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Reviews
Liz en Septiembre (2014)
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The movie Liz in September, directed by Fina Torres, is about Eva. A woman, who on her way somewhere, has car trouble and has to stay in a hotel where a group of lesbian women are also staying. One of the lesbians, named Alex, bets Liz, another lesbian, that she cannot seduce Eva in less than three days and that's where the story begins. Liz uses her beauty and ruthless conquering philosophy to convince Eva to stay longer in the hotel. During the initial time that Eva was staying, she befriends Liz. The beginning of the friendship between the two of them begins when Liz invites Eva to a ride on a boat and she accepts the invitation. But when they decide to leave and go for the boat ride, a storm comes and they have to stay in a nearby area and sleep together outside. In the morning, Liz's friends come to rescue her and Eva. They spend a lot of time together and you can tell that Eva knows that Liz loves her but she does not do anything because she is not sure what to do. It is important to note that Eva has a man with whom she is married to. A couple days pass and Eva's car is fixed but nothing happened with Eva and Liz and the bet that was going on. Liz loses the bet because Eva goes back to where she came from. A day goes by and Eva calls Liz to ask her to come and rescue her because her car stopped working, again. So, Eva returns to the same hotel where Liz is staying and sleeps there again. The conclusion of the film is something to see and I wouldn't want to spoil it. I recommend the movie to anyone who likes humor and love movies.
Que Horas Ela Volta? (2015)
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The movie, The Second Mother, is about a servant, who is called Val, who works for a family of money and has been there for a long time and one day Val's daughter, whose name is Jessica, calls her to ask if she can stay with her mom for while because she was studying for her exam which will determine if she will be able to enter the university or not. What happens is that, since she has been with that family for so long, she was the one who took care of the son, Fabinhode, of her employers, so she sees Fabinho as a son and he sees her as a mother, even though he has a mother. Now when Jessica comes to live with her mother, she thinks that she will live with only her mother in her house but Val lives with her employees. When Jessica finds out about this, she does not like it. The reason is because as her mother works for them, she does not have all the freedom that one wants. There are many examples of the passive struggle between Jessica and Val's boss, Doña Bárbara. Jessica does not understand why she can not do certain things while she lives there and that's what makes her angry. Meanwhile, the unfaithful father of the family, husband of Doña Bárbara, called Don Carlos, is interested in Jessica because she is a young, beautiful, intelligent, academic woman. There is a scene in which Don Carlos asks Jessica to marry him, but he tries to play it as a joke, but you can tell he meant it. The conclusion of the film was comforting, at least for me. Jessica ends up passing her exam and Val decides to move with Jessica and leave her job as a maid. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes heartwarming movies.
Yo, la peor de todas (1990)
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I, the Worst of All is about a women in the 17th Century named Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz who is forced to go into a covenant because the only other option was to marry but she didn't want to marry. She is in love with literature, poetry and writing but she is punished for her poetry that express radical idea that go against the Catholic Church. Another layer of the plot is that Sor may be a lesbian. She has an interest in this women throughout the movie but she knows nothing can ever happen because of the norm of that period and the taboo against lesbianism, especially within the Catholic Church. In a time when women weren't even seen as equals, there was no way that society would allow a women to be in a relationship with another women. It was not even sure if the women Sor had an attraction to shared that same level of attraction toward Sor. The aesthetic of the movie directly correlates with the oppression shown in the movie. The color scheme is dark with dull colors and very little pleasing visuals. One fault that I, the Worst of All had was that it was very slow to deliver its plot. It was so slow i watched it at 1.5x speed and even then I was still bored with the movie. Overall I enjoyed the movie, I'm glad, as a catholic, that the Catholic Church is no longer like this. The movie did a very good job at portraying a conflicting lifestyle going against the norm of that century and especially as a nun in a Catholic covenant. The cinematography was very pleasing because it went along with the oppressive theme of the movie. Even thought it was slow, I recommend this movie to anyone.
La otra conquista (1998)
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The film "La otra conquista", directed by Salvador Carrasco, was a great film. It was very interesting, educational , and well written film even though the cinematography wasn't that great. To put in perspective, the movie takes place in 1520 one year after the Spanish Conqueror Hernán Cortés' arrived in Mexico. The film is about an Aztec named Topiltzin who survived the massacre that took place when the Spanish come and conquered Mexico. The Spanish take Topiltzin prisoner and bring him to Cortés, the conqueror. He then places Topiltzin under the care of Friar Diego to, ultimately, convert him to a new way of life. I enjoyed leaning about the Conquest of the Aztecs by the Spanish and this film certainly played a good background for it but the one turnoff from the film was the cinematography. It's somewhat understandable because the movie was released in 1998 but even with the lower technology they had, the movie was not produced as well as it could have been. There were sloppy shots all around and the acting wasn't anything above average. Apart from the average cinematography, the movie was had a good plot. I especially like how the movie was able to capture the conversion of Topiltzin in respects to his religion. It's especially hard to try and document how ones beliefs change but "La otra conquista" did it. Some interesting takes on the film I enjoyed was the use of the Virgin Mary and how they used her to condition Topiltzin. They did this by whipping him and placing a small statue of the Virgin Mary above him while he was being beaten. Overall, this movie was really good. Apart from its lack of production and cinematography, I would recommend this film to anyone solely on the basis of the educational plot line.
Danzón (1991)
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The film Danzón, directed by Maria Novaro, was an interesting film. The film is about Julia, a telephone operator, who devotes her time to her little girl, her work, and to dancing. In the movie she dances with Carmelo, someone who she has never met but they always dance together. One day Carmelo does not come to dance and Julia leaves her daughter and her job to go find this man whom she never knew. In the end she returns to her house because she can not find him and in the room where they dance, she finds Carmelo. I liked the idea of the movie but it was a bit confusing in parts. It was not a very realistic film but with what they were trying to do I do not think there was a realistic way to do it. It's an adventure movie about following your heart. She felt something so strong, with Carmelo, that she left her little girl behind to look for him. I'm not sure if that's love or being a bad mother. They were trying to say that love is one of the most important things in life and you should never let it go. With that in mind, I think they did a good job in conveying that message. It was also a very advanced film. I say that because of their use of an actor who was a transvestite. Especially given that in the Latin American culture the transvestites do not play a big part. Using a transvestite opens the dialogue to the LGBTQ group. With dialogue you can advance the knowledge of these people and the argument they have. Danzón was an exceptional movie with a message that many people need to hear. I liked the movie a lot and recommend it to everyone who likes adventure and romantic movies.