Saturday, December 29, 2018

In the early '60s, a Mexican director was born, his thirst for creation brought him to make films that reshape cinema's landscape. Children of Men, Solo con Tu Pareja, Gravity, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban are among his most important films, this is Alfonzo Cuaron.

Roma is his most intimate and personal film ever. Directors have always searched on one point of their career making a movie about a personal story. Oliver Stone with Platoon, Richard Linklater with Before Sunshine, David O. Russell with Silver Linings Playbook and even Steven Spielberg with Schindlers List.

Roma tells the story of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) a maid who works for a family in the colony(neighborhood) of Roma in Mexico City during the '70s. She takes care of four kids from Sofia (Marina de Tavira) and Antonio(Fernando Grediaga), she also takes care of Teresa, which is Sofia's mom. Cleo also does cleaning and make sure the house runs smoothly, with the help from Adela.

The relationship between Sofia and Antonio is in crisis and they are trying to hide it from the kids, but there is a breaking point when Antioni leaves for Quebec for some research never returning home. At the same time, Cleo gets pregnant from a playful relationship with a guy name Fermin. The story continues in the brink of very dangerous times in Mexico with the rise of students protest and a paramilitary group name Los Halcones.

Rome is a very interesting exploration of life in the '70s thru the eyes of a maid and a middle-class family in Mexico City. Cuaron shows this life connecting with people who lived in the '70s and '80s in Latin America, a time a remember pretty well.

However, Cuaron's devotion to telling such a personal story gets some audience lost because there is not enough cultural context to understand what's happening, is just a glimpse of events. Personally, I had to research some of the political happenings in Mexico to understand. The film serves as collection vignettes of a different life in this city. The naturalism of just using sound and not having a music score creates a slow pace to the movie which can be deceiving for audiences.

Roma is a beautifully shot film with too many hidden VFX that makes me wonder, how you can tell a personal story about your past and you need to alter the reality of the story?. The film contains very interesting metaphors about relationships from a big car to a small car and also how dog's poop becomes an object for couple's argument, Cuaron borrows the visual style of Orson Wells, Hitchcock, and Tarkovsky just to make a point of a film that looks good black and white

What's struck me about watching Roma on Netflix's streaming platform instead of in theaters, is about previous well-reviewed foreign films and how they become forgotten after winning the Academy Award, Roma is now a trendy movie with audiences hating it and critics loving it, just like last year Will's Smith Netflix film Bright, was hated by the critics and love it by audiences.

Roma could be forgotten if it wasn't shown on Netflix.




Friday, December 21, 2018

Fascism is a trendy subject these days, in our political arena, on our everyday lives, and the entertainment business.

The events from Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, when Heather Heyer was killed and dozens were injured by James, Alex Fields still in the news. An event hard to forget especially by the way our current administration dealt with this. Charlottesville is also one of the crucial elements shown in the new Spike Lee film BlacKkKlansman.

In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) an African American cop from the Colorado Springs police department where he gets assigned to work at the records room. Ron is the object of racial mistreatment from his coworkers. So request to be transferred to the undercover department. His first assignment is going to a rally for the black student union where he meets Kwame Ture an important activist.

One day he reads in the paper advertising to join the Ku Klux Klan, he calls the number on the ad pretending to be white and use his coworker Detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) and he talks to the KKK the president of the Colorado Spring chapter requesting to join the group.

Spike Lee approach is very interesting, the use of humor as a tool for criticism is powerful and effective. It's important to mention how other directors saw fascism with humor, attacking the irony of leaders around the world. Charles Chaplin did it with The Great Dictator in the 1940s sending a message to the world about how wrong is an authoritarian leader who thinks is better than anyone else, or a film like Starship Troopers by Paul Verhoeven making fun of the war industry but translated to the future, where people on earth are just interested in conquering other planets just for the sake of being the world cop.

BlacKkKlansman is a great reminder that enemies are not only outside our country but in our backyard. Intolerant people with lack of respect and consideration to other with others who think differently.



Thursday, December 20, 2018

Road movies are the film genre where two main characters or several roles leave townhome on a road trip, most of the time this trip change the characters perspectives evolving after they return.

Several movies have explored this type of movies, from Thelma and Louise, Little Miss Sunshine, Into The Wild, Y Tu Mamá También, Easy Ryder and The Motorcycle Diaries.

The films mentioned before show a territory where characters seeing something change their perspective in life, sometimes is a tragic event, other people's behavior or they discover something about the other traveling partner.

A powerful road movie currently in theaters, already an award contender, but also the controversial picture is the film Green Gook. It tells the story of Frank "Tony Lip" Vallenloga (Viggo Mortensen) an Italian American bouncer, in search for employment after the club he was working was shut down unexpectedly. Thanks to his connections to had an interview with "Doc" Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali ) a famous pianist who is going on tour around the country, Green Book is the term for a travel guide for black motorists.

At first Frank clash with Don for so many reasons, especially his uncultured behavior opposite Don’s sophisticated, reserved demeanor. As they head South, Frank discover the sad reality about Don, no matter his talents and prestigious title as a classical pianist, he is seen by their white fans as an African American who is only welcome at the hotels, bathrooms and other business just for color. Don's dilemma is his inability to fit as black with his peers, but also not been welcome at the white community.

On the other hand, Don gives Frank the tools and enough lessons to understand that with his behavior as a bouncer, he will never succeed in more prestigious environments.

The trip this two encounter is filled with life lessons about racism in the south, tolerance, and respect, but importantly is how they learn about each other.

If you ever heard the expression "Behind every great man, there's a great woman" is just referring to a men who really take care of a woman, respect her and give the credit she deserves.

It is not applied to certain men who became successful thanks to the talents of their wives. Films like Tim Burton's Big Eyes, tells the story of the painter Margaret Ulbrich, who's husband, was taking credit of her work, becoming a well-known painter.

British director Wash Westmoreland brought to life a similar story, French writer Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley) Is married to a well-known author and publisher Henry Gauthier-Villars (Dominic West) who uses the pseudonym Willy, Colette was found of writing stories about her friends back in the French countryside, which Henry became interested in using it.

The character "Claudine" is a voice for women and a total success for Henry who uses Colette work for his own, making him a millionaire and calculated manipulator stealing her writings. The troubled relationship for Colette and Henry is also a sexual exploration in the Paris of the 20th century, transforming Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette from a rural girl into a city girl with the thirst for adventure as an artist.

The film is a great document about women who don't get the credit as they deserve and there are used by her partners to become successful. That's been said "Behind a terrible man, there's a great woman"

Monday, November 26, 2018

When I first heard the possibility of Hollywood making a biopic for the singer Freddy Mercury and the band Queen, I thought who is willing to take the risk and face the judgment of this sacrilege? In 2010 when the project finally was taking shape two actors were named, Sasha Baron Cohen or Ben Wishaw directed by great a director like Dexter Fletcher, who was replaced by Bryan Singer ( X-men films, Usual Suspects and Valkyrie) and the actor chosen was Rami Malek (Mr. Robot, Papillon)

Bohemian Rhapsody tells the story from the very beginning in the life of one the most famous British bands. Farrokh Bulsara/Freddy Mercury (Rami Malek) ad Indian-British Parsi was as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport. Farrokh is a huge fan of the band Smiles, some of the band members are Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy).

After an unexpected situation Smiles singer leave the band and Farrokh Bulsara decided to become the lead singer. This is the beginning of the band Queen and the true origin Freddy Mercury

Bohemian Rhapsody explores the life of Queen, their road to success, their clash with record labels and executives. Mercury sexual discovery, Queen return to the stage during Live Aid in 1985. and Mercury demise with the AIDS disease.

Singer's work reflects a biopic made for fans, without risks and sugar coding myths and not so truthful real events. Still, the film delivers an entertaining musical extravaganza. The work of Rami Malek it's impressive, I wasn't happy with him as Freddy Mercury when he was chosen for the role, but when you watch the film he convinces you hardly that he could be Mercury, from his mannerisms, body language, and expressions.
This is his victory, by making you think that Freddy Mercury is back!

In 1972 Mason Skiles (John Hamm) works as a US diplomat in Lebanon living in Beirut married to his Lebanese wife, Nadia. The couple was taking care of Karim a 13-year-old who claims he doesn't have a family. Surprisingly, the US government discovers that wasn't true, Karim is linked to a brother who was part of the 1972 Summer Olympics Massacre in Munich. During a celebration at Mason's house, Karim is abducted by his brother and Nadia is murdered.

10 years later, Skiles is living in the US, doing work as a labor arbitrator, he is now alcoholic and depressed, the US government needs him, to rescue an old friend Gary Ruzak (Shea Whigham). The team who brought Skiles back is Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike) Donald Gaines (Dean Norris) and Frank Whalen (Larry Pine).

Skiles biggest revelations are how much Beirut has changed for the worst. The city was vibrant, filled with life and so much money pouring from all over the world, now is a war zone.

