Godzilla (2014)

In 1954, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka of Toho Studios decided to make a film that reflected the true horror of the atomic bomb that the japanese people had experienced in their own flesh after the attacks to Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Working with scriptwriter Shigeru Kayama and director Ishirô Honda, the result was the birth of one of the greatest horror cinema icons: Gojira, better known as Godzilla, King of the Monsters. After its release in 1954, "Gojira" kickstarted a whole horror sub genre (Kaiju eiga) that dealer with giant monsters fighting over cities, creating a mythology in which Godzilla played the central role. Either as brutal destroyer or as heroic defender of humanity, Godzilla is now part of out pop culture, representing how small we are in the face of nature's fury. After 50 years of cinema history, Toho Studios decided to let Godzilla rest for 10 years, and in 2014 the return of the Big G is in the hands of an American studio, in an attempt to resurrect the mythical monster and erase the previous American remake from memory.

The story begins in 1999, when scientists Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watabanabe) and Vivienne Graham (sally Hawkins) discover the skeleton of a giant monster, and two eggs deep at the bottom of a mine at the Philippines. One of the eggs is broken and there are traces left by what came out from it reaching the sea. Meanwhile, at Japan, a series of earthquakes shake the nuclear plant of Janjira. Sandra Brody (Juliette Binoche) and her team of engineers check the state of the reactor when a huge explosion releases the radiation. Her husband Joe (Bryan Cranston), the plant supervisor, is forced to leave his wife to die in order to save the city from a major disaster. Years later, Joe is still convinced that what happened in Janjira wasn't a normal earthquake, as access to the Janjira zone is forbidden. His son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is now a marine, and lives away from Joe, considering a madman. Nevertheless, when Joe takes Ford to Janjira, they discover that what has been hidden in the zone is the existence of terrible giant monsters, and they have been awakened.

Through the years, Godzilla film have touched themes that range from nuclear horror to the destruction of ecosystems. This time, the story written by Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham (and David S. Goyer and Frank Darabont, uncredited) presents Godzilla as a nature's force of equilibrium in the wake of human action. However, the thematics the story tries to uphold lose strength given the fact that Godzilla takes the back seat and the spotlight is in turn given to the other giant monsters that the human beings have resurrected, the MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms). Given that the story circles around the threat that those monsters present, Godzilla gets reduced to be almost a living deux ex machine of sorts. While there's an attempt to develop a human story as a counterpart to the giant monsters, the character development is so poor that it's limited to explain the story to its audience. Certainly, Godzilla films have never tried to be serious dramas, but the problem is that in this version, the poor human drama in the screenplay plays (or tries to play) the central role.

The reason for this is that director Gareth Edwards (who rose to prominence with 2010's "Monsters") decides to focus his attention in the human characters that live the disaster left by the MUTOs and Godzilla. As in his previous dil, Edwards keeps his monsters in the dark, showing only the devastation that's left after every fight between the monsters. To be fair, in "Monsters" this approach worked quite well given the carefully constructed relationship between the human characters (not to mention the convenience of it for an extremely low budget film such as his), in Godzilla this becomes useless as the human roles are unidimensional empty characters with no real personality or sympathetic traits. While the special effects are magnificent (it's worth to point out that Godzilla has never look this great, and the original design by Toho is respected) and manage to capture the grand scale of the monsters' titanic fights, Edwards doesn't allow that tremendous work of effects to be fully seen, as he opts to cut to his characters' reactions anytime the monsters fight. Reactions that aren't performed that well by the cast.

While acting has never been the strength in Godzilla films, the work done by the cast in this incarnation of the franchise is particularly mediocre. Despite having respected actors in the cast, the performances are far to be the best this group of artists can deliver, and a lot of this is to be blamed to Gareth Edwards' poor direction. Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche, as Joe and Sandra Brody, deliver an admirable performance that manages to create the only real moment of human drama in the film. Unfortunately, their role in the film is too short and they are soon forgotten by the story. The real protagonist, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (as their son Ford), fails to escape from the typical American marine stereotype, to the point that it seems that he doesn't really care for his parents or his own family. Elizabeth Olsen, who plays his wife, limits her role in the film to scream anytime the monsters are on screen. The most unfortunate thing is to see actors Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn and specially Sally Hawkin sin meaningless roles whose only dramatic function is to spoon-feed the plot to the audience in long explicative dialogues.

The truth is, "Godzilla" is not really a bad film, it's simply an extremely mediocre movie that's sadly not really memorable. The disappointing result of the film makes it fell as if director Gareth Edwards had taken the Godzilla name and all that it represents to make a spiritual remake of his previous film, "Monsters". But without any luck. While the respect for the original design and "Gojira"'s mythology are welcomed, as well as the fact that the film takes its concept seriously (fortunately, no Minillas or Godzookys are around); the film fails to capture the magic and awe of watching two titanic monsters fighting on the city. Mainly because Edwards doesn't let the camera see much of it. And it's not that Edwards' focus on human drama is a wrong decision, it could be an interesting take on the concept if only such drama was well done. Since it isn't the result is a monster movie that feels boring and tiresome until Godzilla appears on the screen (late). A lot of this can blamed to the screenplay that Edwards had to work with, based on exaggerated coincidences and explanatory dialogue to advance the poorly developed plot.

As mentioned above, "Godzilla" isn't a bad film, it's merely a truly disappointing one. After ten years without the Big G on the big screen and with the backing of a big Hollywood studio, an epic return to glory was expected, one that could take advantage of the technical development of American film industry without forgetting the Godzilla mythos. Sadly, this wasn't the case. There are even things that the vilified 1998 film by Roland Emmerich did much better than this version. While there are remarkable things in "Godzilla" (Alexandre Desplat's music being one of them), in general Gareth Edwards' film fails to fulfill the huge expectations. There's a progress in some areas, but it seems that Hollywood still hasn't really understood the secret of how to make a good Gojira film.

5/10

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Frozen (2013)

In 1937, Walt Disney Studios changed animated cinema forever with the release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", their first feature length animated film. This would be the beginning of a long tradition of animated cinema that Disney would develop through the following years, taking inspiration from classic fairy tales to create films like "Pinocchio" (1940), "Sleeping Beauty" (1959) and "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). However, a famous story by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen had eluded Walt Disney almost from the very beginning: "The Snow Queen". Celebrated as one of Andersen's most beautiful tales, "The Snow Queen" would be part of a biopic on Andersen that Walt Disney wanted to produce in 1943, but unfortunately, the project fell down and was eventually forgotten. Years later, the "Snow Queen" project resurrected in the 90s, but once again it was considered too difficult to make. Finally, in 2008 director Chris Buck tried again to make it a reality, and after a long and tortuous process, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" finally saw the light in 2013, as a free adaptation titled simply "Frozen".

"Frozen" is the story of two sisters, Anna and Elsa (Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel respectively), the young princesses of Arendelle, a kingdom located in Norway. Elsa has the incredible magic skill of creating ice out of thin air, but this doesn't stop the young kids from being very close. However, one night Elsa hurts Anna with her powers, prompting her parents to take the drastic measure of hiding Elsa, fearing her powers get too strong for be controlled. Anna's memories of Elsa's powers are also erased, in an attempt to create the idea that Elsa is a normal girl. The sisters are separated, with Elsa hiding herself in the castle fearing that she'll hurt her family with her magic. When their parents die in a shipwreck, Elsa must take the crown as Queen of Arendelle, an event that Anna sees as a chance to discover the world outside the castle. During the coronation, Anna falls in love with prince Hans (Santino Fontana), and wishes to marry him immediately, something that Elsa forbids at once. Anna argues with Elsa about this, and the stress makes her to show her powers to the public. Afraid of herself, Elsa runs away from Arendelle, becoming the Snow Queen.

