The much heralded Chilean director, Pablo Larrain (Tony Manero (2008) and Post Mortem (2010)) completes his Pinochet trilogy with the critically acclaimed No starring Gael Garcia Bernal.
No stars Bernal as a cynical young advertising executive, Rene Saavedra asked to spearhead the 'No' campaign for those opposing the dictatorial regime led by General Pinochet, and attempt to bring democracy to Chile.
Larrain uses his methodical eye and observational style to bring to the screen a perfectly rendered 1980s set film; pleasingly the film harkens back to the start of the campaign as we follow them using scant resources and being under constant scrutiny from colleagues and the Pinochet regime.
At stake for the dissidents is a chance for freedom and to be as affluent as they wish they could be. The irony is not lost on the audience when we first me Rene who is pitching a campaign for a new soft drink, called 'Free'. It is telling though that in the country, everyone speaks in whispers, scared to say anything against the totalitarian regime and end up dead like so many before them.
Larrain cleverly mixes scripted and imagined scenes with carefully selected archive footage, and kudos to cinematographer Sergio Armstrong for shooting with a 1983 U-matic camera so we cannot distinguish between the imagined and the real 1980s footage.
Credit also to Bernal for taking a role that is neither built on his in-built charm, nor a man who is a charmer - Rene is the son of a dissident and yet he remains honest in his pursuit of the campaign and the ultimate victory. The contrast and similarities with Ben Affleck's Argo are noticeable - the beards, the anti-totalitarian regime, the faithfulness to the era the film is set in.
No is one of the most compelling and visually daring films of recent memory.
It is released on DVD (£19.99 rrp) and also on iTunes (£13.99 HD rrp or £3.49 to rent) and the Curzon Home Cinema, courtesy of Network Releasing.
Special features include an interview with Pablo Larrain; a conversation with Gael Garcia Bernal at Curzon Soho; a Q&A with Larrain from the 56th London Film Festival and image gallery
My thanks to Network Releasing for the opportunity to review this title.
Showing posts with label Latin american cinema. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latin american cinema. Show all posts
Monday, 17 June 2013
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Agnosia - DVD review
Following hot on the heels of the theatrical release of Julia's Eyes in cinemas last week, Momentum Pictures release another film from the producers of Pan's Labyrinth, Agnosia is another Spanish thriller which made its UK debut at the London Spanish Film Festival.
Directed by another Guillermo Del Toro protege Eugenio Mira, and written by Antonio Trashorras (who also collaborated with Del Toro on The Devil's Backbone) the film tells the story of a young Joana Prats who after an accident suffers from a neurological illness, agnosia, that affects her perception.
As a doctor explains, we normally have a filter that reduces all the stimuli into senses of sounds and sights, in Joana's case she cannot interpret the stimuli she receives, leaving her in this perplexed state - she knows you are there but is not necessarily deaf or blind.
After the death of her father, Joana becomes victim of a sinister plan; whilst two men fight for her affection the true love of her man will become crucial; Carles (Noriega), her father's right hand man who seeks his industrial secret and Vicent (Felix Gomez) an impulsive servant who falls in love with Joana whilst working at the mansion. Does Joana find the strength to seek out the truth, as the tagline suggests perception is not reality.
The film is blessed by the Spanish tradition of film-making influenced by the work of Victor Erice in the rich period detail of the baroque setting of the film, and the work of Del Toro's fantasy work specifically Pan's Labyrinth in terms of the visual richness and fantasy elements - the narrative themes it shares are that of a vulnerable young girl in distress, to be saved by a downtrodden young man as she escapes into a fantasy world of which neither she nor loved ones can grasp, and how love can be a mistake or mistaken for something else.
Often in Spanish/Latin film (even in the work of Almodovar) there is an ulterior motive to someone's affection for an individual; in this instance we are aware of someone's sinister motives, and it is the young girl who finds out too late to her cost; another genre convention where for certain characters they find out too late.
The specific details of familial relationships and the fractured household in which they belong reminded me of the seminal Latin American film Like Water for Chocolate and the weight of magical realism that exudes over the film is apparent.
Starring Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Others) and Eduardo Noriega (Open Your Eyes), along with the impressive Barbara Goenaga as the suffering Joana. The film is elegant and entertaining to a certain degree, the film just falls short of matching the Hispanic heights of Del Toro's work, even though the best of young Spanish cinema on display here finds that particular national cinema is in good spirits.
Agnosia is released by Momentum Pictures on 30 May on DVD for £12.99 and contains special features aplenty.
Directed by another Guillermo Del Toro protege Eugenio Mira, and written by Antonio Trashorras (who also collaborated with Del Toro on The Devil's Backbone) the film tells the story of a young Joana Prats who after an accident suffers from a neurological illness, agnosia, that affects her perception.
As a doctor explains, we normally have a filter that reduces all the stimuli into senses of sounds and sights, in Joana's case she cannot interpret the stimuli she receives, leaving her in this perplexed state - she knows you are there but is not necessarily deaf or blind.
After the death of her father, Joana becomes victim of a sinister plan; whilst two men fight for her affection the true love of her man will become crucial; Carles (Noriega), her father's right hand man who seeks his industrial secret and Vicent (Felix Gomez) an impulsive servant who falls in love with Joana whilst working at the mansion. Does Joana find the strength to seek out the truth, as the tagline suggests perception is not reality.
The film is blessed by the Spanish tradition of film-making influenced by the work of Victor Erice in the rich period detail of the baroque setting of the film, and the work of Del Toro's fantasy work specifically Pan's Labyrinth in terms of the visual richness and fantasy elements - the narrative themes it shares are that of a vulnerable young girl in distress, to be saved by a downtrodden young man as she escapes into a fantasy world of which neither she nor loved ones can grasp, and how love can be a mistake or mistaken for something else.
Often in Spanish/Latin film (even in the work of Almodovar) there is an ulterior motive to someone's affection for an individual; in this instance we are aware of someone's sinister motives, and it is the young girl who finds out too late to her cost; another genre convention where for certain characters they find out too late.
The specific details of familial relationships and the fractured household in which they belong reminded me of the seminal Latin American film Like Water for Chocolate and the weight of magical realism that exudes over the film is apparent.
Starring Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Others) and Eduardo Noriega (Open Your Eyes), along with the impressive Barbara Goenaga as the suffering Joana. The film is elegant and entertaining to a certain degree, the film just falls short of matching the Hispanic heights of Del Toro's work, even though the best of young Spanish cinema on display here finds that particular national cinema is in good spirits.
Agnosia is released by Momentum Pictures on 30 May on DVD for £12.99 and contains special features aplenty.
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