporary cinema, it gets tedious to hear them kind of declaiming, reciting without verses, speaking super slow and making huge pauses (and I mean huge), that have absolutely nothing to do with the script, maybe trying to create some drama, or give the line more intention, but this is not achieved in any of them. Their face expressions is also way too much, and don't even mention the erotic scenes. It seems that they are gonna die in the middle of a kiss. This movie obviously is no exception. If I saw the same acting, movements, expressions, and costumes in theater, probably I would have liked what I saw because the tone is entirely different. But in a movie it becomes tedious, boring and sometimes even worth to laugh about, when the movie it is supposed to be a drama. I was wondering to myself who would talk like that in any other movie, even if the art is set in the XIX century. Or who would stay with a disturbed face looking at the horizon for so long. In one scene you can see a character "whispering" to himself in quite loud voice, in a room where there are two other characters and all you can wonder is how the heck the others didn't hear that. The camera is like very 70's kind, too open or too closed and almost always by hand with no imagination or creativity whatsoever, and the music becomes too perky in the middle of the drama. But my main issue is that I cannot hear them talking anymore, I can't. I am fed up of the theater-kind movies in Mexico without being that the intention because (again) this movie is supposed to be the total opposite of farcical or even comedy. So, if you are up for theater on your TV go for it, but if no, this is gonna be a huge disappointment.

The Perfect Dictatorship (2014)

Seemed as a remake of Wag The Dog

[4/10 · 22 June 2015]

Although the movie parodies many Mexican characters very well known by the society, same as actual facts that happened on live TV and that became trending topics in the social media, the movie per se is not about how dirty the politicians can be, but about how the government and the TV completely manipulate the information that we get on the TV, and the levels they can achieve in order to hide something that they don't want the audience to know, such as creating fake news or ruining lives. I saw this topic (manipulation of information) perfectly pictured in the 1997 movie Wag the Dog (Barry Levinson). One of the other huge disappointments of the movie is that they keep on using the music pieces The Thieving Magpie and the Ode to Joy that although classical, are iconic in movies because of their appearance in A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick). And since there was lack of creativity in the music department, you keep on hearing The Thieving Magpie all along the film. Intended to be comedy, there is no dramatic tension at all (that can be achieved in comedy as well), and it becomes really long and repetitive, and also, since of course it doesn't have Hollywood budget, the camera stands still almost all the movie, and this makes it even more tedious. Another huge problem that is present on the contemporary Mexican cinema is that the director is almost always the writer and this movie is no exception which I don't totally agree with. However, I am gonna try to make few good notes in here: The actors, that mimic Mexican politicians and TV Stars or news presenters, really easy to identify, are excellent. Have a comic note without over acting. The actual news notes that inspired the movie are quite accurate, and the reflection of the Mexican Political Society (as far as we can assume) is excellent, same as the situation of the country. And that's why I don't give it a zero.

Love of My Loves (2014)

Completely predictable

[1/10 · 22 June 2015]

From the very first "important" scene of the movie, you know exactly what is going to happen in the end. And it does. The characters (as usual, as I said and as I going to keep on saying except of those little worth surprises) are stupid as hell and shallow. Another huge problem that is present in Mexican movies, is that the writer is the same guy that is the director. Which is lame and a shame. I would suggest to all the directors to find someone great to write the script they have in mind, or to the writers to stick with writing and get someone to direct their films. It is not impossible, but it is really hard (specially with low budget) to make a movie worth to watch if they do both things. Things as how predictable the script is, the lack of psychology of the characters, the set mistakes, sequence mistakes and on and on, would be more avoidable if each one could focus in their own area. Seriously I don't understand why the characters always have to be selfish, stupid, and shallow. That is not the Mexican society. The idea had some kind of potential in the first two minutes, but then a totally surreal situation is what develops the story. The story itself starts after the main character hits a man with her car and it is a guy that is wearing a luchador mask (entirely ridiculous). After they talk he says that he is wearing the mask because he has dermatitis (and I have it as well) and it has nothing to do with the sun, same as no logic that if he has some kind of decease related to the sun, he would be completely outdoors wearing a mask! Not sunglasses, not a cap, not a hoodie, but a mask... a luchador mask. As ridiculous as it sounds but (again) the tone of the movie is not farcical, it is supposed to be a simple comedy. Then, as usual, the girl hates him at the beginning but you can see clearly where the movie goes (same old formula, and it seems they don't get tired of this)... and it does. I think I lost my time watching this.