Far from being a straight adaptation of Andersen's fairy tale, "Frozen"'s screenplay (written by Jennifer Lee, based on a story by Chris Buck, Shane Morris and Lee herself) takes only the core elements from the classic story as the basis for its universe, and then builds up a radically different story from it. Having a family bond between Anna and the Snow Queen, "Frozen" is essentially the tale of two sisters who need to solve their differences in order to recover the happiness they lived in the past. However, "Frozen" is also a story of acceptance, as the screenplay makes of Elsa, the Snow Queen, a complex character who needs to define her identity, tired of hiding who she really is and longing to be allowed to be herself in front of a world that condemns her. This is perhaps the most interesting element in the film, as Lee has created a "Disney princess" (or Queen) like no other, making her a symbol of acceptance of one's own identity (overtones are more than obvious). Anna, on the other hand, is a direct attack to the "Disney princess" stereotype, as she literally discovers that life isn't like fairy tales.

Given the deep involvement of Jennifer Lee during the project's development, she was given the chance of co-directing the film along Chris Buck, and her influence can be felt in every element of the movie. By transforming the Snow Queen fairy tale, Buck and Lee gave a twist to what perfectly could had been just another Disney princess film. Lee's main input was to make "Frozen" a modern film that doesn't hide its own femininity. That is, while Disney had previously released films outside the tradition ("Lilo & Stitch" and Pixar's "Brave" for example), those films protected their mass appeal in the universal theme of family matters. On the other hand, while "Frozen" has at its core a theme of family bonds, the individual development of both Anna and Elsa as grown women reflects an attempt of portraying a modern vision of femininity, attacking the outdated model propagated by Disney's own old classics (The Disney princess ideal). The extraordinary visual design of "Frozen", inspired in those very same classics (chiefly "Sleeping Beauty") makes the reference all the more obvious.

"Frozen", like the afore mentioned Disney classics, is first and foremost musical, so it isn't strange to hear Idina Menzel, a Broadway veteran, in the role of the Snow Queen, Elsa. While certainly Anna is the one leading the plot of "Frozen", Elsa becomes easily the most interesting character in the film. Menzel gives life to Elsa capturing perfectly her mix of fear and (apparently unlimited) power that make the burden of the Snow Queen. This is perfectly exemplified in her performance of "Let It Go", song that defines her character's struggle and reveals her as the story's true protagonist. Kristen Bell plays Anna, whose journey to rescue her kingdom will reveal her that the real world is actually different to the rose-tinted worldview she had as a princess (as a Disney princess). While Bell makes a terrific job as the youthful and cheerful Anna, Menzel's powerful voice outshines her in every way. The rest of the cast is in general pretty good, tough the film clearly belongs to Menzel and Bell. An exception is Josh Gad, whom as Olaf the snowman, manages to steal every scene he's in.

As mentioned before, maybe "Frozen" isn't the first Disney film with a non-traditional focus, however, the artistic quality of Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee's film are what elevates "Frozen" to the level of Walt Disney Animation Studios' true classics. Michael Giaimo's work in the art department is simply overwhelming, creating the perfect atmosphere for the devastating winter of Arendelle, which mirrors Elsa's conflicting emotions regarding her former hometown (Giaimo had previously worked in Disney's "Pocahontas"). Music is perhaps the film's weak spot, as while the film has a couple of truly remarkable song (the aforementioned "Let It Go" for example), the rest of the songs are far from having a similar dramatic impact in the story. Nevertheless, and even when this should be a major problem give the fact that it's a musical, the movie never loses strength thanks to the great care directors Buck and Lee unfold there story. Perhaps the most significative of this is the way in which Buck and Lee get into the character's personal drama, which makes "Frozen" something beyond the traditional adventure film, it makes it feel almost intimate to a certain extent.

Mixture of a return to the traditional and a reinvention of an old formula, "Frozen" takes the best of Disney's animated classics and gives it a more than welcomed modern twist. Still, the most interesting about "frozen" is that it proves once again that behind a great movie, there must be a great story. Jennifer Lee's intelligent screenplay is "Frozen"'s backbone and an instrumental piece in making the movie a reassessment of fairy tales as well as a reaffirmation of female roles in Disney movies. While not entirely without flaws, given its thematics and its enormous visual beauty, it would be fair to consider "Frozen" as one of Disney's most important films of recent times.

8/10

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Yi dai zong shi (2013)

Ip Man (or Yip Man), legendary Wing Chun master, was born in a wealthy family in Foshan, China in 1893. Having trained his art since he was 13 years old, Ip Man developed his Wing Chun technique to a high level of perfection, but while he did teach his style to friend, he wasn't interested in opening a martial arts school. This changed with the Chinese Civil War, when political reasons forced Ip Man to leave Foshan for good in 1949 and settle in Hong Kong. Living in poverty, Ip Man finally opened a Wing Chun school in Hong Kong (his students would include a very young Bruce Lee), that soon made his martial arts famous in the city, and later in the world. This status as grandmaster of Wing Chun, along the time period he lived through, have turned Ip Man into an almost mythical figure (similar to Wong Fei-hung), and his life has inspired numerous films beginning with "Yip Man" in 2008 (directed by Wilson Yip). That very same year Hongkonger director Wong Kar-wai announced his own film about Ip Man, but the project faced constant delays and couldn't see the light until 2013, when finally "Yi dai zong chi", "The Grandmaster" was released,.

The story in "Yi dai zong chi" begins in the first years of the decade of 1930s, when Ip Man (Tony Leung) is living a peaceful life in Foshan as a respected martial artist along his wife Zhang Yongcheng (Song Hye-kyo). The grandmaster of the Northern region, Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang) arrives to Foshan announcing his retirement and the appointment of Ma San (Zhang Jin) as his heir. He is also looking for a heir in the Southern region: whomever can defeat him will be his heir. The Southern masters asks Ip Man to represent them, and he manages to defeat Gong Yutian, who now respects him as the winner. Gong Yutian's daughter, Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), decides to challenge Ip Man herself, as she pretends to recover her family's honor. After their duel, a deep friendship begins between them, a relationship that's interrupted by the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the war, Ip Man will face poverty and hunger in Foshan, while in the Northern region, a vindictive Ma San murders grandmaster Gong Yutian. As times are changing in Chine, a generation of masters of martial arts will try to survive.

While "Yi dai zong shi" begins apparently as a biopic of Wing Chun master Ip Man, the literal translation of its title, "Generation of master", is perhaps the best description of what it really is: a meditation about a whole generation in Chinese martial arts history. So, taking Ip Man as its starting point, the screenplay (written by Zou Jingzhi, Xu Haofeng and director Wong Kar-wai himself) gets into reflections of a more philosophical type regarding the Chinese Civil War, making a parallel with the expansion of martial arts through the country. Grandmaster Gong Yutian's dream of unification between Northern schools of martial arts and the Southern masters ends when political forces divide the country in the middle of wars, events that will divide the characters and force them to make decisions they may later regret. And this melancholic lament of regret, a lament of tragic loss (familiar themes in much of Wong Kar-wai's cinema) echoes through a story in which knowledge of martial arts is a precious heritage, and its perpetuity in memory, a matter of life and death.

In terms of style the film is also a journey through familiar terrains for Wong Kar-wai: there's poetry in the dialogs, an extremely beautiful work of cinematography (courtesy of Philippe Le Sourd) and a disjointed narrative. Unfortunately, this last aspect becomes problematic as in the attempt of capturing the spirit of a whole generation, Wong seems to ramble, leaving unexplainable plot holes and underdeveloped subplots (the character of "Razor" Yixiantian could be removed and nobody would even notice). Since the film lacks a solid structure, the movie feels incomplete. But "Yi dai zong shi" isn't merely a recollection of Wong Kar-wai's thematic obsessions, it's also a martial arts film, and in this aspect the remarkable fight coreographies staged by the legendary Yuen Woo-ping are a highlight of the film. Truly getting to the origins of the portrayed martial arts, Yuen manages to make a relatively faithful portrayal of the diverse styles employed by the masters, focusing not on fantastic exaggeration, but in the inherent beauty of the correct execution of a technique. This is certainly one of Yuen Woo-ping's best jobs.

