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Reviews
Una (2016)
Movie written by a guy and directed by a guy that tries to excuse the actions of an abuser guy by putting (at least a part of) the blame on the female victim.
Sure, we all know of Stockholm syndrome and how it can relate to victims of abuse. Sure, an abused person can be intensely and honestly enamored with the abuser. And finally, sure, a thirteen year old can be manipulative and flirty and even try to instigate an affair with an older man.
However, none of the above even remotely excuses the abuser.
If there were a movie about a 40 year old who somehow developed an intense crush on a 13 year old which he didn't act upon - sure, that movie could possibly be framed in such a way that it hopes to elicit sympathy for the tortured protagonist.
However, the moment the protagonist of this movie became involved in sexual abuse of the 13 year old, any credible argument that excuses his behavior seizes to exist.
There are reasons why this behavior is criminal. And I hope I don't have to spell them out.
There is nothing to "reconsider" or "deconstruct" there; nothing that calls for bravery in order to be reevaluated. No. Sometimes an apple is just an apple, and a middle aged guy who beds a prepubescent girl is just a pedophile.
The film tries to be smart in offering two possible lenses through which the action can be viewed: either you believe she was his only victim or you don't (drumroll: there's a hint in the title!) However, the film also obviously expects us to judge the protagonist differently in accordance with our chosen lens.
But as I've said we can't. He's an abuser whichever way you look. And having an ambivalent stand about this does not only not make you a good dramatist it makes you a bad human.
Other than that, the film is boring and pretentiously acted, lighted and scored, leaving you with the feeling that the play might have had some great dialogue that was its redeeming feature and that the filmmakers decided to cut and replace with something "more filmic" such as long gloomy contemplative sequences that are plain boring and self-serving.
Atonement (2007)
Overrated is an understatement
You know what, something must be very rotten in Hollywood these days when the likes of Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Man and Atonement are getting nominations and awards. Unless "There Will be Blood" (which I haven't seen yet) is the intelligent, well directed epic I expect it to be, I sure hope that the above mentioned average-at-best flicks will be deservingly dwarfed at this years Oscars by the unlikely hero Juno turned out to be.
Now, don't get me wrong, I just love epic melodrama and I'm also a sucker for Merchant-Ivory, and, well, anything that contains a half-decent love story, beautiful photography, British and French landscapes and sexy British upper crust accents. And yes, I can even tolerate a bit of shallowness if the listed-above compensates in sufficient amounts. But what really annoys me (in any genre) is blatant pretentiousness.
This film oozes egomania. The direction is snobbish in a way that the director seems to be more interested in proving his "ingenuity" than in telling the story. And truth be told, there's not much story to tell. After the interesting, yet not less annoying first 45 minutes comes the stupidest waste of money I have seen in a long while. The complicated 5 minute shot that everybody's heard about even before the movie came out - huge disappointment. And you know what - Hitchcock's been there. Spielberg's been there. De Palma's been there. Now, if you have nothing new or interesting to say about it - get out or you can surely expect to be humiliated by your incompetence compared to the masters. But no! This director (known only for the single stupider period piece than this one - the lousiest adaptation of Pride and Prejudice ever) had huge appetites to satisfy. And hence - we are served with a boring, pretentious, overly stylized shot of what a coast in WWII France never looked like and the disillusioning effect created by McAavoy leaving the shot from time to time that should never happen if you expect your audience to be drawn in the movie and sympathize with the hero.
McCavoy is a great actor and we can surely expect great things from him in the future. But, hello, will the industry get over Keira Knightly already?! That woman is no actress. All she can do is pout her lips and strike a pose. The supporting cast is better than the leads, the photography is great, music is just fine, but, at the end of the day, who cares? If you do a love story and fail to engage the audience, fail to make them root for the couple in trouble, you failed period. We shouldn't reward movies for their redeeming qualities but as accomplishments as a whole.
Go Juno!
El laberinto del fauno (2006)
Extremely overrated
This is the first time ever I felt the urge to post a comment here on IMDb and this is simply because most of the times I have more or less agreed with what was already written by others. But now, I simply cannot believe this movie has such a high user rating! Did we all watch the same thing? Reading your comments and posts my impression was that this was a movie for grown-ups. But, common! Sometimes the given "reality" of this movie seems more fairlytaleish than the actual fantasy bits. The villain could not be more plastic and banal if this were a 007 movie (kills innocent elderly people and little children, beats women, tortures little animals and alike). I mean the Nazis from Indiana Jones and those Frank Capra Why We Fight WWII propaganda movies had more character depth than this one! And the good guys are good guys for the sole premise of being human vs this ultra-evil devilish opponent. There is no solid argument why we should support them apart from the fact that the alternative is a sadistic monster. Now, this movies main idea, or so it seems, is to contrast the actual world of reality to the imaginary world of fairy tales. But they don't differ! At all! The "reality" has as little to do with reality as the fairytale. They're as archetypal, as brutal and as imaginary. And seriously, it takes a master film artist to kill a kid and get away with it (like Brian De Palma in the Untouchables, perhaps? or whoever did the movie version of the Lord of the Flies for eg). Otherwise, it seems just pathetic. Like the easiest way to appeal to emotions. For me, this death felt "undeserved" because the script was so badly crafted. It felt even offending in a way.
OK, the cinematography is great and Del Toros imagination, as we all know by now, can sometimes be stunning. But is that enough to deem it a masterpiece? I'm giving it a 2 instead of a 1 for the sole reason that its heart is in the right place.
There is a topic in the discussion board on weather the girl really died or just went back to her kingdom. I couldn't care less. There's this other movie, Ghost World, with a similar ambiguous ending. If anyone skipped it, rent it and spend a great evening watching it. Don't go waste your money on this.
Sorry about my English, Im not a native speaker.