Beirut is a film written by Tony Gilroy well known for writing Star Wars Rogue One and the Bourne films, also directing and writing the powerful film Michael Clayton. Gilroy explores an interesting espionage film about a guy who is looking for redemption in a city that gave him everything and at the same time took everything from him. The elements of betrayals are present from the very beginning, you ask yourself who you trust, who is the enemy.



Tuesday, November 20, 2018

It was July 18th of 1969, the day where Kennedy's family vanished their last opportunity to reach the presidency. This is the day where the Chappaquiddick scandal happened.

Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) is attending to a party with his cousin Joe Gargan (Ed Helms) and US Attorney for Massachusetts Paul Markham (Jim Gaffigan) there he is having drinks with Mary Jo Kopechne ( Kate Mara) and together they leave the party, Ted Kennedy accidentally drives off the Dike Bridge into a pond. He is able to scape, but he is unable to rescue Mary Jo, he flees the scene, reporting the incident 9 hours later, filled with contradictions.

The whole family works their way to manipulate information and clean Ted's reputation from this incident, Robert McNamara (Clancy Brown) United States Secretary of Defense leads the team to do damage control, also Ted's turbulent relationship with his Joseph Kennedy (Bruce Dern) who believes he son is a disgrace for him.

Chappaquiddick tells the story of the last hope for the Kennedys family to reach the presidency. From a whole catalog of movies and TV miniseries like JFK, Bobby, The Kennedy's, Killing Kennedy, Jackie and 13 days, this movie gives you a glimpse of how the Kennedy family is surrounded by mysteries and intrigues where John and Robert were brutally murdered in 1963 and 1968, also their time in Washington is connected to conflicts with Rusia, Cuba, the mafia and teamsters. In this film, we see a very vulnerable Ted manipulated by his family and controlled by his dad helpers. The conclusion of Chappaquiddick is a message of sanity and honesty from a man who is been pressure by the shadows of his brothers but doesn't make him a hero, because we will never know what happened on July 18th, 1969.

It was the year 1932 when a film by Frank Capra, with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, started a genre know as romantic comedies. In that time the genre was focused on the topic "comedy of manners" which revolves in a millionaire who falls in love with a non-wealthy person. Then in the 40's evolved into screwball comedies, refer to the sport of baseball, when a pitcher will throw a screwball generating an unexpected outcome. Katherine Hepburn and Cary will be related to this kind of comedies.

In the 70's Woody Allen introduce and new element into the story, couples will talk about sex and love without any taboo's. thanks to the sexual revolutions of the 60's. Now romantic comedies follow a pattern of boys meets a girl, boy loses, girl boy gets girl back, but also have a new traditional style, when incorporating new elements, this is called Neo tradition romantic comedies. Films like When Harry Met Sally, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Nothing Hill, 10 Things I Hate about you, Pretty Woman, Love Actually and Bridget Jones Diary could be considered part of new wave of comedies.

Director Jon M. Chu brought to life the book by Kevin Kwan into a successful film, Crazy Rich Asians. Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) an economics professor of NYU have a relationship with boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding). One day Nick invite Rachel to accompany him to Singapore for his best friend wedding. Rachel is unaware that Nick is part of an extremely wealthy family in Asia, after a girl share on social media an image of both of them in a restaurant creating a web gossip.

Nick moms are very critical and don't accept Rachel as part of Nick's life, insinuating that she is a "gold digger". Rachel seeks support with her college friend Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina) who live in Singapore with her family. The story continues through the wedding celebration until the unexpected ending.

Crazy Rich Asians contain what successful romantic comedies have, two strong characters, a good sidekick/comedy relief, a great location to develop a story, but goes against the first Hollywood model, no Caucasians actors. Why does this work? Why the film made so much money?

Simple, audiences are tired of seeing the same faces, the same stories with the same outcomes. For instance, the people in Crazy Rich Asians, are really crazy rich, not like rich American tacky millionaires, these people have so much wealth that is overwhelming. Just the wedding ceremony scene is enough to understand the magnitude of their wealth.

I have moved by the story and the characters, completely believable, but the main point of Crazy Rich Asians is a message about how everyone can make it, no matter where they come from. The message about immigrants is there and audiences get it.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

I haven't seen such a unique way of portraying the first hours as a married couple than the film "On Chesil Beach".

The film takes place in 1962 when Florence Ponting (Saoirse Ronan) and Edward Mayhew (Billy Howle) get married and they are enjoying their honeymoon in a hotel at Chesil Beach. The story presents this couple enjoying intimacy and their struggles to become the ideal husband and wife. The story then introduced flashbacks of pivotal points in their lives, which connects with certain moments during their intimate moments.

Both characters are nervous on their first night but are not just to the discovery of their sexual desires, also is their internal battles about classism and social pressure from both families.

Edward is an angry and physical belligerence person who has a mother with brain damage, Florence a girl with an unspoken past with her father who dominates her and possibly molested her. Her big escapism is play in a string quartet. Those two personalities collide reaching a breaking point.

First-time director Dominic Cooke create a powerful film, that sometimes borderline into the corny. Saoirse performance is great but seems to be less engaging as the film progresses and she is full of makeup and prosthetics. Billy Howle does a pretty good job, however, his mannerism is sometimes not believable. One shot that defines the film is the last frame because it symbolizes this couple crisis.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Dennis Villeneuve work is a complex collection of images and emotions, his movies reflect a dedicated artist trying to express how he sees the world. Trying to replicate his vision is very difficult, that's why when Hollywood made the announcement of the Sicario sequel, I was very hesitant to watch this movie.

Stefano Sollima director of the first season of the TV show Gomorrah had the responsibility of following the footsteps of Villeneuve and create a cohesive movie and also a sequel of a successful first film.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado continues the lives of Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) and Special Agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) working for the US government. After a suicide bombing in Kansas City, The united states respond to work in a mission with Graver in order to combat The Mexican Cartel who are responsible for smuggling terrorist across the border.

With that in mind, Gillick and Graver work together into instigating a war between the two big Mexican cartels, but killing a lawyer on one side and kidnapping the daughter of kingpin rival.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a nice follow up to the original film. Stefano Sollima is not trying to copy Villeneuve's work but making a variation f the story. We have two main characters from the original Sicario, but we are missing Emily Blunt, which without her makes the film darker and less emotional. Hildur Guðnadóttir composer of the score pays a great tribute to Jóhann Jóhannsson work from the first film.

This movie is scary, but a real document of what's going on at the border with the US.


Thursday, July 26, 2018

Living in an alternate reality in the US, we found Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) a guy living at his uncle Sergio's garage with his girlfriend (Tessa Thompson) an aspiring artist and performer, who earn living doing sign spinner on a daily basis.

Cassius found a job as a telemarketer on the ground of the RegalView Company, at the very beginning, Cassius has a lot of difficulties attracting buyers, so he is approached by Langston (Danny Glover) who says the art of a successful telemarketer is to play the "white voice", later Cassius become a power caller, due to his success selling at the company. He gains so much reputation that he is promoted, meeting the top people.

Sorry to Bother You is the first film by Boots Riley and is becoming a successful film during the summer season, filled with blockbuster movies and action-packed stories. Sorry to Bother You explores subjects from racial discrimination and stereotypes. The power of social media, making everyone a celebrity and turning a tragic event into an excuse for commercial gain. It also uses American corporations as big slavery companies where the employee doesn't rights and benefits, just work non stop for the company well being.

The film uses a very dark humor, with touches of science fiction themes in order to explain how greedy America works to keep people making them rich. Sorry to Bother You have great performances, excellent screenplay, outstanding art direction, and soundtrack. Keep in mind you need to be ready for the half an hour of the film, It will surprise you.

About fourteen years ago a movie gave us a glimpse of the superhero private life, this is not Bruce Wayne hiding behind Batman a mask or Clark Kent using glasses to disguise his Superman identity. I'm talking about the life of a couple with kids struggling with the daily jobs but also raising a family.

The Incredibles 2 is the follow up of the highly successful film from 2004, this time superheroes were banned from society because their works are considered a liability for cities in general. On the last mission Mr. Increidble (Craig T Nelson), Elasticgirl (Holly Hunter), and Frozone (Samuel L Jackson) are trying to stop The Underminer a villain who robs Metroville bank nearly destroy the city including Metroville City Hall. The government put the superhero relocation program, leaving the family without a job.

A millionaire and superhero fan name Winston Endeavor (Bob Odenkirk) bring the team together to give them an offer, a publicity stunt in order to regain public confidence with superheroes. The first part of the plan will have the Elastic girl working alone in this endeavor, while Mr. Incredible will stay home taking care of the kids, this will be the biggest challenge of all, been a stay home dad.