Tony Leung, a familiar face in Wong Kar-wai's cinema, manages to truly get into the role of Ip Man, making him an arrogant yet disciplined man. Leung's Ip Man is a martial arts aesthete who knows he is fortunate, but that doesn't take advantage of his privileged position. Leung's work gets better as his character grows older, as the arrogance of youth gives place to wisdom and serenity after a life of hardships during the war. However, while Tony Leung makes an effective performance, it is really Zhang Ziyi as Gong Er who truly steals the show in "Yi Dai zong shi". As a woman obsessed with revenge to the point of sacrifice, Zhang Ziyi delivers one of her best performances ever, creating a character of complexity and beauty. With elegance and strong screen presence, Zhang Ziyi manages to express more with a single look than with the film's poetic dialogue. Finally, Chang Chen appears as "Razor" Yixiantian, character whose plot is sadly forgotten latter in the movie. The interesting things is that, in spite of that, Chang Chen manages to create a character with greater impact than Tony Leung's Ip Man.

Maybe the most remarkable aspect in Wong Kar-wai's film is the great beauty of cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd's work, who manages to capture the melancholy of the romantic view of Wong Kar-wai on the time period in which the film is set, as well as the beauty of the portrayed martial arts. A perfect complement to choreographer Yuen Woo-ping's work, Le Sourd's cinematography enhances the style and technique with great aesthetic beauty. Quite appropriately for a story about characters that value technical proficiency above all things. However, it's unfortunate that the beauty of the cinematography and the excellence of the performances get lost in a narrative that at times seems to lose the direction where it's going. The stories of these masters, Ip Man, Gong Er and "Razor" Yixiantian are extremely interesting, but there's a moment where it seems that the movie decides to focus exclusively on Gong Er and forgets entirely the other two, which end up in a rushed manner. The sensation the film leaves is that for some reason, "Yi dai zong shi" is not a completed film, despite that there are three different cuts of the film.

Despite this big problem with its narrative, "Yi dai zong shi" is a movie of great visual beauty and impeccable cinematic technique. Wong Kar-wai manages to create a martial arts film that's reflexve and philosophical without sacrificing the genre's inherent spectacle. It would be unfair to expect a proper biography of Ip Man when what Wong Kar-wai pretends is to get into the memory of a bygone time: the end of Chinese Civil War. As famous filmmaker John Ford once stablished: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend". Wong Kar-wai gets into the modern myths that are the old martial arts masters and finds a group of fascinate characters that struggle to survive in a world that seems to have left them behind. Unfortunately, "Yi dai zong shi" fails to become the great work it could had been.

7/10

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Captain Phillips (2013)

On April 8, 2009, a gang of four Somali pirates boarded MV Maersk Alabama, a container ship traveling 240 nautical miles off Somalia's coast. At the helm of MV Maersk Alabama was captain Richard Phillips, who had the mission of taking the cargo to Mombasa, Kenia. The situation got complicated when the crew captured one of the pirates and started negotiations to switch prisoners. The pirates secured their escape on a lifeboat, but took Phillips hostage with them. Everything would end in a risky rescue attempt by a team of Navy SEAL snipers. The kidnapping and rescue of captain Richard Phillips soon became international news, and as usual, an adaptation to the big screen began to be developed. Taking as basis captain Phillips' own account of the kidnapping, "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea", director Paul Greengrass and screenwriter Billy Ray developed a story with the intention of capturing the intense human drama of the tale. With the simple title of "Captain Phillips" and actor Tom Hanks leading the cast, this attempt isn't really bad, though it's far from amazing.

In "Captain Phillips", Tom Hanks plays the eponymous protagonist, captain Richard Phillips, who takes command of container ship MV Maersk Alabama in the port of Salalah, Oman. His destination, Mombasa, forces him to follow the dangerous route of the Somali coast, where pirate attacks are common place due to the poverty of the region. At the helm of Maersk Alabama, Phillips shows an excessive (bordering paranoid) preoccupation with security, which doesn't help him to make friends with his crew. At the same time, the young Somali pirate Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi) gathers a crew of four people with the intention of capturing a big ship. Muse wishes to show his skill as a pirate, as he is usually bullied by other pirates from his tribe. On april 8, the lives of Muse and Phillips will collide when Muse's small crew manages to board the MV Maersk Alabama, making Phillips' worst nightmares a reality. Determined to protect his crew, captain Phillips will need to find the courage to face Muse and recover the control of the ship. However, things go seriously wrong when he is taken hostage by the pirates.

Written by Billy Ray (co-scriptwriter of "The Hunger Games"), the screenplay for "Captain Phillips", tries to be not only an account of captain Phillips' story, but to make a study of the relationship between two apparently different characters, captain Phillips and captain Muse. At the beginning, both captains prepare the travel of their lives, Phillips checking his ship while Muse picks up his crew amongst the somali men of his tribe. Phillips faces the mistrust of his crew, while Muse sees himself humiliated by other pirates. Finally, both captains face each other in an endurance test, with Phillips trying to manipulate Muse while the young pirate attempts to show (to his own crew and to himself) that he is the boss and has the situation under control. This focus is interesting in the sense that allows to truly get into the character of Abduwali Muse in a more human way, exploring his fears and feelings, giving him more complex dimensions than what are normally found in typical villains. This attention to the psychology of the characters is without a doubt a great virtue in Ray's screenplay, but it's not enough to sustain the weight of the film.

At the helm of "Captain Phillips" is British director Paul Greengrass, whom isn't really a stranger to make films based on tense stories from real life (as "United 93" demonstrates). In "Captain Phillips", Greengrass gives the film his familiar style based on handheld camera, which gives the movie a tone of documental realism. Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd's camera truly gets inside every scene in an almost active role, more as a participant than as mere witness of the action, managing to capture the human drama that's developed between the characters. And it's truly the difficult relationship between Phillips and Muse what actually drives the film. Greengrass and Ackroyd (who had previously worked together in "Green Zone" and the afore mentioned "United 93") capture the intensity of this relationship which is formed not only in dialogues, but in sights and silences. However, it's worth to point out that the rhythm of the movie falls flat during the second half of the film, as while Greengrass builds up the tension of the struggle between the crew and the pirates, when Phillips gets kidnapped the film loses steam. Badly.

The performances by the cast are truly the greatest asset of "Captain Phillips", as it's in the acting duel between veteran Tom Hanks and newcomer Barkhad Abdi where the real strength of Greengrass' film truly is. Hanks once again takes his classic everyman role that has given him success through his career. As Richard Phillis, Tom Hanks builds up a character different to the typical hero: he's a common man, arrogant and proud, full of flaws but with a strong determination to succeed. Tom Hanks truly manages to disappear in the character and make him real in a stark and realistic way. Young Barkhad Abdi debuts in the silver scree making a tremendous, high quality job in the role of Somali pirate Abduwali Muse. Director Pual Greengrass, fond to use actors with little to no experience, has the merit of finding and guiding a talent such as Abdi's, who truly captures not only the essence of a character as complex as Muse, but also the spirt of the Somali people, living under oppression and without great opportunities, and finds in piracy a way to survive.

As mentioned before, that's probably the greatest merit of "Captain Phillips", the achievement of building gip complex characters living in a world that's no longer black and white. The recognition of the humanity of the characters and using this recognition to make a statement: Muse is in the end, a young fisherman with dreams that seem impossible in his reality. However, this is also the origin of a big problem with the drama that "Captain Phillips" unfolds, as the film reaches a point in which the story becomes more interesting from the pirates' point of view. It's not only the fact that Abduwali Muse has been developed as a more sympathetic character than Phillips, but that ultimately the movie is the story of four young pirates facing the strongest army in the world. The matter of Phillips' survival gets overshadowed by Muse's overwhelming tragedy as a man looking for a way out that, like his dreams, is another impossible., And still, despite how fascinating these characters are, Greengrass seems to return to the traditional formula of action films during a climax that seems to remind us that these four are just the baddies and well, deserve their outcome.