Get Married If You Can (2014)

Absolutely horrible

[1/10 · 22 June 2015]

I have not seen worse acting in a Mexican movie in a long, long time, and believe me, it can be quite bad already. I think it was supposed to be farcical but this is not achieved either. The jokes are so bad that they use musical notes to point out that it is supposed to be funny (so you know), with desperate intents to make the audience laugh without making it. Actually yes, there was one time when I laughed. One of the girls breaks in a wedding, and someone tells to the bride "calm down" when the actress that plays the bride is actually quite relaxed and laughing (although she was supposed to be crying since someone was ruining her wedding). As much as everyone is telling her to calm down, she is checking everything but her wedding getting ruined. So, in other words, I laughed at the terrible acting... but not at one single joke. The argument sucks (sad but true), and (again) although it is supposed to be a comedy it is so stupid and surreal that you even get mad of the idea of someone thinking you are stupid enough to laugh about something like that. The main character (a bride to be) gets her heart broken just when she is trying her wedding dress in the store and for some stupid reason instead of cutting it to pieces, giving it back to the store, or anything, decides to wear it back home, because on the next scene, she is crying with her sister I think, at home, obviously, still wearing the darn dress, and then driving... and on and on... No budget to make her wear anything else? Even lingerie? It is not worth whatsoever. The characters (as usual in Mexican cinema) are more than stupid, and instead of feeling sympathy or empathy for them, or enjoying watching the film, you actually feel disgusted. With terribly exaggerated gestures, moves and everything. To make the story sadder, as far as I understood, this movie was one of the most viewed when it was in theaters in Mexico in 2014.

Paradise (I) (2013)

Finally something not pretentious in Mexican movies

[7/10 · 18 June 2015]

One big problem about the "new" Mexican movies, is that it is very pretentious and pretends to show a reality that is non existent, with characters completely out of the ordinary and dialogs that no one would ever believe. This part is hard to recognize if you are not familiar with the daily chaotic life of Mexico, specially Mexico City. Although it is a very cosmopolitan place, it is not full of people looking like movie stars, the landscapes are far from clean and quiet, and it is a place of contrasts. And for the first time, I can see this perfectly pictured in a movie. It has characters that could be your neighbors (perfectly ordinary), with average jobs, trying to achieve a nice quiet life together, aspiring always for something bigger and better, surrounded by all kinds of people. And also this time is as well the first time the psychology of the characters is very well achieved, with their frustrations, dreams, desires and insecurities. If you are familiar with the culture of such a surrealistic country, you will be able to notice that the chaos on the tables, the lack of aesthetics in the decorations, the kind of mediocre jobs, and many other little details, reflect perfectly the struggle each couple has to deal with in the middle of a chaotic place, where you actually feel alone even if surrounded by millions of persons, and how your dream can be broken in the blink of an eye. However, at the end the story becomes cute, and although not everyone would enjoy the kind of comedy it has because it is very local, and in parts it is slow, I would recommend it if you wanna have a nice time and appreciate the little things that you have in front of you that actually make you happy without you even noticing it anymore. Like the company of the one you love.

Qué le dijiste a Dios? (2014)

Don't waste your time watching this movie

[1/10 · 14 June 2015]

I am not a big fan of Mexican movies but sometimes there are amazing exceptions in every gender, from thriller to comedy, however, Mexico lack of history in Musical Comedy made this film absolutely horrible. It was intended to be a musical with a tribute to one of the most famous and iconic singers of the last decades called Juan Gabriel (A terrible, terrible try to mimic what Mamma Mia made), trying to make all the songs match into a story except that in this case the story(and the way to try the match the songs)sucks. The story is completely incoherent, bad written, the characters are plane, boring and incredibly stupid and not in farcical way, just horribly designed. The songs don't match the story at all and they seem to appear in a forced way most of the times and to make it worse the "new versions" of iconic songs of the Mexican culture are a disgrace. Instead of giving them a modern twist they just destroyed them. The choreography of each tune seem to not even have had enough rehearsals and obviously the actors are not professional dancers (in my opinion if they are aspiring to make a musical, then the cast should at the very least have included some professional dancers): Lack of coordination, terrible moves, and on and on. And the way the story goes on is absolutely unbelievable. Supposedly some of the characters are rich but they have an old van and it seems the production team was too busy to notice that, the prices they mention of the designer clothes they have is totally inaccurate (as well as the collections, and I need to point this out because although seems irrelevant this information has importance for the story), and to make it (still) worse, the movie is the typical paradigm that has always appeared in Mexican soap operas, movies and even books where the rich ones are bad, selfish and stupid and the poor ones are good, innocent and victims of circumstances. I would have asked for the time of my life I spent watching it back, but at least it gave me enough annoyance to write this review.