The Incredibles 2 is a well-made action-packed film exploring the complexity been a parent, juggling between work and family time. The film makes this aspect funny, but real. When someone said that raise a kid is hard, the film shows you dad and builds a metaphor around the fact that parents are superheroes. The film also has a take on corporate control and government influence.



Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Pharmaceutical companies are one of the big business in the US, especially now when we are on the brink of medical marijuana revolution.

This is one of the main subjects in the film Gringo directed Nash Edgerton.
Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) is the mild-mannered representative for the pharmaceutical company Promethium, which offers an experimental marijuana pill.

Richard Rusk (Joel Edgerton) and Elaine Markison (Charlize Theron) are the co-presidents of the company. Richard is a womanizer and pretentious guy, Elaine is the typical bimbo who loves to be in control of everything using her "female fatal" tricks. Richard and Elaine are lovers and this takes a big toll in the way Promethium is leaning in the market. Harold, Richard, and Elaine travel to Mexico to meet the people in charge of the production of the marijuana pills. There, Harold discovers the plan from the co-presidents of Promethium to get rid of him. So, he comes up with his on a plan to get some money out of this situation. He pretends to be kidnapped by Mexican gang members asking for 5 million dollars.

From there the film becomes a chain reaction of bad decisions and mixed up situations. The problem with Gringo is a film with so many traditional stereotypes and typical plots, director Nash Edgerton tried to bring criticism to the pharmaceutical industry with an action comedy, but the film ends up as a silly film with a waste of great actors and a confusing story.

Been a spy in the world of movies about secret agents is not as glamorous as it should be. A new wave of highly trained people is aiming to wear James Bond or Jason Bourne shoes and show the audiences around the world that not only men can be tough and smart take over the secrets from governments around the world.

The first attempt was with actress Charlize Theron in Atomic Blond, now director Francis Lawrence brings Jennifer Lawrence in a new spy drama, Red Sparrow. Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) is a famous Russian ballerina who is supporting her ill mother. After an injury ending her career, Dominika is approached by her uncle Ivan (Mathias Schoenaerts) who works SVR (Foreign Russian Intelligence) offer her a deal, one mission in exchange for Ivan paying Dominika's mom medical expenses.

Dominika accepts the deal, she will have to meet Russian gangster Dimitry Ustinov who is really fond of her, during the times she was the prima ballerina. The mission goes wrong Ustinov rapes her and is killed by members of the SVR, this was just a set up to get rid of Dimitry Ustinov.

After the mission, Ivan offers Dominika to continue working for SVR or been executed since she was the only present during Dimitry's death.

From now on Dominika will be own by the government in a secret program call Red Sparrow, where people are trained to be assassins and use every tool to seduce their victims. Nate Nash ( Joel Edgerton) is a CIA operative in Moscow becomes Dominka's first assignment as a Sparrow.

Red Sparrow is another film helping to launch a new wave of spy thrillers, focusing mostly on women spies. The film is confusing, violent and highly sexualized, besides the use of great actors like Vanessa Redgrave and Jeremy Irons. Seen actors speaking English with a British accent or American actors pretending to speak Russian accent literally throw you off from the movie experience. Red Sparrow is just another spy drama, easy to forget.

Thursday, June 7, 2018

In 2015 Star Wars The Force Awakens, say goodbye to one of the most famous characters of the saga, Han Solo. Most of us thought will be the last time we see this character on the big screen.

Two years later Walt Disney announced the production of the Han Solo origins spin-off and with that everyone was wondering where this movie will take place and how it will be?

Now the film Solo is released after a very troubled production where the film was done by two young directors, who were fired after almost finishing the film by Lucasfilm president.

Then Ron Howard was hired to shoot the film again and finished what Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and get it ready for the original release.

Solo tells the story of Han (Aldem Ehrenreich) and orphan made to steal in order to survive, he lives in Corellia with his lover Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke). Together they make a plan scape and find their way to another planet, but the plan failed when Qi'ra is capture before the scape and Han promise to come back to rescue her, so he joined the Empire as a flight cadet.

3 years have passed and he is already expelled from the Flight Academy and Han is an infantryman during a battle on the planet Mimban, here when he meets Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson and Val Beckett (Thandie Newton) both pirates who are stealing weapons and materials from the Empire Infantry.

This is the pivotal moment in the story when we see Han Solo will be a space pirate getting involved with the worst of the worst and also he will start acquiring debt across the galaxy.

The film continues exploring the story of how Han met Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian.

Ron Howard does a good job making this film entertaining and fun, Lawrence Kasdan and son Jonathan create an interesting idea of how Han Solo life developed to the point of seeing him in Star Wars: A New Hope.
The film does not explore social issues like Rogue One did, which to me is a more solid Star Wars movie, presenting a group of strong characters fighting for a cause and using the film as a metaphor of the problems we are living this day and age. Solo only explore visual nuances like the war in Mimban, which visually looks like World War I. The images seem to be lifted from Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory. The representation of Tobias and Val Beckett connects the dots to those people who came back to England after WW1 and later became gang members and criminals in order to have a meaning in their life.

Donald Glover does a great job as Lando Calrissian as well L3-37 droid (voice by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) which is the only character who talks about social justice in this story, sadly it felt flat. John Powell score is an excellent tribute to the Star Wars saga, with constant reminders of famous tunes of the previous films.
Overall Solo is an entertaining action-packed film, but at the end doesn't give you a solid message, Paul Bettany is a forgettable character and a weak villain.



Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Usually, a subject of pregnancy in films is mostly taken as a funny experience for the filmmakers who are looking to entertain the audience and deliver a weak message about paternity. Films like, Look Who's Talking, What to Expect When You're Expecting, Baby Mama, Knocked Up is among those movies.

Jason Reitman director of Juno and Up in the Air, have a different approach to make a movie about having a baby. To be quite honest, this films hit me in a very unexpected way, why? Now as a parent I lived the experience and ordeal of sleepless nights, uncountable diapers, the crying, and the reality check of one of the biggest decision of your life.

Marlo (Charlize Theron) mother of two kids and pregnant with the third deals with a developmental disorder of her son Jonah which makes him a difficult character in school. Marlo is married to Drew (Ron Livingston) they are an average family living paycheck to paycheck, but on the other side, Marlo's brother Craig (Mark Duplass) is a wealthy guy married and with kids. As a baby shower gift, he offers them a night nanny ( a person who takes care of your baby while you sleep and only wakes you when you need it)
Finally, Marlo gives birth to a baby girl name Mia, becoming overwhelmed and exhausted of dealing with her two kids and the baby. Jonah reaches a tipping point at school, Marlo meets with the principal which recommends to send him to another school. Marlo has a crisis making the decision to bring the night nanny to help her.

Tully (Mackenzie Davis) started to work for Marlo, originally it starts as an awkward situation, but later becomes a strong friendship where they share a lot of each other.

Jason Reitman tells an honest story very raw, is kind of like a slap in the face of parenthood. Charlize Theron is perfect for the role, blending from drama to comedy in a perfect way.

Monday, June 4, 2018

Rossy De Palma is one of Pedro Almodovar's muse, she had appeared in at least 7 of his films. Her personality and look becomes her signature, which gives a sophisticated humor to which project she appears.

In the film Madame, she is one of the main roles opposite Tony Collette and Harvey Keitel. The film tells the story of an American couple Anne (Collette) and Bob (Keitel) who are hosting a dinner party with twelve friends. Bob's son arrived unexpectedly and Anne needs to make arrangements for another guest since she is very superstitious. Maria (De Palma) is Anne and Bob maid, is asked to be the guest number 14, she needs to pretend to be a rich Spanish woman. During dinner, Mari meet David and British aristocrat and a relationship is developed really quickly.

For Anne and Bob is a complicated issue. Maria, it's been with the family for a long time and is need it. But on the other hand, they need to keep David which is an economic interest for the family.

Amanda Sthers directs a light comedy that becomes forgettable, with a weak script a powerful group of actors cannot save this movie. The film is fun to watch but end up boring with no happy ending.

The challenges of exploring the limits of horror and terror in movies are becoming more and more complicated. Those days when Alfred Hitchcock, George Romero, John Carpenter seems to be fading away because the audiences are looking for fresh stories with meaning. The film "Get Out" changed that when introduced racism as a metaphor.

in the film "A Quiet Place" we have a new dilemma, a family who is been haunted by monsters, but they can't make a sound, because that's what the monsters use to catch their victims. The story is presented as a futuristic tale where the big message is family union. But SPOILER ALERT, the death of one of the kids is the engine of the most important elements to the story, a pregnancy. From the very beginning, we have been introduced to a protective father, a caring mother and 3 children who know that the only way to survive is to stay together, follow rules, but be quiet.

Director and Actor John Krasinski brings this story with a moral compass. Every time we see a horror film, people who you care as a character will die. But in this movie, your level of stress will run wild just when you think one of the family members are in danger. The sound is powerful and necessary because it becomes another character of the film.

