bodomo Reviews

Rosario Tijeras (2005)

Slow-paced, repetitive rendering of a decent story

[5/10 · 6 June 2008]

This movie has an interesting, albeit somewhat formulaic, film-noir story as its foundation.

However, the movie ended up being too tedious to watch because of the excessively long segments devoted to hammering the same message time and again.

For instance, the wake and burial of one of the characters includes some creative twists---but ends up taking ~40 minutes of the film, so long before it moves on people in the audience start checking their watches.

This could have been of "City of god" caliber, but will never be. I'm not sure why it reached such a cult status in Colombia.

La omicidi (2004)

Competent actors hampered by paint-by-numbers script/story

[6/10 · 30 May 2008]

This is a long miniseries (6 episodes of 90 min. each) for so little content.

In its general structure, a new case gets investigated and solved in each episode, while the same Dantesque super serial killer keeps getting closer and closer to our hero.

The actors are all right and, in particular, the women are gorgeous. But the script is so boring and uninspiring that no amount of acting talent can really save it. Pseudoerudite references to Dante's Divina Commedia litter the landscape, in a failed attempt to get close to successful works such as "The rule of four", "The Da Vinci code" and "The Dante club". Watching the characters' interactions in excruciating detail is like watching paint dry -- e.g., when an inspector asks a subordinate to perform some background task as part of an investigation, we see *every* unimportant word that passes between them, with no irrelevant details spared as the script struggles to fill the long available time.

Eden Court (2008)

can't decide if it wants to be a comedy or a tragedy---and is neither

[3/10 · 27 February 2008]

I see this film as director Paul Leuer's attempt to create something along the lines of Jim Jarmusch's "broken flowers": a traveling tour de force around the life of a middle-aged protagonist, who knows that he has to make changes and meets with more or less absurd circumstances in the process.

unfortunately, Leuer is not Jarmusch (or Fellini), and Thomas Lennon is no Bill Murray. Lennon's facial expressions, in sequences in which the audience is supposed to laugh, lack any range and make me think of a bovine mammal with a bad case of constipation. there's very little sentiment coming through.

the rest of the cast valiantly do what they can with such an uninspiring script---not to mention the dismal ending, that is as predictable as unlikely. trying to get something out of this movie is bound to be an exercise in futility.

A herceg haladéka (2006)

Creative fable, took the easy way out

[8/10 · 10 March 2007]

Kudos to Timar for originality and for putting such an entertaining film on a low budget.

He has shown skills comparable to those of Charlie Kaufman and Christopher Nolan. The result is very watchable.

As a bonus, we get to see parts of beautiful Budapest.

My only regret is that the resolution is too much of a Deus ex machina for my taste.

On the other hand, one of the points made by the movie is that Alida's life had been so self-centered and dry so far, that she had driven away all the people who had loved her in the distant past.

Ferpect Crime (2004)

Light, somewhat underwhelming movie

[6/10 · 24 September 2005]

De la Iglesia has come up with a pastiche of good ideas from pre-existing, classic movies, and stuck them together into "El crimen ferpecto". The gaudy sets and primary colors are a dead ringer for Almodovar movies, the cops with their mannerisms are pure Hitchcock, and the ending is a straight rip-off from Fellini's "8 1/2"---the only missing thing there is Nino Rota's score, although they substituted that by something equivalent.

The result is a movie that you will have a good time watching, but about which you'll forget all 2 days later.

On the positive side, it's a funny dark comedy. On the negative side, it loses *a lot* of steam in the second half, and the numerous imitations of other directors yield a disjointed end result---like expecting to get a working animal if you grab one part (even the best part) from many others and then put them together haphazardly.

Broken Flowers (2005)

Underwhelming, slow movie

[5/10 · 25 August 2005]

I wasn't expecting a fast-paced movie after reading the reviews for this one, but I was expecting it to contain a few insightful character studies. I got neither.

"Broken flowers" hinges exclusively on Bill Murray's supposedly universal ability to depict a complex inner life by twitching an eyebrow. Unfortunately, no living actor could salvage this script.

Some extremely boring and content-free parts (e.g., when Don drives interminably time and again to visit his former romantic interests) reminded me of Umberto Eco's definition: a movie is pornographic if common, daily tasks take as much time on the screen as they take in real life. "Broken flowers" is highly pornographic in that regard.

If you want a well-acted movie with complex characters and realistic situations, go see something by Ingmar Bergman instead of wasting your time and money on this bore.

What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (2004)

Utter bunk with lots of puerile special effects

[1/10 · 12 July 2005]

This movie has no substance at all; it's just a succession of interview snippets in which each participant delivers sound bites as inaccurate as engineered for effect.

It's a bunch of bunk pretty similar to Brian Greene's "The elegant universe", but with still less useful content. (And yes, that's possible).

I couldn't believe that there was so little content to this movie, but time kept passing and the evidence kept accumulating.

I'm only glad of having watched it on DVD instead of paying a movie theater admission---that'd have been unforgivable.

Man Facing Southeast (1986)

Very good movie. Look beneath the surface.

[9/10 · 26 November 2002]

Those who complain about this movie being "depressing" and full of unanswered questions miss the point. An intelligent viewer must look beneath the surface; there's a clever story and a set of plot twists that await whomever is willing to make the minimum effort required to do that.

The movie keeps the viewer's interest by using a series of cinematic devices and by raising questions. The important ones get answered all right, while some unimportant ones are left open. Subiela himself admitted later that there is no real reason for Beatriz's changes of shoes, or for the blue liquid coming out of her mouth. But the central theme remains that of a man that approaches sainthood (note the numerous parallels with the story of Christ) by just doing what is logical---not out of any belief from a contrived moral system.

Beyond the Clouds (1995)

Visually stunning, but weak under the surface

[7/10 · 12 February 2000]

First, the positives: an excellent job at depicting urban landscapes to suit the mood of the film. Some of the shots could be paintings by De Chirico. Sophie Marceau, beautiful.

The negatives: the stories are hard to believe. Unreal, uni-dimensional characters preen and posture 100% of the time, as if they were in some kind of catwalk. This is neither the Antonioni of his earlier, much better movies nor the Wenders we've all come to know and appreciate. Malkovich is excess baggage in this movie.

All About My Mother (1999)

Excellent story, impeccable mise en scene

[10/10 · 17 January 2000]

This movie is a must-see. The whole movie is a pleasure to eyes and ears, with the wonderful views of Barcelona, its streets and squares, and many delightful examples of modernista architecture. The music (Alberto Iglesias) is also very good, short pieces of New Tango in the spirit of Piazzolla that seamlessly match every scene. Camera work is also inventive without being annoying.

Roth is powerful as an exile from the latest Argentinian dictatorship that tries to start over in Spain. The story, albeit sad, is compelling. As a bonus, there are plenty of interesting references to Spanish and Argentine cultures, for those who can interpret them (but that's not required to appreciate this jewel).