Bates Motel (2013–2017)

If you are a fan of Hitchcock, don't watch it!

[3/10 · 5 June 2015]

I was eager to see Bates Motel after seeing Psycho and being a huge fan of Hitchcock, as well as the character of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), and also I had huge expectations about the casting, specially because I've followed the work of Vera Farmiga (Norma) and Freddie Highmore (Norman), but, in this case, maybe because I think the direction is terrible, both seem as absolutely bad actors! I was really shocked to see them over-acting, under-acting, with fake tears, and using old days kind of acting, very theatrical, becoming almost farcical. This in a drama series that is supposed to be serious becomes hideous. Also, besides having terrible special effects, which surprised me, since the series obviously has enough budget, the psychology of the characters is entirely crappy and almost unbelievable (even for a psycho mother and her about-to-become- serial-killer son). And if that was not enough, the series includes a teen high-school drama with incredibly cheesy dialogs, stupid characters, stupid and non believable situations, almost recreating those teen-series of the 90's that now none of us can stand. To make it worse, since I am quite fan of Hitchcock and I've read about the character that inspired him for Psycho and all, I was really hoping to see that the series happened in the 50's. But this contemporary twist of a horror classic is a no-no for this kind of story. Honestly if you are looking for a quality horror/drama/thriller series, with this one you are wasting your time.

The Captive (I) (2014)

Really emotive

[7/10 · 26 April 2015]

I have followed many movies of Atom Egoyan, and although some might not quite understand his style, since he focuses more on emotions than in the editing or the photography (a good example is Exotica), he managed this movie with incredible drama and sadness more than suspense or thriller, which in my opinion is new on the theme. We have seen child traffic in many movies, but generally they come into sensationalism, or the villains are extremely exaggerated. The movie, in my opinion focuses in the desperation of parents trying to find their missing child with apparently no trace, same as in the weird and twisted emotions of the kidnapper (or the man who bought her, this is never quite explained). Where even though if the villain is a complete pervert, by the other hand he tries to make her as most comfortable as he can in her captivity, and he does listen to beautiful music (Alex Delarge, A clockwork orange?), showing that even the most evil of men have some kind of a good side. The script is very well written since all the characters have a "bad" side, same as a good one, such as the woman that works for him that once was a kidnapped and/or abused child. The girl becomes a woman being captive for many years, and she doesn't totally hate her captor (Stocholm syndrome, maybe), and the emotions of the parents keep evolving during the whole movie. However, the girl seemed extremely fresh, with really nice skin and smile that I hardly doubt anyone would have after being captive for eight years. It is a perfect way to show us how twisted and sad is the world without going through an explicit script that could make us cry for days. If you wanna see quality drama, go for it. If you are expecting killings, persecutions and old school villains, forget it.

Vampire (I) (2011)

Absolutely alternative

[8/10 · 19 April 2015]

I was really surprised after watching this vampire movie. It is refreshing after all the soap-opera vampire dramas that have been on TV and movies recently that make the vampires corny stupid creatures. If you are looking for blood and gore, this is not gonna be your kind of movie, but if you are into psychological thrillers with extremely well created characters go for it. Perhaps the thing that hooked me up the most in this tiny indie movie, is that each of the characters that appear have a story to tell, even if their appearance is short. It has many elements that have not seen in a movie before with the touch that the director gives, such a suicide community online, and a serial killer that actually kills the victims with their consent, making him kind of sweet. You will never understand for sure if he is a vampire or why he does what he does, but you get really attached to different characters in one way or another and you cannot help feeling empathy for more than one in different moments. There is no way you can hate Simon (the main character), even if he is a "serial killer", and when you hear the victims, you also get why they don't wanna live anymore. The dialogs are breathtaking, and the acting of every single actor is just fabulous. Definitely the casting team made excellent choices, I didn't know most of them, but that was an amazing surprise, again, specially for being an indie low budget movie. I would have given it a ten if the last half an hour of the movie didn't got slower, and because of the photography. Although it is good, some scenes are extremely long for just one shot. However, I would recommend it if you want something new, deep and with a deep psychological content about vampires.