John Krasinski follow the footsteps of Hitchcock, Carpenter and even Ridley Scott in Alien, making this film believable and allows you to connect and make every character important.

Emily Blunt did an amazing job, as well as Millicent Simmonds Noah Jupe who play her kids in the movie.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Wes Wanderson cinema is a world filled with symmetric shots, colorful characters, well design places and plot that seems to be repetitive from the last film.

His latest movie seems to go beyond his typical plot, but address social problems in the near future. Isle of Dogs is the animated story of a dystopian future where dogs overpopulation and flu virus threat the life all citizens in Japan.
The canine population is sent to Trash Island, by an authoritarian government led by the mayor Kobayashi (Konichi Nomura) of Megassaki City who signs a decree to expel all the dogs, while scientist Professor Watanabe (Akira Ito) is looking for the cure at the same time.

Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin) nephew of Mayor Kobayashi goes on a mission to find his dog Spot (Liev Schreiber) which is the first dog to be sent out to Trash Island. Atari steals a military plane and crashes into the island, he is rescued by five dogs: Rex (Edward Norton) King (Bob Balaban) Duke (Jeff Goldblum) Boss (Bill Murray) and Chief (Bryan Cranston). Later the dogs decided to help Atari to find Spots.

Isle of Dogs explores the future where authoritarian governments use media to alienate the people by making them believe what the need to believe, while political plots keeps happening in the background. For instance, in one point of the movie, Professor Watanabe finds the cure for the dog's flu but the people behind mayor Kobayashi try to eliminate this cure by poison him, so the threat of the dog flu continues to scare the habitats of Megassaki City. Trash Island becomes an exile place for displaced minorities, in this case, dogs, an animal who is been used as a metaphor for the people who left their home country because of wars of poverty and is mistreated by more developed countries.

This film has an interesting connection with Wes Anderson previous film The Grand Budapest Hotel which touch the subject of old Europe and the troubling politic arena. The most interesting thing about Isle of Dogs is the groundbreaking work in stop-motion animation and the Wes Anderson talent to make this story make sense. Is not his best film, but is very innovative.



Thursday, April 5, 2018

The 80's is the decade with advances in technology and a worldwide move away from planned economics leaning toward capitalism, mostly due socioeconomic change. Still a period where pop culture, political movements, social changes, and technology influenced everyone around the world, it's perhaps now the most trendy subject in movies and TV shows.

Stranger Things, Halt and Catch Fire, The Goldbergs, The Americans, 21 Jump Street, Deutschland 83 and of course the long list of reboots from Hollywood a perfect excuse to keep squeezing money from fans: Star Wars, Star Trek, Pee Wee, Dallas, Dynasty, the list goes on and on. There is so many tributes, studies, and analysis about this period of time that you can spend months watching documentaries about what happens and how it happen.

Finally, another tribute based on a book comes to life, from the hands of a director who makes love the 80's with famous characters like Indiana Jones, E.T., Gremlins and Back to the Future.

Ready Player One is probably one of the biggest 80's tributes ever made to the film. In 2045 earth population have become a confined trailer park slum city. The citizens of the earth escape reality by using virtual reality world name OASIS which is the ultimate VR experience, you can be whatever you want in any place you like and play any game you want. One of the creators of the OASIS James Halliday (Marl Rylance) before his death left an easter egg in the game, if found, allows the player to win the full ownership of the OASIS. Everyone is trying to win this game and it's has been impossible for the players.

One of the players is Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) an orphan living in Columbus, Ohio with his aunt and abusive husband/boyfriend, Wade has the avatar Parzival. Aech is Parzival friend in the OASIS and they have teamed up to win the 3 keys necessary to win the game. At the same time, the CEO of a company name Innovative Online Industries Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) recruited an army of people to win the game too, they are fully trained and supported by a team of geeks to knows every single aspect of James Halliday life. But still, they have not won the game. Art3mins (Olivia Cooke) is another avatar who's trying to achieve the same mission, is doing it for the cause of save the OASIS itself.

Ready Player One becomes a full pack action film, with a few clever moments, but sadly miss the point. For someone like me who lived the 80's to the fullest, this movie turns into a digital mashup of "some" of the most famous cultural references of the 80's, the problem is, you get so immersed into a virtual world and forget the essence of what that time was like. Steven Spielberg defeats the purpose of the movie message which embraces real life versus reality. When you watch this movie you are experiencing something like being in an amusement park where the sound is so loud that your seat is shaking, I can almost assure you they can splash water at you, to make you feel you are there.

The percentage of live action footage vs computer generating is so unbalanced that makes you wonder, why don't just make the whole film CGI? I was unable to connect with any of the characters and also I hate to say this, but Sorrento character is such a terrible villain, it's clumsy with a lack of planning to make his plan works. Maybe is just a nice metaphor for typical American CEO who just know to use the resources to get what they want, but it's so stupid because it needs an army of trained monkeys to help them.

One of the things I can rescue from this movie is the easter eggs, there is so many that you can spend the whole film looking for them. Stanley Kubrick tribute was my favorite, perhaps the best scene.

In the end, the film is incredibly long and you just desperately want to end after watching a such a lame showdown between the heroes and the villains.


Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Joe Wright talented filmmakers with an interesting filmography that goes from Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, Hanna and Anna Karenina.

Brings one of the most challenging characters to be portrayed on film, Winston Churchill. A long list of actors has portrayed Churchill, From Albert Finney, Brendan Gleeson, Timothy Spall, Bob Hoskin and Richard Burton.

Churchill was a very complex character who was loved and hate for politicians in the UK and around the world. His personality and mannerism was his signature, but his thoughts and idea was the most controversial element from Winston Churchill personality.

The film Darkest Hours explores one of the most obscure and suspenseful time in the history of the United Kingdom. In 1940 the Labour Party of the UK demands the resignation of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for been weak against the Nazi regime. Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) is chosen as the last option after others don't want the responsibility of the Prime Minister duties.

From the very beginning, he is dealing with a bad reputation due to his record at the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War. His first words in the parliament become controversial after promising blood tears and sweet against the German government. His troubled relationship with King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn) is an addition to his conflicted actions against the war and refusal to negotiate with Nazi regime. He received support from his family especially from his Clementine Churchill (Kristin Scott Thomas) who becomes his advisor and most powerful ally.

Darkest Hours explores dramatic moments where the UK have a lack of leadership, the Dunkirk miracle where Churchill plan to rescue British soldiers from the French and the thread of a German invasion to the island of the United Kingdom. Joe Wright masterful direct a solid group of actors and delivers an excellent film, with such a unique visual style and technical appealing, from cinematography, music, editing, costume, sound, and makeup.

In 1996 a book novel was released with the title The Beach, it tells the story of an English backpacker who travels to Thailand and discovers a secret place where a community of backpackers coexist as a cult. The book was a success and later was adapted as a feature film directed by Danny Boyle.

Alex Garland is the writer of The Beach, his collaboration with Boyle started with the film 28 Days Later and the sci-fi film Sunshine, he also wrote the most recent film adaptation of Dredd.

Garland passion for sci-fi brought him to his directorial debut, Ex Machina, the story of a computer programmer Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) who is invited to spent a few days in the house of the tech CEO genius Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) and administer the Turing test to an intelligent humanoid robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander). The Turing test finds if a machine has the ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Ex Machina was a huge success winning multiple awards including the Oscar for best visual effects.

Most recently Alex Garland follows the success of Ex Machina continues his exploration for sci-fi stories.

Annihilation tells the story of Lena (Natalie Portman) a biologist former soldier married to Kane (Oscar Isaac) Army special forces who is sent on a secret mission in the US coastline to investigate with a team of people an anomaly called "The Shimmer". Kane comes back without memories and is the only survivor of that mission. After his arrival becomes ill, the government gets involved and quarantine Lena and Kane in a place named Area X.

There Lena meets Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who leads the investigation of The Shimmer. Lena decided to join Dr. Ventress expedition with other women Anya (Gina Rodriguez) paramedic, Jossie (Tessa Thompson) physicist and Cass (Tuva Novotny) a geomorphologist.

The film explores subjects about life and it works in the same universe of great sci-fi films, Annihilation is a psychological horror film with heavy visual influences from Predator, The Abyss, Alien, Solaris and even 2001 A Space Oddisey. The unknown, the danger of exploring other worlds or more powerful creatures than us. Alex Garland delivers another powerful sci-fi movie, that keeps you thinking after the movie was over. What just happen?

Thursday, March 22, 2018

In 2011 French photographer JR (Jean René) won the TED prize award with the wish of changing the world. This project was the inspiration of the phrase "inside out" this was the beginning of a massive photographic project with a photo booth truck traveling around the world, capturing images of people from different nationalities focusing on several subjects, from gun violence, equality, racism, segregation, physical violence to women etc.

Inside Out became a well-known phenomenon. Agnés Varda Belgium director started a friendship with JR that lead to the creation of a documentary film inspired in the Inside Out project.