Ultimately, it seems that "Captain Phillips" struggle between being two different kinds of movie: on one hand is the poignant drama that portrays a real situation exploring its characters as complex and real human beings, and on the other a tale of survival where it's clear who are the goodies (the U.S. navy of course) and the baddies. In "Captain Phillips", it seems that Greengrass started making the former and the film ended up becoming the latter. In the end, it would seem that the tense conflict between captain Richard Phillips and Abduwali Muse is diluted when the film becomes an unfair duel between four unprepared pirates and the efficient U.S. navy. While technically impeccable and with two truly brilliant performances by Hanks and Barkhdad Abdi, "Captain Phillips" lacks a bit of tact when dealing with the complex theme of Somali piracy and gets lost at sea when it attempts to solve its own identity conflict.

6/10

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Hecho en México (2012)

To make an accurate portrait of the identity of a nation is not an easy task, as whomever attempts to do it will face the fact that said identity rarely comes from an absolute homogeneous cultural source, but instead is the result of the multiple cultures that form said nation. Cultures that normally are quite different from each other despite belonging to the same country. And yet, this is precisely what producers Lynn Fainchtein and Duncan Bridgeman attempt in the documentary "Hecho en México": to make a portrait of Mexico's national identity, a portrait to identify the Mexicanity of almost 116 millions of people of different cultural backgrounds. To do this, Fainchtein and Bridgeman took as starting point a theme that both of them clearly dominate, the music (as Fainchtein has been music supervisor of several feature length films, while Bridgeman is one of the founders of renowned world music project "1 Giant Leap"). Thus, "Hecho en México" is a documentary that uses Mexican music in an attempt to portrait the identity of Mexicans. However, things do not result that good.

In "Hecho en México" (literally "Made in Mexico"), a large group of Mexican musicians (and a couple of foreigners) lend their talents to mix their different styles and make a soundtrack to reflect Mexico's national identity. Mixed by Bridgeman, music becomes the guide to join several interviews with musicians, artists, philosophers and other intellectuals, whom offer their opinions about what is Mexicanity for them. Those opinions move around several themes, such as love, death and religion (amongst others), looking for the ways Mexicanity arises around all these concepts. And all this takes place as the filmmakers visit several corners in the country, showing its natural beauty, its many towns, cities, its inhabitants and their respective cultures, and finally how all those come to reflect the Mexicanity in their diverse artistic expressions. Music comes as the soundtrack for this journey, with the musicians moving along with the filmmakers through Mexico's jungles, through its ancient ruins, as well as through its streets and roads.

Produced without following an established screenplay, "Hecho en México" is build with the interviews with the several celebrities that give their two cents about Mexicanity, talking about the different concepts that form the film's structure. Besides the aforementioned themes of love, death and religion, other concepts are discussed, like spirituality, drugs, the border with the United States, and the relationships between the sexes. However, this construction, based only in a group of pretty abstract and vague concepts results in pretty shallow interviews where there isn't really the care to follow a definitive goal, and it's just talking for the sake of talking. And this is not really something to blame the interviewees, as it would seemed that there wasn't really any direction in the interview besides the abstraction of the concept. Mexicanity is such a huge idea that by being portrayed in such a vague way makes the film to fall in common places and, on some occasions, ridiculous opinions. Of course, there are notable exceptions, but the common denominator in the interviews is shallowness.

British filmmaker Duncan Bridgeman takes the director's seat and is in charge of giving an order to the collection of ideas that form "Hecho en México", and to do this, he puts to good use his skill as sound mixer to transform Mexican music in the backbone of the movie. As he had previously done as a member of "1 Giant Leap" (project where Bridgeman, along Jamie Catto, recorded and mixed music and images from all over the world to create a new audiovisual concept), Bridgeman combines with great skill the whole specter of Mexican music, traditional and modern, rural and urban, northern and southern; achieving very attractive musical numbers that shape "Hecho en México". Thus, Bridgeman's mix results in a musical hybrid where Mexico's many different music styles are fused together in a single sound. This is certainly the greatest achievement in "Hecho en México", or better said, it's only achievement, as that definition of Mexicanity that the interviews leave at mere pseudo-intellectualism, is actually discovered by the musicians in the fusion of their talents and rhythms.

Without a doubt the music mixed by Bridgeman is the main attraction in the film, though not the only one, as the movie has an excellent work of cinematography courtesy of Gregory W. Allen, Lorenzo Hagerman and Alexis Zabe, whom manage to capture images of great beauty. Nevertheless, the technical merits aren't enough to save "Hecho en México" from its many flaws, whom are focused in the ironic lack of identity that the film suffers. In other words, the documentary "Hecho en México" seems to try to be at the same time a music video, a promotional for tourism, and a sociological study. Sadly, it's only as a long music video that the film somehow manages to work, as while the purely musical moments are quite interesting, the way the interviews give form to the movie only puts light on the fact that neither Bridgeman nor Fainchtein had an idea of what Mexicanity is. And while as a foreigner Duncan Bridgman could had offered an interesting perspective at watching Mexico from afar, he instead opts for the cliché, the common places and portraits Mexico as a mere tourist would do.

Certainly, director Duncan Bridgeman has a great talent as musical producer, talent that he has already shown in "1 Giant Leap" and that once again he exploits to the max in "Hecho en México". However, the main difference between his previous "1 Giant Leap" and this film is that the former is a project without any pretensions beyond the music, the ambitious documentary "Hecho en México" tries to define a complex question and fails completely at it. The ideas exposed, in an attempt at being rebellious and irreverent, end up being ridiculous and maudlin, which wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the fact that in the end they say nothing. Shallow, empty and without an identity of its own, "Hecho en México" is sadly a movie that can only be enjoyed as a postmodernist display of Mexican music, because as a proper documentary it's a complete failure.

4/10
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Looper (2012)

Way before British author H.G. Wells made popular the idea in his classic science fiction novel. "The Time Machine" in 1895, stories about time travel had already been an integral part of our imagination, going back to the beginnings of civilization (time travel even appears in Hindu mythology). And this is because at their core, this kind of science fiction opens the possibility of answering a question that has always fascinated us, perhaps even more than any other futurist vision: Is it possible to change the past? The many implications of this question, which range from the creation of paradoxes to questioning the existence of fate, have resulted in many works of fiction that explore the consequences of time travel to the past. This interesting question is tackled in "Looper", a science fiction movie written and directed by American filmmaker Rian Johnson (who rose to prominence in 2005 with his neo-noir film "Brick"), where in the future, the novelty of time travel is used for a very interesting purpose.

In "Looper", the story is set in the year 2044, in Kansas, where Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joe, a young man with a quite particular job: he is in charge of killing people sent from the future by the criminals of those years.Time travel, inexistent in 2044 but invented thirty years later, is used in this way by the future mafia to get rid of their enemies due to the difficulties of doing it in their time. However, the rules specify that eventually, one day Joe will have to kill his future self, closing in that way his contract (or "loop") with the chance of retiring until the time comes for him to be sent to the past. That's why he is called a "looper". The day of closing his loop arrives for Joe, but when his future self (Bruce Willis) arrives, Young Joe is surprised by Old Joe whom avoids being killed and runs away. Since he let his future self escape, Joe becomes the target of the mafia, so he'll have to find and kill Old Joe before the mafia catches him. At the same time, Old Joe will have to solve a business in the past while he avoids getting himself or Young Joe killed, as that would result in his own death too.

As mentioned before, the screenplay was written by director Rian Johnson, whom presents an action and science fiction film with a quite original premise. In "Looper", Johnson develops an intelligent screenplay, which takes the often problematic concept of time travel and takes it as the basis to elaborate not only a thrilling story of futuristic criminals, but really a full-fledged tale of self discovery. Young Joe, arrogant and selfish, faces an Old Joe who knows quite well what will be the future of the life of death and drugs that Young Joe is currently living. In full Philip K. Dick style, Johnson is using the usual genre conventions of science fiction to express a more personal, more intimate conflict: the struggle of the protagonist against his inner demons. And this is perhaps the main characteristic of Rian Johnson's "Looper", as it chooses not to worry too much about the intricate technical complexities of time travel and, wisely, opts for focusing chiefly in developing his group of characters and the relationships between them.