Black Bread (2010)

Not bad but I was expecting more

[6/10 · 25 March 2015]

This year I saw "In a glass cage", another movie also written and directed by Agustí Villaronga from 1986 (considered one of the most disturbing films of all time), and the movie was so strong, fast and intense, that is hard not to compare with Black Bread. Black Bread is quite decent, it has a great way to handle mystery, and the characters (and their psychology) are very well developed. The portrait of the Spain that was living under the rules of Franco is also great, specially on the countryside. But knowing what Villaronga can do, I expected way more. The movie is over saturated with dialogs, there are way to many characters to follow the plot, and the ending was quite flat. Villaronga seems very skilled to handle themes that are considered taboo with a great taste but there was a lack of those themes in this movie. By the other hand, the point of view of a Spain post war mainly in children is great, same as the acting. So if you like mystery but you don't like to jump from your sit, then go for it.

Under Electric Clouds (2015)

Badly called artsy movie

[3/10 · 2 March 2015]

I've seen a lot of so called artsy movies, from many directors, and although that genre can be really subjective, this one, was by far one of the worse movies I've ever seen. The reason why I give it a glorious three is because the photography is quite good, and atemporal, but still, I don't think I ever hated a Russian movie until today. Artsy should not mean: lack of script, lack of intensity, or robotic characters. Artsy (in my point of view) means something new far away from what we are used to see in commercial movies. None are bad as long as they can use their tools as best. This movie is about absolutely nothing, supposedly on a near future and it is (or tries to be) a compilation of short stories with different characters, but none of them tells a single story. The characters are boring, robotic, with really silly (stupid) dialogs, and although, for the first half an hour, I thought it was just the way the story was gonna start, it comes out that there is not really a story but a bunch of simple shortcuts kind of co- related at the end... in which there is not a single story in anyone of them. With no believable justification, with many blanks and open questions that are never solved, and with an idea of a play that never gets to an end and it doesn't even start. I can't recall any music on the movie, what makes it even slower. None of the people from the audience liked it, I saw their faces and heard their comments. Watch it if you can't sleep. I'm sure you will and your dreams are gonna be way more interesting.

Sombre (1998)

Extremely overrated

[3/10 · 27 October 2013]

When I read the plot of this movie, I was really interested in watching it, since I really like French movies. They are not shy in themes like sex, religion, violence, horror, blood, etc. and although the idea of this movie had a lot of potential, for me it was a waste of time. I liked the beginning, but after that, things got from bad to worse. I understand that it is a low budget movie, but that doesn't justify that the action happens so slow, that the photography is extremely dark and won't allow you to catch any details, that there are a lot of shots that work for nothing on the movie, like water on a lake (and since the photography is so dark, it is not even worth a landscape shot), or close ups and long dialogs with characters that are not important in the movie, same as lack of dialogs with characters that are worth knowing more, a camera that was by shoulder almost all the time (that makes the movie awfully tired to watch) and horrible audio, that makes steps on little rocks and water sounds really annoying. The acting is OK and again, the story had a lot of potential, but to me this new wave of "experimental" or "art" film, where supposedly everything is called artistic to justify the lack of budget or the lack of imagination solving budget problems, is not really art movies. Shame, because sadly, for me, even if it sounds as blasphemy to the art movie lovers, a commercial director could have made of the script something agile, maybe scary, and shocking. Specially when the story had so much to offer. The points are because the story is cool (horribly handled), the beginning is nice, and the acting was good too. That's it.

A Stranger Is Watching (1982)

Not scary for these days, but good

[7/10 · 26 October 2013]

I remember when I watched this movie in the late 80's in my country on TV, many years after it got released, I was around 6 or 7, and I remembered some scenes that totally freaked me out. After that, my mother didn't let me watch the rest, and then I could not find it anywhere because I didn't remember the name. I finally found it a couple of days ago, and I stared remembering the scenes that frighten me when I was a kid. Right now that we have movies like A Serbian Movie, Hostel, The Human Centipede, and on and on, where everything is super explicit, and hardly ever any survivors, same as perfect makeup effects, so watching a vintage movie where there is no blood at all, where you see always a way to escape (I tend to do that in all the movies where someone is trapped), perhaps you won't find it really thrilling, but if you consider the time period where it was made, with the effects that were available at that time, and the time when the action happens, 1980, with no cellphones, no internet, no DNA tests, and many other details, it is scary, and still believable.