Visages Villages-Faces Places tells the story of Agnés and Jr traveling into small towns in France, meeting interesting people and creating portraits of them as part of the legacy of their faces and the places that make them.

Every character in this film is a treat, from the first encounter, the prep work for the massive picture, to the final result and the character reaction, the audience is presented with an emotional tale of simple people, who becomes work of art in their own front door. Jr and Agnés friendship are perfect, two characters with such age difference are so together, joking and teasing each other.

Visages Villages-Faces Places is a refreshing documentary when you are only exposed to tragic stories of war or political corruption. Don't get me wrong there are great documentaries, but you need to laugh a little about life.







Wednesday, March 14, 2018

One of the most unusual subjects in films is fashion industry, from the models, the brands, their influence in modern history to the creators. There is always been a question about the origin of the person behind the brand and behind the style. But also what's going on inside their minds and their lives. Coco Channel, Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent are some of the films digging into the lives of their creators outside their creations, their struggle, their passion, the success, and failures. A new film Phantom Thread explores the life of a fictional fashion designer from the United Kingdom but influenced by the Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga.

Balenciaga was disturbed artist, drowned on his own creations, convinced his how geniality, using his perfectionistic neurosis as an emotional wall against everyone. This description fits perfectly into the role of Reynold Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) a charismatic genius that at the same time is obsessed with his own work. Reynold sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) is the backbone of his company, she runs operations but also is able to control a serve as an influence of his work.

One day after finishing up a dress Reynold decided to take a break from his work in the countryside, after visiting a restaurant, he becomes interested in a waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps) later developing in a relationship. This event leads to Alma moving with Reynold and becoming his muse and assistant. He presence is disturbed the routine at the Woodcock house. From Reynold and for Cyril. But Alma is a very determined woman who is able to tolerate Renold bullying on her.

Paul Thomas Anderson team up with Daniel Day-Lewis on another powerful performance, in a disturbing film about a troubled relationship where the muse becomes the perfect artist block. A perfectionist artist cannot get inspired when the routine is altered or daily nuances become a norm.

In the end, Phantom Thread brings revenge to a whole new meaning, sometimes evilness has to pay the price, but mildly. Lesley Manville
Vicky Krieps was the perfect role for Cyril and Alma. Jonny Greenwood, delivers a beautiful film score accompanying the film.





Monday, March 12, 2018

In the art world, the artist develops a unique vision of art installations with the sole purpose of engaging with visitors and museum-goers. There is a clear definition of modern art and classical art. The first one is the most misunderstood and less appealing. The second is the most attractive because represents the classic intake from famous sculptors and painters who in the past create work to tell stories in the history of the world.

I love modern art because allows the artist to express their point of view about the what's happening in our society. It is hard to find a film that uses a museum and an art installation as the main theme to discuss and explore human nature.

Ruben Östlund director of the highly acclaimed Force Majeure directs The Square, a satirical drama about Christian (Claes Bang) a museum curator of the X Royal museum of Stockholm who is responsible to launch one of the biggest exhibitions yet, also named The Square.

Christina is divorced with two girls, a player with all the women he dates, but he seems to be very conscious about world problems. As a museum curator, he likes to use The X Royal as a stage to let artist start discussions about the human nature. At the very beginning of the film Christian, it's been interviewed by Anne (Elizabeth Moss) a journalist who develops feelings for Christian after a one night stand together. Christina is supervising the production of the exhibition The Square, but also he is dealing with the robbery of his wallet and his phone on the streets. After this event his assistant as Michael (Christopher Læssø) find the phone using the device geolocation, so he comes with the plan of going to the building where the phone is located and delivering a threating letter to every apartment demanding the return of the wallet and phone.

In essence, the events of the film The Square serves as a metaphor for most of the characters who express a certain mindset but in reality, they don't care about it. The exhibition examines how far you can trust everyone within the square, but then you see that Christian doesn't trust everyone because he's always begging to be trusted. The film also explores how we see the work of museums of modern art exposing visitors to ambiguous self-expression that is supported by millions of dollars and is not clear what the message is. For instance, you see a character like Julian (Dominic West, who is a good renown artist been interviewed at the museum but is constantly interrupted by a guy who suffers from Tourette's disease who barks obscenities to him and moderator, you can easily read this like is making fun of an artist point of view to why this work is considered art.

The Square is a rare film with a not define the genre, is a comedy, is drama, is a social critique.





Friday, March 2, 2018

Alexandrina Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and the fourth son of King Geroge III. In 1820 both men died and Alexandrina inherited the throne becoming one of the youngest queens in the United Kingdom. At the age of 18, Queen Victoria brought so many things during her reign as the queen of England. Her legacy of morality and influence in politics became the inspiration for so many movie and TV shows around the world. The BBC show Queen Victoria, Mrs. Brown, The Young Victoria is among the most recent depictions of Alexandrina Victoria, Queen Victoria.

The most recent attempt to cover another chapter in the life of Victoria (Judi Dench) is the film by Stephen Frears-Victoria & Abdul, set in 1887 during the queen's golden jubilee, the film tells the story of Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal) a young prison clerk from Agra India who is instructed travel to the UK for the Queen's celebration.

The audience discovers that Queen Victora is lonely, tired and unhappy of her life as the monarch of England, so she develops an interest in Abdul as the first time she sees him during the Jubilee celebrations.

The queen is interested to know more about him and India, later promoting him to Munshi which is the Persian name of a private secretary. As the relationships between these two grow, the fear from the Queen's household and resentment from her inner circle grow too.

This will be the breaking point in the story where the audience understands the hate to another culture from the members of the crown, even knowing that the UK owns India in that time.

Victoria & Abdul is an interesting film to watch in order to understand one of the most beautiful friendships between the Queen of England Victoria and Abdul, but also as a movie about the respect to between two people one more powerful than the other.

Judie Dench is always pleasant to watch as a highly awarded actress.



In 1998 a new director earned the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival, also the First Screenplay Award at the Spirit Awards. His name is Darren Aronofsky, the movie PI.

20 years have past and Aronofsky has constructed a very unusual and controversial filmography. Requiem for A Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Black Swan, The Fighter, and Noah are his films. Stories of the human condition: deception, envy, anger, weakness, success are among the subjects that Aronofsky have covered in those films.

His new film mother! is perhaps the complex of all, containing a visual metaphor about religion and the creation, mother! tells the story of mother (Jennifer Lawrence) and him (Javier Bardem) who together lives in the countryside in a house that was recently burned and then rebuilds from scratch. Barden is an acclaimed poet with a writer's block Lawrence his lovely wife who is been working the creation of this house.

One day a Man (Ed Harris) arrives at this house asking for a room, then later the wife of this man (Michelle Pfeiffer) asking to stay with him too. mother character seems to be annoyed and upset by this unexpected visitors and the acceptance from him character to let them stay. mother wants to finish this house, it's her life's work, but also the only place where she fits with him to make it their home and the place for their future family.

The film develops into a dramatic tale of two brothers fighting for a will, as a consequence one of the brothers died. During a wake in honor of the son, hundred uninvited guests arrived partially destroyed part of the kitchen and also sneaking into so many places of the house.

Later mother and him have sex and she announces the next morning she is pregnant. Barden finally breaks his writer's block and finished a highly successful book giving him so much reputation, ignoring mother pregnancy.

mother! explores the creation of the world as a house, brick to brick, wall to wall Lawrence is the mother, of humans or nature, Barden is a man representing what's man is doing to the world and how is destroyed by feelings anger, envy, pretention, love, hate and material interest. The film becomes bizarre and confusing during the third act when so many tragedies in the world collide inside the house: war, government suppression, chaos, just like our world is now. In fact, I didn't know if this scene was serious or trying to be funny.

I don't think I can hate this movie, but I only watched one, and that's enough for me. The film could be interesting and powerful but then loose connection and becomes absurd.

What happens when the love of your life, dies in your arms but your arms are the worst place to be according to a society who doesn't want you and despise you for being different.

That's the question from Chilean director Sebastian Leilo, who became famous with the award-winning movie Gloria.

Orlando (Francisco Reyes) is in love with Marina Vidal (Daniela Vega) a waitress and aspiring singer. In the beginning, they are celebrating Orlando's birthday, as a couple, they 30's years difference, which is not a problem for the society, the real problem is Marina is a trans woman.

During the celebration, Orlando get very ill and Marina has to rush him to the hospital, but he dies after the arriving. From that very moment the audiences realized that Marina is treated as the primal suspect for his death, not only because of Orlando's age, it's because Marina is different, she is related to mental deviations or sickness. Orlando's brother Gabo (Luis Gnecco) is probably the person who has empathy with Marina, so he helps her to leave the hospital, but still, Marina will be harassed by a detective making her a person of interest in the death of Orlando, to the point to humiliated her during an in-depth physical exam to find traces struggle in Marina's body. The family forbids Marina to attend Orlando's funeral and also slowly force Marina to give back all his belongings as part a family fight to Orlando's possessions.