This preference towards the interior instead of the exterior is reflected in the visual conception of the future that director Rian Johnson displays in "Looper", as instead of making an extravaganza of futuristic imagery in his movie, what "Looper" shows is a future closer to our reality, that is, closer to the current patterns regarding fashion and technology, resulting in a somewhat realistic vision of the world of tomorrow. The changes that the future shown in "Looper" displays, instead of technological, are more related to the society that inhabits the Kansas City of the year 2044, a society without law, where the crime runs rampant and death is on every corner. Johnson brings to life this urban nightmare with great imagination (and with the great job of art director James A. Gelarden), focusing in classic aspects of Americana mixed with his own brand of science fiction. The cinematography by Steve Yedlin manages to capture this familiar Midwestern atmosphere, that gives the movie a very distinctive personality of its own.

Acting is of pretty good quality, starting with a Joseph Gordon-Levitt that once again shows his talent to play ordinary persons in extraordinary situations. As Young Joe, Gordon-Levitt plays a young man without anything to lose and totally determined to live a short but luxurious life in exchange of killing people for the mafia, though this showdown with his own self will make him think twice about what the future has for him. Perhaps a problem of his performance is that at times it seems he tries too hard to imitate Willis. While recalling at times his character in "Twelve Monkeys", Bruce Willis makes an excellent performance as Old Joe, in what is probably one of the best works in his career. The advantage of course is that in "Looper" his character allows him to explore more emotional aspects that at times move him away from his image of tough guy, that is, allow him to enter the pain that this time traveler experiments. The rest of the cast keeps the same level of quality, excelling specially Paul Dano as Seth, and Jeff Daniels who makes a terrific job as mafia boss Abe.

Creative, intelligent and pretty original, "Looper" is a great work of science fiction in which director Rian Johnson gives good use to the concept of time travel to create an action film with a pretty interesting subtext. Certainly, Johnson makes the most of his premise and develops a quite entertaining story from it bu, unfortunately, "Looper" is not without its problems. First of all, while Johnson tries to consciously avoid to give details about the film's future (2074) and about time travel itself, some bits of information could had been given to better explain some concepts in the film, as in more than one occasion there's the feeling that time travel is just an excuse to begin the story (and while that's perfectly OK, it shouldn't be that obvious). Poorly developed details such as the fact that the premise rests in the weak concept of having the mafia to prefer to send people to the past instead of killing them, makes "Looper" to lose some of its strength. Finally, the film can't avoid to attract the inevitable comparisons with "The Terminator" and the aforementioned "Twelve Monkeys", which don't give it any good.

Anyways, in spite of its flaws, in "Looper" filmmaker Rian Johnson presents a style of science fiction that shows itself as intelligent, courageous and willing to experiment; three characteristics that have defined the cinema of Johnson ever since the beginning of his career (as shown by his quite particular approach to noir with "Brick" and comedy in "The Brothers Bloom"), and that set him apart as one of the most interesting directors of the early twenty first century. With an interesting premise and full of exciting action scenes, "Looper" is without a doubt one of the best science fiction films released in the year 2012.

8/10
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This review was originally published in Spanish for Habitación 101 on October the 12th of 2012. Habitación 101 is a great site to check for news and reviews on cinema and theatre in Spanish.

To Rome with Love (2012)

Rome, the Eternal City, owner of an ancient history and an extraordinary rich culture, is a city that has been pictured on film on countless occasions, being the background of several classic films. Now Rome becomes the setting of American filmmaker Woody Allen's 43rd film, whom after making the charming comedy "Midnight in Paris", moved to the capital of Italy after the invitation of Medusa Distribuzione, a distribution company company that offered to finance a film for him under the condition that the resulting film was set in Rome. So, that was the origin of a project originally titled "Bop Decameron", but after several changes would end up being titled simply as "To Rome with Love"; where following the path set by his previous "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" or the already mentioned "Midnight in Paris", the New York filmmaker Woody Allen takes the little corners of the city as the background for a new exploration of his familiar themes. However, unlike those two films, "To Rome with Love" may be an slightly less polished light comedy, though that doesn't make it any less interesting.

"To Rome with Love" narrates four stories where the only thing in common is the fact that they take place on the streets of Rome. In the first one, Jerry and Phyllis (Woody Allen and Judy Davis) are a marriage traveling to Rome in order to meet their future son-in-law Michelangelo (Flavio Parenti), who knew their daughter Hayley (Alison Pill) during her last vacations. Things get complicated when Jerry discovers that Michelangelo's father Giancarlo (Fabio Armiliato) has an extraordinary (and wasted) gift for singing opera. The second story is about Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni), a typical office worker who one day becomes a celebrity for no apparent reason, taking him to experience the problems that come with fame. The third involves young student Jack (Jesse Eisenberg), whom is in the middle of a crisis when he falls in love with his girlfriend's (Greta Gerwig) best friend, the extroverted actress Monica (Ellen Page). Finally, the fourth tale deals with Antonio (Alessandro Tibero) and Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi), a recently married couple whom discover Rome's delights when they are accidentally separated.

As expected, the screenplay is a piece written by Woody himself, so it's not exactly a surprise to once again find that his familiar themes are all over it: nostalgia, love, death, neurosis and relationships. However, and while the stories of "To Rome with Love" aren't related between them, they all have in common the greater common theme of fame and fortune: Jerry wants to succeed as a producer through Giancarlo's voice, Jack is looking to revolutionize architecture, Antonio wants to make a good impression in business, and finally, Leopoldo deals directly with the mysteries of being a celebrity. Something interesting about the stories found in "To Rome with Love" is that in general the four of them have several lovely nods to the oeuvre of one of Woody Allen's greatest heroes: legendary filmmaker Federico Fellini. This is particularly obvious in the case of Antonio and Milly's story, which works as a charming extrapolation of the plot of Fellini's very first film, 1952's "Lo sceicco bianco" ("The White Sheik").

In "To Rome with Love", director Woody Allen once again showcases his skill to get deeply into the life of a city and uncover its many different faces. It's true that unlike some filmmakers (Wim Wenders for example), Allen never leaves completely the American tourist's perspective when portraying a city in his films, however, Allen is not exactly a very typical American tourist, but one who truly enjoys taking the camera of cinematographer Darius Khondji to capture a city vibrant with life, from the classic touristic spots to the lesser known places. Khonji's work regarding this aspect is without a doubt of high quality. However, the real challenge of "To Rome with Love" is to be able of developing the four different stories that make the film, while keeping the appropriate rhythm for his overall narrative. And while in general Allen does a good job at handling this, his work is not without its problems, as at times the jump from story to story is a bit harsh, a bit forced, breaking the agile rhythm that Allen's comedy usually has.

But where "To Rome with Love" truly shines is in the performances done by its cast, which are in general of a great quality. Jesse Eisenberg and Alec Baldwin deliver the best performances in the film, both in the story of Jack, where a quite interesting dynamic of mentor-disciple is somehow formed between them. In the same story, Ellen Page would seem like a bad choice to play Monica, but Page manages to make the character her own and finally delivers a pretty solid work of acting. In Leopoldo's story, Roberto Benigni delivers a surprisingly restrained performance, a contrast to his usual self; however, he is equally as funny as ever and his work is what saves his segment, which is unfortunately amongst the weakest in the film. In Antonio's segment, a great surprise is the work of Alessandra Mastronardi as the not so naive Milly, and the inclusion of Penélope Cruz in the same story is more than welcome. In his return ti acting, Allen still looks fresh and skilled in his performance, though wisely, he gives more room to the rest of the cast to shine.

Films dealing with multiple story lines tend to have problems with the rhythm of their narrative, and unfortunately, "To Rome with Love" isn't an exception. As mentioned before, there are moments in which this is lost when Allen moves between its different plot lines, resulting in scenes that could be shorter, scenes that could be longer, and some oddly harsh cuts between them (editing in general looks as if it had been rushed). Nevertheless, and while the work of editing isn't that effective, the root of the problem is perhaps in a script where not every story has been so throughly developed. While Jack's story is a superb modern fantasy dealing with nostalgia, Jerry's story suffers from a little excess of melodrama while Leopoldo's seemed a tad forgotten amongst them. This last story presents a quite interesting premise that seems that couldn't be explored at all, as while its by far the funniest of them, there's the feeling that it should had been a bit longer (while Antonio's could had been shorter). Leopoldo's story is saved thanks to the charm and talent of Roberto Benigni.