The Killing of America (1981)

Deep analysis of the violence in the 80's

[8/10 · 26 October 2013]

Of course that if we watch it after "Bowling for Columbine", perhaps it will mean not much for you, but it definitely sets a horrible, sad and real background to all the violence phenomena that the USA has been living after 1963, and after a long journey through history, it ends up in the contemporary times of when the movie was made: 1982. The documentary is explicit, is depressive, sad, but still, very crude and accurate, and studying the theme from different points of view: anthropological, sociological, historical, etc. If you are interested in understanding how USA became so chaotic and yet the world potency, I think this movie is a must.

Walled In (2009)

Not scary, but interesting

[5/10 · 26 October 2013]

I wouldn't name this a horror movie. It was not scary in any moment at least for me. It is about a young girl architect is commissioned to study the roots of a building to be demolished, marking the places where there will be explosives later on, and during the time that she works on it, she stays on the building that has a dark history, finding out more secrets all the time, including a disturbed teenager and her weird mother. One thing takes to the other and at the end she is surrounded by dead and later on locked in a kind of cellar where the architect that made the building is also being kept. The story has potential, it is based on a book, and the interesting part is that the building used for the movie fascinated me (inside and outside) and all the architecture details of it and through history that are mentioned along the movie, the secret passages, the light, the ideas that the architect's character says, it is a story with some substance, but not enough to give it a higher score. There are so many things that they could have done during the filming with this building that the result is too poor. The acting unfortunately was very poor as well. Mischa Barton should not be part of "horror" movies, and Cameron Bright (the kid, Jimmy), is very poor acted for a disturbed weird anti social child, that is represented as someone extroverted and self secure (I wouldn't think at a disturbed child being that way). Deborah Kara Unger (Mary), by the other hand, is quite good but I am fed up of seeing her in kind of weird crazy roles. She has much more to offer. I recommend this movie if you are bored or have nothing better to watch, but if you expect big screams, blood, or whatever a horror movie should make you feel, this is then a no, no.

Captifs (2010)

Nothing new, but well justified

[6/10 · 26 October 2013]

I am not going to go deep into the movie, but it was "OK". Recently in horror or thriller movies, housewives know how to use knives or to hit someone to dead, ordinary people defeat trained soldiers and on and on and I hate the lack of credibility. This movie was different. First: the acting was quite decent and second: Everything was justified, for once. So at least I didn't see fake heroes or people that seems immortal. Carole, the main character, has a very well justified phobia for dogs, that will make things complicated for her later on in the movie. It is justified how much she loves and cares about children, so when she tries to rescue Ana, the little girl, she is not a super hero, but that's what she does. She is a doctor, so she knows how to use surgery knives in a very precise way, and it is not pure good luck that she does what she does later on in the movie with a surgery knife. Besides that, the movie doesn't give anything new. Organ traffickers, innocent people being killed, and of course, only one character (the main one, and the weakest-Carole-) and a little girl survive. Why can't they ever work together to kill the bad guys and so all of the good ones (or most of them) survive? It is a good movie if you just wanna jump on your chair a couple of times, and get a little bit uncomfortable (due to the organs) and scared, but yet, not much. For a Sunday night when there is nothing to do, it is perfect.

The Seasoning House (2012)

Themes no one dares to talk about

[7/10 · 28 September 2013]

The movie is painful and as some other people who commented before me said, it is a roller coaster: slow-fast-slow. Basically it is a story of revenge of a girl forced to prostitute herself and be the maid of a prostitution house. The effects are incredibly realistic and the acting is really good. It is really full of blood and injuries if you like that, which is OK for me, but besides that, I think that, instead of being considered a thriller movie, or horror, or blood, or whatever, the real value of the movie, is that it dares to talk about something that until few years ago: the human traffic. It happens in all the countries in all possible economy and class levels, in all kinds of education. Many women are forced to sell their bodies for some food after being kidnapped or (in this case) survived the war. And specially, if you consider the after war panorama that happens in this movie (it is not explicit in the rest of the girls, though), where, probably all of the girls locked in the house lost their families, or at least some family members, probably got raped and robbed one or many times before being kidnapped or found by the dealers, and where the main customers are soldiers or authorities, then, it is a very sad eye opener for this situation. I've seen some other movies with the same theme before, but not as crude as this one, where the injuries inflicted in the girls are really real and the violence scenes really explicit. However, since the "revenge" starts, it lost credibility for me, and became too much of a wannabe Hollywood persecution movie. And when Angel gets in the house of the wife of the soldier she killed it is becoming common place in many movies. I would have avoided that scene and jumped to the next part. However, the idea was good.