A Fantastic Woman is a perfect movie to explain what is like to be different in this world. Been a transgender is been questioned by society, none knows who you really are, they label you as a monster who has a sick mind, you are not welcome any place, no matter how strong are your feelings for someone. The audiences see Marina as the main character, but sometimes we get so deep into the story that we are thru Marina's eyes.

Sebastian Leilo creates a movie, with so many subgenres, there is drama, comedy, fantasy, and a strong message about tolerance. The visual influence of Buster Keaton films, Stephan Elliot's "Priscilla Queen of Desert" are present here. The outstanding performance of Daniela Vega a real trans woman makes the film a documentary about a transgender life, not just a fictional tale.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

The Syrian war is probably one of the most dramatic events happening in the news. Since 2011 during a wave of Arab Springs the discontent with President Assad and his government, then an armed insurgency started in July 201, finally escalating in December 2013. The crisis still going and there is no solution at this point. Countries like Russia and Iran have been involved but not necessary to solve the problem.

This war has become the main source of personal stories made as a documentary. One of those is the story of Khaled Omar Harrah, Subhi Alhussen, and Mahmoud, founding members of the White Helmets a group in the city of Aleppo, normal citizens acting as first responders when military strikes hit the city.

Last Men in Aleppo focus on the dilemma of these people of keep fighting the war or flee the country. The film follows them in a very dramatic and dangerous situation when the audience witnesses the Syrian war down and dirty. The documentary divides the story into Khaled , Subhi , and Mahmoud and their family trying to live in this destroyed city, finding resources and experiences how everything is falling apart.

Syrian director Firas Fayyad directed and wrote this war documentary as a way of presenting to the world what's really happening in his home country.



In early 1962, an Italian director-writer started his career with the film La Commare Secca, this was just the beginning for a filmmaker a superb filmography and Passolini's helpers before starting his career.
Bernardo Bertolucci director of the controversial The Last Tango in Paris, 1900, La Luna and the award-winning The Last Emperor becomes the inspiration and mentor to another film director Luca Guadagnino who's getting a lot of award buzz with the film "Call Me By Your Name"

The film based on the 2007 novel by André Aciman tells the story of Elio (Timothée Chalamet) a Jewish-Italian-American seventeen-year-old boy who lives with his parents in the northern Italian countryside. His father Mr. Perlman ( Michael Stuhlbarg) a professor of archeology brings an archeology student Oliver (Armie Hammer) to work with him during the summer of 1983. Elio develops a curiosity in Oliver that later becomes an intense relationship where both of them will learn about life and love.

Call Me By Your Name it's a beautiful film exploring so many important values in life, Luca Guadagnino borrows great visual style and pacing from films like La Luna of Bertolucci and Maurice from James Ivory, who is the screenwriter of Call Me By Your Name.

The film location is perfect for this story, Italy is the place to be in love because it grows slowly around nature, happiness, like you feel those butterflies of the fir love. That's what's Elio feels for Oliver. The film is about family, strong relationships between mom and kids and dad and kids. The power of communicating our feelings and understand that life can hurt you.

This an all-star cast, specially Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer, but the most ignored actor are Michael Stuhlbarg who it's been making rounds on Oscars movies a couple of years ago.

Call Me By Your Name is a great tribute to European films from the 70's and 80's

SPOILER ALERT: The best and most powerful scenes are the ending and the credits, not like a Marvel film...

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

A Japanese woman waits in a crowded platform for her train, she seems lonely and sad. Suddenly she feels someone behind her, it's a guy that just jump into the coming train. This is just the beginning of the film Oh Lucy!
Director Atsuko Hirayanagi developed the story of Oh Lucy! from a short film after winning several awards, so she decided to tell the story of Setsuko Kawashima as a full feature film
Setsuko Kawashima (Shinobu Terajima) is a lonely woman who works in a government, she is constantly bullying by her boss and coworkers, her life empty. One day, her niece Nika a young girl who has a troubled relationship with her mom Ayako (Kaho Minami) Setsuko sister, ask her to take over an English class that Nika is attending. If she leaves the course she will have to pay it back, that's why she needs her aunt to help her. Setsuko agrees to take the classes, but this experience will change her life forever.
The English instructor is John (Josh Hartnett) an American guy who rented an space in Japan to teach English in a place that looks like a brothel or a strippers club. John's method is to have casual English conversations and call his students with an American name. This is when Setsuko becomes Lucy, as part of the ritual Setsuko/Lucy will wear a blonde wig and her transformation will begin.
The story becomes complicated when Lucy meets another student name Takeshi/Tom and she is falling in love with John, but John is in love with Nika and they run away to Los Angeles.
Later that night Ayako, Nika's mom is looking for her after she discovers that Setsuko is helping her with the English class. After a long argument between Ayako and Setsuko (Family problems they had in the past), they decided to embark on a trip to Los Angeles in the search for Nika and John.
Oh Lucy! is a powerful film about the search for love, with a very bizarre story. The audience discovers a woman who is so lonely on the inside and the outside looking for love in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ending will be fulfilling to the audiences who hopes Setsuko have a better life.

Back in October 2016, my son was born. During those crazy nine months, my wife and I went thru the complicated process of choosing a hospital, doctor, midwife and other elements necessaries to the proper arrival of a baby. On that time we were living NY, so to make sure that things run smoothly due to the overpopulated city, you need to follow the concept of being the first one on everything or what we called: First come first serve. Finally, our son was born and everything went well, even we were lucky enough to have a window because he was born so early in the morning.
If you look to not so wealthy countries, the experience of having a child can be daunting and complicated. For instance in Manila, in the Philippines, the arrival of a child it's a whole different story. Welcome to the documentary "Motherland" set in the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital the film goes deeper into the worlds highest birth rate hospital.
Director Ramona S. Diaz uses this film as the window to the world on how 150 pregnant women ready to deliver, goes into the most overcrowded dormitory style wards, with the limitation of incubators, two female patient sharing beds with their babies and other critical things that will be impossible to believe in American hospitals.
Motherland follows the life at least 4 women, really poor, who are forced to stay in the hospital to pay for their medicine as well for the babies. The struggle of these patients husbands without a job or with really low income who cannot pay for a package of diapers.
The film in a cinema verité style creates an engaging story of these strong women who are able to survive this experience, but still you wonder who they are going to continue with their lives as a new mother after letting the spectators follow them in the hospital thought the film, with their struggle and strength to keep on going.

As we reach the end of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Is important to review one of the most impressive films of 2017.
The director Craig Gillespie who have a very unusual filmography from Lars and the Real Girl, Fright Night, Million Dollar Arm and The Finest Hours brings to life the story of one of the most controversial figure skater in recent memories.
I, Tonya is the biographical film about the life of Tonya Harding ( Margot Robbie). The film starts in 1970 when four-year-old Tonya (Mckenna Grace) is forced to skate by her abusive mother LaVona (Allison Janney) through Tonya's childhood LaVona makes sure she only focus on skating, first take her out of school and controlling her, even her love life. As she grows up she becomes the best under her coach belt Diane Rawlinson (Julianne Nicholson)
At the age of 18, Tonya starts dating Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), LaVona disapproves this relationship, but still, let Tonya move with Jeff in getting married. Their relationship is destructive, they fight constantly, reaching levels of violence. This situation becomes public, creating an image for Tonya family as "white trash" which affects her reputation as a skater because of her homemade costumes and choice of performance music.
The film uses a docu-style method with interview of the characters, telling their point of view of the events and happenings and also highlighting the famous "incident" ( Nancy Kerrigan attack)
I, Tonya is a fascinating movie, with action, dark comedy and an exploration of a controversial event in the history of US sports. Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan and Paul Walter Hauser are fantastic in their roles.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

During the end World War II an artistic movement came to life as a response to Italy cultural change and progress. Directors such as Luchino Visconti, Robert Rosellini, Vittorio de Sica are some the directors responsible for creating the most compelling stories about poverty, social justice, politics.

In America, the exploration of this genre comes mostly from independent films. Spanish director Antonio Méndez Esparza brings with his second film "Life & Nothing More" the story of Andrew (Andrew Bleechngton) and Regina (Regina Williams) members of the black in Florida. Andrew is reaching adulthood his constant fights with his mother Regina to overcome the obstacles of an absent father and lost path in his life force him to becomes a dangerous individual. Challenging everything around him, from social injustice, temptations and his antagonistic relationship with his mother.

The film was shot with real-life people without professional experience, making "Life & Nothing More" a real-life document of how broken families survive every day in order to make it into the world.