With all that it would seem that "To Rome with Love" is a bump in Woody Allen's career but far from it, as in fact it is a quite entertaining movie despite its problems. As a light-hearted comedy, "To Rome with Love" fulfills its job without pretensions, and offers a new glimpse to Woody Allen's world, which becomes even more special as the film allows him to visit the Rome of his hero, Fellini's Rome. Its greatest sin is precisely that it is a Woody Allen film, whose long filmography has include several masterpieces that make "To Rome with Love" pale in comparison (and comparison is often inevitable). Finally, what can be said is that in Allen's body of work, "To Rome with Love" is certainly a minor film. Though of course, many filmmakers would like to have a film like "To Rome with Love" as a mere "minor film".

7/10
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This review was originally published in Spanish for Habitación 101 on July the 20th of 2012. Habitación 101 is a great site to check for news and reviews on cinema and theatre in Spanish.

Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

On April the 26th, 1986, one of the greatest nuclear catastrophes in the history of mankind took place, the explosion of the nuclear reactor of Chernobyl, in the then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Considered as the worst nuclear disaster in history, the explosion at Chernobyl launched enormous amounts of radioactive contamination to the atmosphere, provoking the evacuation of the nearby area, particularly the town of Prypiat, where the families of the nuclear plant workers were living. Years went by, the Soviet Union disappeared, but Prypiat remains exactly as it was abandoned; and now, more than 20 years after the tragedy, the nuclear contamination has descended to levels that make possible to visit this ghost town, desolated relic from the Soviet era. This touristic expeditions to the abandoned Prypiat served as inspiration to filmmaker Oren Peli (of "Paranomal Activity" fame) to write a horror screenplay, "Chernobyl Diaries", which has been taken to the big screen with Peli as producer and the débutant Bradley Parker at the helm.

"Chernobyl Diaries" begins with images of a trip through Europe done by Chris (Jesse McCartney), his girlfriend (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and their friend Amanda (Devin Kelly), who has just broken with her boyfriend. Chris' plan is to propose to girlfriend when they reach Moscow, their final destination. Their trip takes them to Kiev, Ukraine, where they meet Paul (Jonathan Sadowski), Chris' brother, who offers them to change their route a bit and do something of "extreme tourism". Paul's plan is to visit Prypiat, the ghost town evacuated near the Chernobyl plant. Chris refuses to go, but finally he gives int, convinced by Natalie and Amanda, who find the idea very attractive. The four friends take a tour organized by an ex-military man named Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko) where they meet Australian Michael (Nathan Phillips) and his girlfriend Zoe (Ingrid Bolso Berdal). Arriving to Prypiat, they are marveled by a place forgotten by time. However, soon they'll realize that they aren't alone in the desolation left by the Chernobyl disaster.

The story developed by filmmaker Oren Peli was adapted to the big screen by screenwriters Carey and Shane Van Dyke, collaborating with Peli himself. While the premise of "Chernobyl Diaries" does reminds a lot to Wes Craven's 1977 film "The Hills Have Eyes" (and its 2006 remake by Alexandre Aja),the movie has a greater focus on suspense instead of graphic violence, and leaves in the mystery the nature of the ones hunting the group of young tourists. In a way, this gives to "Chernobyl Diaries" a tone akin to the one found in a zombie movie, as there is not a properly defined villain in the film (like for example, Craven's savages), but the characters face a horde of mysterious nameless creatures that lurk in the darkness. Certainly, this forces the story to be focused on the main characters and the relationships between them, particularly in the bitter rivalry between siblings Chris and Paul. Unfortunately, Peli and the Van Dykes are unable to properly develop this key aspect of the story, leaving them a tad shallow.

Debutant Bradley Parker manages to create quite an interesting atmosphere of desolation in his "Chernobyl Diaries", really taking advantage to the setting of the story and the remarkable work of cinematography done by Morten Søborg. In "Chernobyl Diaries", Parker and Søborg truly capture the strange and melancholic beauty of Prypiat, generating an ominous sensation of abandonment and dread. Given the presence of Oren Peli as the film's producer, it could be expected that "Chernobyl Diaries" was a found footage film; nevertheless, director Bradley Parker distances himself from Peli in terms of style and opts to have a more traditional narrative in his movie. Despite having previously developed his career as a visual effects supervisor, Parker gives greater importance to the atmosphere and suspense to develop his film, and truly knows how to play with shadows and to use the darkness to his advantage. Søborg's camera flows dynamically through Prypiat following the action, giving the sensation of being with the characters, in a way quite reminiscent to the horror survival video games.

The performances in "Chernobyl Diaries" are of an uneven quality, as while there are some effective works, there are also a couple that are unfortunately regrettable. Sadly, to the latter belongs the one done by Jonathan Sadowski, whom playing Paul, becomes the de facto protagonist during great part of the film. Sadowsky looks stiff and wooden in his performance as Paul, and while the conflict his character has with Chris opens the door for a couple dramatic moments, Sadowski fails to exploit them in any way. Devin Kelly, whom also has a key role, is in the same boat as him, being unable to give her character a defined personality and leaving her as the most stereotypical final girl cliché. Quite a difference is the work of Jesse McCartney, whom truly manage to create a convincing character despite the very few chances the screenplay gives him to do it. The same case for Dimitri Diatchenko, who makes a very effective job as the funny strongman Uri. The rest of the cast is pretty much average, though it's worth to point out that the screenplay doesn't give them much chance to shine.

And that's definitely the main problem in "Chernobyl Diaries", as since it presents a story focused on its characters, the ideal would be that said characters had well defined personalities that made attractive to the audience. However, what Peli and the Van Dyke have created is a group of shallow and void characters, that seemed to lack any identity beyond their professions and nationalities. On top of that, the plot resorts a bit too often to clichés (which wouldn't be that bad if the film had better characters), moving from one common place to the other without truly taking advantage to its premise. Certainly, director Bradley Parker achieves a film that's visually very attractive, though it would had been preferable to have him put on the screenplay the very same effort he put to the film's visual design. Something of interest: instead of having the bullied character, Chris, as the protagonist (the perennial underdog), the writers instead put the bully Paul on the spotlight, resulting in a not very interesting (and often annoying) main character.

While it would seem like it, "Chernobyl Diaries" isn't really a complete disaster, as it does have its fair share of pretty interesting moments, mainly during the first half and thanks to Parker's choice of giving atmosphere and mood an important role in his movie. However, this doesn't stop the film from being a failed experiment in which once again it's proved that a poorly developed screenplay doesn't give much chance to be translated into a good movie. Certainly, the newcomer Bradley Parker shows a lot of promise at rescuing the somber atmosphere that the story inherently has; unfortunately, this isn't enough to save a plot that sadly falls deeper in tedium and boredom as it unfolds. In fact, "Chernobyl Diaries" is not really bad, just painfully mediocre.

5/10
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This review was originally published in Spanish for Habitación 101 on July the 7th of 2012. Habitación 101 is a great site to check for news and reviews on cinema and theatre in Spanish.

Colosio: El Asesinato (2012)

March the 23rd, 1994, the presidential candidate from the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI, Institutional Revolutionary Party), Luis Donaldo Colosio, leads a campaign rally in the neighborhood of Lomas Taurinas, in the city of Tijuana. Colosio finishes his speech and steps down the stage, walking through the multitude of followers who cheer him towards the vehicle that would take him to another event. As he walks, a man gets close with a gun and shoots him in the head. Moments later, Colosio would receive a two more shots in the middle of the chaos, and later he would die in the hospital from the wounds. Colosio's assassination would leave a profound mark in Mexicos' political history, as it left multiple doubts about the identity of those who were behind the candidate's death. While the official version determined that the killing was the work of a lone shooter, the theory of a conspiracy within the Party has always been in the mind of the public. And this theory becomes the basis for a movie directed by filmmaker Carlos Bolado, who tackles the killing at Lomas Taurinas in "Colosio: El Asesinato".