The Rite (1969 TV Movie)

Just by knowing this is a Berman's film, you should run to watch it

[9/10 · 26 January 2008]

Even though I haven't got the chance to see all Bergman's films, from what I've seen so far I do consider him a real artist. As the main difference I find with him from the American industry, is that in all his films, there is always a piece of the jigsaw puzzle missing, and that make you think as a passive watcher "what the bleep is going on? what did I miss?", and such as Zulawski, or Lynch, I don't think he pretends to give us a film that has been completely solved even by him, because if it was so, the film would be worthless. However, even though, there is a singular meaning or not, he is to me, perhaps the most introspective film director I can remember about human mind: fears, passion, secrets, jealousness, nerves, and deep dark thoughts that come out from each character, when they don't expect it to happen. They don't belong to themselves but to something that is pulling them to act or move as puppets... perhaps "God", perhaps their own feelings. During The Rite, I could feel running in my blood all the emotions the characters pass through, like lust, lack of concentration, fear, desperation, love, lack of love, and finally anger, that could symbolize the evolution of the feelings that according to psychiatrists, is what happen to many artists, and in the point of no return they have two chances: create their masterpiece and display on it all their feelings, whatever the art they follow is, or get themselves insane. I think that for Berman, the final rite was the three actors masterpiece. They have explored (even being consent or not about that) their internal emotions so much, and they were destroying each other, even though they loved each other, that they created together the rite: the masterpiece, the killing. And the "murderer" was just the consequence of an expectant being impressed, just like you do after a horror film and you can hear your heart beating. So, the message to me basically is that sense is the path that an artist needs to follow, and if you get to become a real artist, you can use your talent in just two ways: to create or to destroy.

Pedro Páramo (1967)

Breathtaking

[10/10 · 9 December 2006]

I read the novel when I was around 13 years old and even though I did not entirely understand it by those days, I had the chance to analyze it later on and it became to me a fabulous book full of mystery, sadness, loneliness and yet a lot of Mexican Revolution realism. So as people might imagine I was kind of frightened of watching the movie, because I know that it is not something good to compare a film with a book, but sometimes there is just no way to avoid it, but after this Friday when I had the chance to read an essay about Ignacio López Tarso (Fulgor Sedano in the film), who is a very important actor in Mexico, and that I saw in a theater play when I was a kid, I decided to take the risk and watch it... At the end I could think that was the silliest thing not to watch it before. Not just respects the entire story of Juan Rulfo and keeps extreme similarity to the actual novel, but it is also a beautiful piece of art full of mystery, sadness and loneliness. Velo represents with extreme fidelity a Mexico that was being victim of a Revolution, the town, the costumes, the people, the houses. Each detail is loyal to those times, and the actings to me are awesome. "La Cuarraca" is a real ugly character and you feel like you need to see to some other place but the screen when she is on scene, Susana is fighting against her madness and the reality at the same time and just to look at her face you are able to feel her desperation and her melancholy, There is a point where (spoilers might be here) you cannot actually know if what you are watching the reality itself (if there is one) or another one of the dead bodies talking. You are not able to tell the very moment when Juan Preciado dies but by the other way it is entirely understandable almost at the ending, when he goes to the grave where his mother is and when he understands he died in some part of the journey and then you ask to your self "was it worthless?". There are some little things of the book that you cannot see in the movie but since its realization is so good, I would say they are not really important. I can recommend it to everybody.

Duck Season (2004)

Excellent film

[10/10 · 7 October 2006]

I've seen lots of Mexican films, but after living in the biggest and most populated city of the world, even though many films are great, they don't show exactly the reality of living here. "Y tu mamá también" is a good example of this: even though the film is great, the reality of the country and its people is entirely different. So after listening and reading very good comments of Temporada de Patos (Duck season), I finally had the chance to see it. Even though I am not a boy or I was not a girl that would prepare marijuana brownies when I was a teenager, the film entirely reminded me my life about ten years ago. Helped by the photography (which is awesome)it shows with just the necessary dialogs the feelings, doubts and thoughts of Mexican puberty. And also there is a pizza guy that at the end becomes one more of the "apartment Sunday junky gang" that for many people would not be entirely credible, but for me it is, because when you are a medium class Mexican teenager, and you are able to save the few money you would spend on a pizza you will do it. The way they handle doubts as sexuality, drugs, relationship with the parents, friendship, junk food and things like that is excellent. The flashbacks are great, the way they handle the "trip" with marijuana is also excellent, the dialogs and the music too. I would absolutely recommend anyone to see it because it is viewable for all the ages, and it will remind our early teenager days to any adult who watches it.