Around the 700 B.C.E., the Greek Theater started and with him, the search the concept of drama. When the audience witness theater they, know are about to see a moving and emotional portrait of life itself. Happy moments, drama and an epic conclusion. For Charles Baudelaire French poet and philosopher, the idea of love, marriage, pleasure is deeply connected to the dramatic story of Iphigenia from the Greek mythology.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos, director of the award-winning films Dogtooth and The Lobster contain dark humor and the non-sugar coded truth about life with metaphoric representations of love and family. Is worth saying that his films contain dramatic stories mimicking the Greek drama and perhaps some of the ideas express by Baudelaire.
The Killing of the Sacred Deer is one of the most disturbing films I have seen in a long time compare to films like entering The Void, Serbian Film, and Funny Games.
Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) cardiothoracic surgeon is one of the most respect and highly skilled in his hospital. He is married to Anna (Nichole Kidman) and has two kids Bob and Kim. Steven secretly meets regularly with Martin (Barry Keoghan). As the story unveils the audience discovers every character motives, it seems like an unusual relationship borderline to love between Steven and Martin. But then the big revelation comes when the audience discovers that Martin's dad died in the operating room in the hands of Steven. Seems now like a relationship of guilt turning into revenge.
What makes The Killing of the Sacred Deer a very special film is how it dissects a family story of a successful couple living a very wealthy life with great kids and how a mistake will hunt you and chase till the end. The success cannot protect you from taking someone else life. Yorgos visual style mirrors Stanley Kubrick The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. The camera travels with actors, follow them with distance but get close when is need it.



Friday, February 16, 2018

Scientists around the world are already talking about the staggering numbers of psychological problems generated by social media in people.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are among them, teenagers millennials, generation X, and adult, in general, use social media to express their feelings, express political opinions, been pretentious and sometimes live someone else life.
This last one is the subject of the first feature film by Matt Spicer Ingrid Goes West. Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) is an unstable person who lost her mother and she is dealing with thought times for this. She later discovered after seen some pictures on Instagram that her Charlotte did no invite her to her wedding. Ingrid gets furious and goes to the reception and attack her with pepper spray. Ingrid apologizes for the attack, the audience discovered that she is just creating an illusion of friendship a Charlotte just because she made a comment on Ingrid Instagram feed.
A few days later a lawyer presents Ingrid her mothers will be telling her she inherit a big amount of money, at the same time Ingrid discovered on Instagram a social media influencer Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) after Ingrid comment on one Taylor's picture, she receives a reply from her motivating Ingrid to travel to California to meet Taylor using all the money she inherits from her mom.
This was the perfect excuse to pretend to be someone else and living a so-called "luxury life" thru the eyes of Taylor on her Instagram feed. Ingrid develops a friendship with Taylor involving deeper into her personal life using everything she has to be the "best friend of her"
Matt Spicer explores one of the major deviations of people using social media, the obsession with social media personalities, who are just someone with a million followers. People pretend to live peoples life by looking at their pictures and believing in an alternate reality. The fact you showing yourself as a successful, happy, active person with allegedly meaningful content doesn't really mean that you are on that stage in your life. You see it every day. A travel photo can be the best illusion of all, you show it to the world and followers think you are there, no matter if the picture was taken a year ago. It's all smoke and mirrors.
That's the real danger of social media. Someone like your content but is just self-gratification and acceptance of what you expose to your followers and your feed. That's what makes you happy and complete, not your wife, your child, your family.
Aubrey Plaza doe an excellent job as a mentally unstable person who just needs to be loved by someone of millions of people in the cyberspace. The film is just a nice comedy with a strong message to modern society.




"Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one owns death" this definition by Wikipedia is the perfect idea to talk about the documentary by Emmy winning filmmaker Lana Wilson The Departure which tells the story of Nemoto a Buddhist priest who works managing death workshops and suicide therapy. Nemoto lives with his wife, child, and his mother in a small town in Japan.
From the beginning of the film, we discover people affected by depression and suicidal thoughts who see in Nemoto the help they need. Who attended to this death workshops participate in an exercise which requires writing in pieces of paper things that are important to them in life, the exercise asks to withdraw one paper at the time leaving the most important things to keep with them until there is nothing left.
The audience understands how people forget what's important when they are alive, the subject becomes a big metaphor in the film. Nemoto helps so many people, but he forgets his own health. Through the film, he is confronted by his mother, his wife and also his own child who are so important to him. He seeks help doctors and medical test to figure out his illness but becomes clear, that his work is taking some toll on his own health.
Lana Wilson makes this powerful documentary about the value of life, what's important to each every one of us and how to understand that in order to help someone we need to examine ourselves first.
It's always good to find great surprises in films that are out of the Hollywood system. Just an independent movie with a simple story but with a well-crafted concept.
Kogonada is the Korean-American director famous for his video film essays on Vimeo. His first feature film "Columbus" is one of those rare moments when you find a director who is capable of creating an articulated movie on the first big break.
A famous Korean architect visiting Columbus, Indiana get sick and end up in a coma, his son Jim (John Cho) a Korean literature translator end up traveling there help his ill father. This movie is also the story of Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) a girl who works in at the library in Columbus, she also takes care of her mother suffering from drug addiction. But Casey aspiration is to leave this city and becomes an architect.
One day during cigarette break Casey meets Jim, they connect thru the city architecture. It's important to mention that Columbus, Indiana is a mecca for designers and architects, but also the perfect place to connect these to two characters with troubled relationships with their parents, but with an obsession and passion for the elegance, the perfection and the balance of every component in a single building.
Casey and Jim's connection help them to overcome the obstacles of feeling lost for not pursuing what they really love.
Columbus is one of those rare first films, that wow you, because of the detailed oriented direction, cinematography, original score, and performances.



Friday, February 9, 2018

Hollywood likes to portray the state of Florida as a flashy, colorful, a city filled with sun, hot bodies, pure joy, and happiness. Films like Scarface, Magic Mike, Bad Boys and even the TV show and movie Miami Vice, presents a Florida as the place to be.
But in 2016 Barry Jenkins directed a film presenting another side of Florida, Moonlight is the story Chiron and his 3 stages of his life living a very difficult time. In a way, this movie connects in the same universe of Sean Baker's The Florida Project. This is the story of Six-year-old Moonee (Brooklyn Prince) who is living in the hotel Magic Castle with her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite), the hotel is close to Walt Disney World the ultimate scenario to presents social criticism against the stereotypical happy life that Disney always introduce to us.
Living in Magic Castle is not fun, is a hotel imitating the colors of flashy Florida, in a poor apartment complex, where guest lives paycheck to paycheck, it's probably close to living in a project in Chicago or New York. Moonee's friends are neighbors from other hotel rooms where parents work in dinners nearby, stealing food for their kids in order to have a decent meal, Moonee is a rascal like the other kids, they steal and misbehave. Magic Castle manager is Bobby Hicks (Willem Dafoe) a guy with a good heart who tries constantly to do his job, he sometimes becoming these kids caretaker and also the voice of consciousness to their parents.
Halley's skills as mother are not the best, she is always harassing tourist to sell them cheap perfume in order to pay the rent, unfortunately, business isn't doing that that well, so she ends up offering her service as a prostitute, which Bobby quickly discovered, as well some of the guests at Magic Castle.
Sean Baker breakthrough film Tangerine have similarities to The Florida Project, both have complex characters living in a place who treat them badly, the just try to survive, but destiny has something else in mind. This is a perfect cast for a powerful film about justice, love, and destiny.

During the 1950's a filmmaker, Edward D Wood Jr. created the most bizarre and strange piece of American films ever made. Based on the stock footage, his genius and a group of outlaws actors. His creations mostly were guerrilla-style filmmaking, low budget and focusing on horror. After a few years, he has declared the worst director of all time His work is now considered cult movies and people wait in line to see it on the big screen, even directors like Tim Burton did a biographical piece about him.
None have ever come close to do what he did, until the late 90's, when a character named Tommy Wiseau, make what is now considered one of the works films for all The Room.
The Disaster Artist is the biographical comedy-drama film directed by James Franco about the friendship of Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) and Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) who meet in San Francisco, studying acting, later quitting everything to move to Los Angeles and make it in Hollywood.
Hollywood has always loved a good story about them, making films, the success, and failures of filmmakers, actors, and the Hollywood system.
What makes interesting The Disaster Artist is sort of a Robert Alman-eske type of film where several Hollywood starts decided to collaborate and pay tribute to a mysterious director, Wiseau who at this point none knows where he is from, where the money for The Room came from and how is Tommy.
The film starts in 1998 when Gregg and Tommy meets, their journey to L.A. their attempt to be in Hollywood, the production of the film, until it's premiere. Tommy Wiseau is fascinating and James Franco makes a great impression on the character, his mannerism, and his fake laugh.
The Disaster Artist delivers a great film about friendship, Hollywood and how to be successful in the industry making a really bad film.