Set in 1994, "Colosio: El Asesinato" (literally "Colosio: The Assassination") begins with the news of the death of the presidential candidate (Enoc Leaño) at Lomas Taurinas, seen on TV by agent Andrés Vázquez (José María Yazpik) and his family. As the official investigation begins, the President (Nando Estevané), through his adviser "the Doctor" (Daniel Giménez Cacho), orders a secret inquiry, running parallel to the official one but specifically aimed to find the intellectual authors of the crime. Andrés is called to lead the operation under the orders of the Licenciate (Odiseo Bichir), to whom he reports the result of the investigation. Andrés gathers his most trusted agents and begin to do research on those close to Colosio's presidential campaign, while in Tijuana, the local chief of police, Benítez (Dagoberto Gama) coordinates his operation with Andres' team. However, things are complicated when a mysterious assassin is killing all the suspects that Andres and Benítez are identifying. Someone doesn't want the truth regarding Colosio's assassination to be known.

Written by Hugo Rodríguez, Miguel Necoechea and director Carlos Bolado himself, "Colosio: El Asesinato" is a political thriller that details on one side the police work of investigation done by Andrés and Benítez around the crime, and on the other unfolds the complex net of secret alliances that run behind the scenes in Mexican politics. While the movie declares initially that the story is a work of fiction, the screenplay of "Colosio: El Asesinato" includes characters clearly based on the real protagonists of Mexican politics of the time and, with certain historical liberties, builds up its plot following the popular conspiracy theory in a way similar to Oliver Stone's "JFK". Beyond the politics, it's interesting the agile way in which Rodríguez, Necoechea and Bolado construct their plot with the goal of keeping the action flowing smoothly without leaving aside their harsh criticism against the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. Nevertheless, there are certain elements that aren't that well done, like the romantic side story, which feels out of place in the film.

The work of directing done by Carlos Bolado is effective and dynamic, moving through the different narratives without problems and showing a skilled use of devices such as montage sequences and flashbacks.In general, the visual narrative that Bolado employs is appropriate and his greatest achievement is the creation of an ominous atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that grows through the film as Andrés' investigation makes progress. Carefully, Bolado builds up the sensation of paranoia that begins to surround Andrés and his team as their work takes them to the inner circles of politics. The work of cinematography done by Andrés León Becker is traditional but effective, using a specific atmosphere for each location in the investigation, though everyone, from the arid desert of Tijuana to the cold walls of the Government's offices, have in common the feeling of desolation. It's worth to point out the work of Sandra Cabriada as production designer, managing to recreate the period of the film with accuracy and verisimilitude.

Leading the cast, actor José María Yazpik makes a good job as agent Andrés, evoking with ease the self-confidence and professionalism of his role. While Yazpik has a somewhat limited range, in the role of Andrés he finds a character that allows him to truly exploit his talent and screen presence. And while the movie has in Yazpik a defined protagonist, the film's plot allows the rest of the secondary characters to have their moment to shine. Fortunately, the cast makes the best of this and deliver excellent performances in the supporting roles. This is particularly note worthy in the case of Dagoberto Gama, whom makes a terrific job as the lonely Benítez, and Daniel Giménez Cacho, truly excellent as the Doctor (thinly veiled portrait of José María Córdoba Montoya), the Machiavellian presidential adviser. Giménez Cacho's acting shines in its restrained intensity, which leaves mark of his sinister presence even when he is not on screen. Without a doubt, the best acting in the film.

There are also pretty good performances by Tenoch Huerta, Luis Ernesto Franco and Karina Gidi, who play the agents working in Andrés' team (Gidi in particular is remarkable). However, there are unfortunately two performances of bad quality that diminish the strength of the film. The first is Odiseo Bichir's work, who results too stagy in his performance as the Licenciate, looking artificial and out of place given the tone of the film. Kate del Castillo is the other one, lacking screen presence in her role as Yazpik's wife and leaving her character like a side note. Nevertheless, in her case it certainly matters that her character is too underdeveloped, limiting her to represent the role of a wife forgotten by an Andrés too absorbed by his work. And this is a problem in the film, as at times it gets lost in its many subplots and leaves more than once without too much development. Also, the film falls in the big problem of conspiracy theory stories (specially those based on real life events): its argument tends to force a bit too much the common sense and the suspension of disbelief.

Nevertheless, it's commendable that director Carlos Bolado manages to create an atmosphere of paranoia so strong that those flaws do not stop the enjoyment of the movie. "Colosio: El Asesinato" may not become a classic of the genre, however, it results a very well done film that dares to touch a subject that mainstream Mexican cinema had not tackled before (in independent cinema there is the low budget "Magnicidio. Complot en Lomas Taurinas" done in 2002). Despite its problems, Carlos Bolado's "Colosio: El Asesinato" is an intelligent thriller that beyond its political agenda, shows how the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio is a huge shadow that still hangs over Mexican politics.

7/10
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Get the Gringo (2012)

Having become one of the biggest movies stars during the decades of the 80s and 90s, Australian actor Mel Gibson was heading to leave his mark as a filmmaker with the making of this epic adventure drama "Apocalypto" in the year 2006, hoping to find again the level of success and acclaim that Gibson had received a decade before with "Braveheart". However. that very same year Gibson fell in a great ditch of negative publicity in which his personal problems, controversial points of view and all in all erratic behavior ended under the spotlight. After this series of scandals, it seemed that Gibson's career was over; nevertheless, little by little the Australian filmmaker has been rebuilding both his life and career with a series of performances in modest films (including Jodie Foster's debut as a director,"The Beaver"). "Get the Gringo", directed by Adrian Grunberg, is not only the return of Gibson as a scriptwriter and producer, but also a return of the kind of character that helped him to conquer Hollywood: the lovable tough bastard.

"Get the Gringo" begins with a high speed car chase near the border between the United States and Mexico, where the American police is after two criminals in a car. With great effort, the two criminals crash the wall and manage to cross the border, seemingly escaping from the American jurisdiction but, to their bad luck, they are received by the Mexican police. The Americans want the criminals but, upon seeing the amount of money the criminals have, the Mexican police decides to arrest them themselves instead of turning them to the Americans. Since only one the driver (Mel Gibson) survived the chase, the police officers decide to keep the money for themselves and sent the American to "El Pueblito", a local jail where a crime lord is the real boss. Inside "El Publito", the American criminal is welcomed with a hard beating, but soon the hardened thief begins to adapt to his new environment, determined to get out and recover his money. In jail, he becomes friends of a kid (Kevin Hernández), son one of the inmates (Dolores Heredia), whom will help him to plan his revenge.

As mentioned before, the screenplay is written by Gibson himself, collaborating with Stacy Perskie and director Adrian Grunberg (whom by the way, worked previously with Gibson as assistant director in "Apocalypto"). whom orchestrate an action film where what initially is a quest for revenge soon becomes a somewhat bizarre trip of self-discovery for the nameless American bandit. What I mean is, "Get the Gringo" is in a way a return to the kind of action films in which the Australian actor played tough and flawed men, but owners of a certain inner nobleness that set them apart from other tough guys. The theme of the American lost in a Mexican prison gives the story a "fish out of water" theme in which the gringo must face the status quo established by gangster Javi (Daniel Giménez Cacho). It's interesting that, while the story doesn't really show a nice face of Mexico, it avoids any paternalistic sense of superiority and instead, doesn't hold to mention that the United States of America lives exactly the same degree of corruption, but in disguise.

