zerogravity-1 Reviews

Thesis (1996)

Spanish cheeseburger

[4/10 · 11 May 2004]

This film from Spain is a suspense thriller about a media student who discovers a "snuff" film showing the gruesome killing of one of her peers. Helped by a classmate with an impressive collection of video nasties of his own, she becomes an amateur Sherlock and sets out to find those responsible for the killing.

From this premise, debut director Amenebar builds a story which is strongly focused on suspense and plot. For those looking for a yarn with plenty of twists and turns and who are willing to overlook it's numerous contrivences and logical loopholes, it will doubtless please. For those who look to European cinema for a break from the tired formulas of the Hollywood film factories, look elsewhere. "Tesis" is not an ambitious film. It's not bad for a fairly low-budget first film. It will pass a couple of hours. But it's really a film for the kind of person who goes to a Spanish restaurant and orders a cheese burger.

Sex and Lucía (2001)

Imaginative, but convoluted

[8 May 2004]

This Spanish film has an unusual look and feel and dares to take chances in the way that it mixes fantasy and reality. The result is an interesting film, which is often confusing and frustrating. I'm sure that this was not entirely accidental and that the filmmakers wanted to keep the audience in a state of disorientation. Nevertheless, the convolutions of the story appear to serve no other purpose than to keep us off balance.

The films biggest sin is the scene in the middle of the film where the daughter Luna opens the bedroom door. The following event is presented in such a way that we are left guessing as to what has just happened. There's no reason for withholding it, except the misguided idea that lack of clarity is artistically valuable. I think that despite it's flaws, this film shows a great vibrancy and energy.

People talk a lot about the sex scenes. The film doesn't have much to say about sex and it certainly isn't about sex. Nevertheless, the scenes do not seem tacked on for the sake of it and, in an era when Hollywood seems to be gripped by a new puritanism, it's refreshing to see a frank depiction of what is, after all, an important aspect of the relationship between these characters.