Monday, February 5, 2018

Around the year 1981 AIDS was clinically observed in the USA. Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired deficiency syndrome is a disease that already counts as many of 36.7 million people infected and living with the disease. This subject it's been covered in plays, TV shows, and films.
Dallas Buyer Club, Philadelphia, Longtime Companion, Rent, Savage Nights, Milk and the TV show Angels in America. Most of this films talk about a specific character been ill, but the subject of activism to bring attention to the disease is perfectly portrayed in the French film 120BPM (Beats per Minute)
Director Robin Campino tells the story of ACT UP movement in Paris in the year 1990. 120BPM (Beats per Minute) presents the members of ACT UP protesting in a government presentation which ends wrong when one of the members of the group attack a politician with a water balloon filled with fake blood. The accounts of these events are told from several points of view in flashback mode, this drives the audience to understand that the groups work together, but there is a conflict of emotions while operating. ACT UP next protest is inside the office of Melton Pharma a company responsible for making clinical trials of HIV patients. The groups infiltrate inside the offices, throwing fake blood destroying private property demanding the release of these results. During one of the meetings, the plot of the film shifts to the story of Sean (Nahuel Pérez) and Nathan (Arnaud Valois)
Robin Campino has the complicated task of making a movie about AIDS and homosexuality without falling into the clitchés of a dramatic narrative from the very beginning. The film is driven by actions, by certain violence need it for a social movement who needs to be heard by the government. Campino also explores the joy and the positive side of have AIDS and how these people embrace this new stage in their lives. The film is powerful and becomes a great document about the fight against AIDS and how you fight it on the streets and classrooms by telling people to protect themselves without any tabú.






Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Hollywood has a very deep relationship with the heist genre. Steven Soderbergh and the "Oceans Eleven" films, Michael Mann "Heat", Bryan Singer "The Usual Suspects" Kathyrn Bigelow "Point Break" Guy Ritchie "Snatch" and "Lock Stock, Tow Smokin Barrels, are among the films highlighting these movies about a robbery, the plan, the reason why they steal, the problems or what's go wrong in the process and an epic conclusion.
But what about talking about a heist, without a reason, let's say a real motive and why everything goes completely wrong, this is the plot of the independent film "Good Time" Directed by Ben and Josh Safdie follows the path of Connie Nikas (Robert Pattinson) and bother Nick (Ben Safdie) robbing a bank in New York City. Ben is a disabled character who attends to therapy sessions. At the very beginning of the film, Connie removes Nick from the hospital I order to help him to achieve this heist. Everything seems to be going well, they left the bank with 65k in cash, but there are too many red flags. The bank teller mentioned that the bank doesn't have enough cash, later Connie and Nick leave the bank without noticing the back have a dye pack which explodes inside the car they are using to escape, causing the driver to crash the vehicle. Connie and Nick escape on foot, finally the police capture Nick.
The story follows Connie trying to help Nick to escape but there are so many complications and mistakes making you wonder: Does it worth it to keep trying? Seems like a long night for Connie, who questions every character he meets, probably projecting his insecurities on them. Robert Pattinson is fantastic as Connie, the screenplay is engaging and explores mysterious world and characters at night in Queens NY.
Ben and Josh Safdie do an excellent work directing this movie and keeping the audiences on the edge of their seat. The soundtrack by Oneohtrix Point Never is perfect for this kinetic movie.


Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Back in 2001, a French film captivated audiences around the world, thanks to the comedy elements, the magical world created by Jean Pierre Jeunet using Paris as the main character, the color green, but also the power of love against all odds. The film earned 5 Oscar nominations and became a success. In a way, Amelié as the character a woman living to be herself, isolated from the rest of the world, was looking for some good, by secretly orchestrating the lives of others for good. This is a very profound element of the film making it very unique.
The concept of loneliness in turbulent times, search for love in strange places and the idea of tolerance and respect is portrayed in the new Guillermo's del Toro film "The Shape of Water" the story of Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) a mute woman working as a janitor in a government secret facility in Baltimore, she only has two friends a gay ad illustrator Giles (Richard Jenkins) and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) who works with Elisa as a janitor too. One day a creature in a tank is brought to the facility by Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon). Elisa curious about the creature she decided to sneak into the room where is held for curiosity. With every visit, Elisa and the monster develop a bond, becoming close and close. Colonel Strickland plan is to find whatever powers this creature has in order to use by the US government in the space race against Russia.
"The Shape of Water" takes place in the 60's a time where colored people were not welcome in certain places, women's role was focused on taking care the kids, cook, and care for their husband. A true misogynists lifestyle who still live on in certain societies.
Elisa character is seen as fragile because of her limitation, Zelda as a black woman who can be restraint and last but not least Giles as a gay guy who wants to express his feelings, but he also trapped in the terrible corporate world of advertising, a true Mad Men experience. The film hits the highest peak when Elisa falls in love with the creature and is working hard to help him to escape after witnessing how Colonel Stricklan tortures the creature to the risk of killing him.
Del Toro creates a fable, that at this point is been compared to two early produced stories, a short film from the Netherlands and an American play from 1969. There is no doubt that "The Shape of Water" is not new or completely original, films like Amelié mentioned at the very beginning of this review is heavily influenced.
"The Shape of Water" is beautifully made, cinematography, music, editing, original score, visual effects and art direction and a great tribute to films from the 60's and love stories against all odds.

Monday, January 29, 2018

Decisions and consequences represent the main core of films like Star Wars. In one film or the other, try to solve a problem by creating another problem is perhaps the biggest metaphor of how Walt Dinsey bought Lucasfilm to solve a problem: how we can make more movies to make more money and still make everyone happy. Perhaps when you put all these elements into the mix, the biggest issue will be: is it possible to entertain and follow the right path to keep the fans at ease?
Star Wars: Last Jedi is the perfect explanation to this first paragraph. JJ Abrahams set the foundation for a new trilogy that technically is not new is just a collection of old stuff but repurpose in a way that looks different. Rian Johnson (Looper and Brick) brought a new Empire Strike Back mash up, but this time, he really broke the linear tribute to old films and decided to create a renegade version of the main characters and turn them into welcoming childhood memories who are just tired of all this.
The film started right where Force Awakens ends, Luke (Mark Hamill) is an old master who just wants to forget whatever he has done for the galaxy, rejecting training Rey and just trying to bury the past. General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) is leading a counterattack against the First Order. Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is on a mission and it will not take NO for an answer.
Finn (John Boyega) woke up for a deep sleep after been hurt by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and he wants to help any way possible. With all these foundations. We see a couple of characters troubled by happenings that require decisions with consequences. These decisions are based on challenging code of honors, ignoring high powers and bureaucracy.
For example, the Casino scene where Rose and Finn pretend to find the code breaker to solve the issue of the First Order been able to follow the Resistance ships is the clear example of decisions were you try to achieve something and with no results. The same thing happens to Rey and Luke, she works so hard to be trained by him, but at the end, she is with Kylo almost fighting together as brothers or friends.
When you see Last Jedi you asked yourself, did Rian Johson and Disney achieved whatever they wanted to do with this movie? Or this movie is the consequence of certain decisions.
I have never seen a Star Wars movie so polarized, the film is fun, entertain, I got so much stress watching it, but at the end, there was only one scene that impressed me so much. Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) crashing the Resistance ships crashing against The first order mothership in lightspeed.
Probably Stars Wars last Jedi will be remembered as the film that a big amount of fans hate, but also the movie that changed the course of Star Wars history, by blowing everyone mind and the fans never noticed.



European television is in a new wave with their own point of view of crime dramas. TV shows like The Bridge (Bron/Broen) from Sweden, Trapped from Iceland, Wallander from Sweden and the Killing from Denmark. The style is very original, vast terrain, pale colors, with nihilism vibe and dramatic turnaround. It's a significant film style that American TV and cinema had tried to imitate. Not that easy, but possible, only by the hands of independent filmmakers. Back in 1992, a film by Michael Apted Thunderheart starring Val Kilmer about an FBI agent investigating the murder on Sioux reservation is the closest I had seen mimicking the style of Scandinavian TV.
Taylor Sheridan writer of films such as Sicario embarked in the production of a film so impressive and so close to what Europe has done with their TV shows, you can easily compare to a mashup of Thunderheart and Wallander. Wind River is the story of Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) an Indian reservation agent who discovered the frozen body of the 18-year-old girl, who allegedly was raped. FBI sent a rookie Agent Jane Banner ( Elizabeth Olsen) to determine the cause of the homicide. Throughout the investigation, Jane and Cory found so many pitfalls about this murder, as well complications after they fund the body of a naked male, connected the 18-year-old girl.
Director Taylor Sheridan presents a powerful cop drama, where all the main characters are surrounded by snow and vast land where everything could happen. Besides looking a slow pace film, the movie grows momentum until we find who made this brutal murder.
The music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is superb, the cinematography by Ben Richardson is outstanding and finally, the editing by Gary Roach create the perfect build-up to one of the best films of 2017.