Now, this doesn't mean that "Get the Gringo" is a deep serious study about the rampant corruption and crime in both countries, on the contrary, Adrian Grunberg's film never attempts to be anything more than an action thriller full of energy, bullets and a quite healthy dose of black humor. What Grunberg employs in "Get the Gringo" is a sly impudence and a cynicism that help him to give the film a well defined identity of its own (to the point that the film's original title was actually "How I spent my summer vacation"), allowing to construct his film around an antihero that, as noble and charming as he may seem, he's still as tough as the other inmates in "El Pueblito". Cinematographer Benoît Debie's camera (responsible of, among others, Gaspar Noé's trippy "Enter the Void") movies smoothly through the walls of "El Pueblito", jail that honors its name by being an actual little community living under the protection of corruption. Benoît Debie makes a straightforward yet effective job. Nothing too fancy perhaps, but still notable nonetheless.

But it's not in the visual where "Get the Gringo" has high marks, it's in the performances by its cast, which by the way is made of mainly by high quality Mexican actors. Heading the cast is of course Mel Gibson, whom as the Gringo of the film's title shows himself again in the kind of character he mastered in his younger years, as the role of bandit allows him to exploit his natural charm and great screen presence. In spite of his questionable real life antics, it's still nice to see this side of Gibson in the big screen again. Gibson seems at ease in the role and carries the film with strength. Nevertheless, the revelation of the film is without a doubt the young Kevin Hernandez, whom as the Kid he makes a great job serving as the counterpart of Gibson's character. Mexican actress Dolores Heredia shows her great talent playing the Kid's mother, and while her role perhaps is a bit lacking in character development, it's interesting to see a capable middle-age woman as the film's romantic interest instead of younger actress.

The supporting cast also delivers very good performances, particularly Daniel Giménez Cacho and Jesús Ochoa, who play the siblings that control the criminal life in "El Pueblito". Also good is Mario Zaragoza's acting as the Mexican border patrol officer that arrests the Gringo and Peter Sormare as a somewhat slow American gangster. Nevertheless, their performances end up a but minimized within the great population of characters that inhabit the story. And this may be one of the main problems in "Get the Gringo": several subplots are resolved a bit hurriedly and the chronology of the events that take place during the last third of the film is a bit confusing, even incongruent at times. that is, events than in theory are supposed to take place at the same time, feel like the aren't due to the problematic rhythm in which both events have been edited (while one involves a long and slow sequences in the United States, the other moves with a frantic speed in Mexico). A severe error on Grunberg's side that harms an otherwise quite entertaining film.

In fact, it could be said that despite its problems, "Get the Gringo" manages to recover quite faithfully that mix of action and black comedy that became the trademark of those films that Mel Gibson starred in the 90s ("Payback" perhaps being the most obvious reference). Agile, fun and without pretensions, "Get the Gringo" is an irreverent action thriller that, while taking a quite typical theme (friendship between a bandit and a kid), gives it a fresh spin by having as background the difference between the United States and Mexico, and while this film isn't particularly serious about this subject, the irreverence that Grunberg employs in his modest film allows him to say clearly an interesting message: deep down both countries are very similar.

7/10
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This review was originally published in Spanish for Habitación 101 in June the 21th of 2012. Habitación 101 is a great site to check for news and reviews on cinema and theatre in Spanish.

Act of Valor (2012)

Amongst the U.S. Navy's special operations units, the Sea, Air and Land Teams (SEALs for short) are considered the principal force, due to their rigorous training and high degree of professionalism that have earned the reputation of being amongst the most capable military units in the world. However, despite this reputation as an elite squad, the recent wars in Irak and Afghanistan borough the need of increasing the numbers of SEALs, so with this goal in 2008 a recruiting film was commissioned. The production company that won the project was Bandito Bros., founded by former stuntman Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh. The project kept growing and, after having won the support of the SEALs that were collaborating in their video, McCoy and Waugh offered a twist to the project: instead of a recruiting film, it would be a feature length film that served as tribute to the SEALs. The project was a approved and the result was "Act of Valo", film that while it certainly does a great job as a recruiting tool, has numerous severe flaws as a drama film.

"Act of Valor" begins with a terrorist attack to an elementary school in the Philippines, where the American ambassador (Marc Marguiles) is killed as he was there to pick up his little son. The attack has been organized by Chechen terrorist Abu Shabal (Jason Cottle). While this take place, two CIA agents, Walter (Nestor Serrano) and Morales (Roselyn Sánchez) are working in Costa Rica tracking drug smuggler Mikhail "Christo" Troykovich (Alex Veadov). The agents are discovered and Walter ends up murdered while Morales is kept a prisoner by Christo. With this situation, the Bandito Platoon, SEAL Team Seven is called. In their last day at home, Liutenant Rorke confides Chief Dave that his wife is expecting a baby, so Dave decides to get Rorke a vacation as soon as the new mission is over. The SEALs get into action and manage to rescue Morales in Costa Rica, however, they also discover that Christo not only is linked to the operations of Abu Shabal, they find that Shabal is planning a major attack on American soil.

Taking as basis diverse real life stories about the SEALs, "Act of Valor" was written by Kurt Johnstad (scriptwriter of Zack Snyder's "300"), who was hired to tie all those stories in a cohesive plot where the SEALs' courage and valor were honored and praised. The result is a tale that will definitely sound a bit too familiar for those versed in the action film genre: a dangerous terrorist threatens the nation and a special team is sent to stop him, two team members are best friends and of course one is about to become a father and eagerly hopes to finish the mission to be with his family. The resulting conclusion is unfortunately too easy to guess, and that's because to build up the plot of "Act of Valor" scriptwriter Kurt Johnstad seems to have picked every single cliché of the genre he could find. In fact, even the film's villains form a collection of every single group of America's enemies (it has Muslim terrorist of Russian origin with close ties to Mexican drug lords), making up a true "axis of evil" that the SEALs must face heroically.

In a certain way, "Act of Valor" shows a lot the background found in the careers of directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh, both former stuntman turned commercial directors. The action scenes are frequent, and are superbly done, with a high quality technique and a quite dynamic style, very energetic. And even when "Act of Valor" is a film of a relatively low budget, McCoy and Waugh manage to take full advantage to the invaluable support of the U.S. Navy, so there's a great showing of the SEAL's tactics and equipment. And that's where the main selling point of "Act of Valor" is: the film is not just a film about SEALs, actual real SEALs play the main roles in the film. So, what is seen in the screen are real SEALs fighting as real SEALs would do, with the same kind of strategies and movements they would do in real life. This realism is the strongest element of the film, and through the lens of cinematographer Shane Hurbult, filmmakers McCoy and Waugh achieve remarkably done action scenes full of a vibrant dynamism that truly transmit the adrenaline of combat.

However, while the SEALs that work in "Act of Valor" are truly at top form when acting like soldiers in the carefully designed action scenes the film has, when the plot requires them to actually act and develop their characters is where their limitations are seen, because their talents is not precisely the most adequate for this mission. And while it's obvious the great deal of effort done by the soldiers to recite their lines, their nervousness and lack of experience can't be hidden, resulting in a series of pretty poor performances that severely harm the resulting film. Nevertheless, this isn't entirely the SEALs' fault, as in all honesty, Johnstad's character are so poorly developed that to make them interesting would be a real challenge even for an experienced actor. A testament of this is the fact that the rest of the characters (played by professionals) are equally as underdeveloped as the soldiers are. Not even a single one of them offers a good chance to their actors to shine, perhaps only Roselyn Sánchez and Alex Veadov, are the only ones able to create something out of the cliché.

And that's why unfortunately the cliché is the dominant element in "Act of Valor", where it seems that the last thing that was developed was the story. This is tragic for the film, as it leaves it as a group of action scenes connected by a series of poorly acted scenes where nothing relevant or exciting takes place. And the reason of this is simple: the characters are mere caricatures. While "Act of Valor" makes clear that the SEALs have a life full of risk where they face the enemy face to face and offer their lives for their countries, Johnstad offers only eight soldiers that lack a defined personality of their own, avoiding a greater identification with them. True, one of them has five kids, and the other will be a father for the first time, but other than those details, there is nothing else to define them beyond their patriotism and their dedication to their job. In a way, what Johnstad has done is a disrespect to any soldier of any country, as his screenplay dehumanizes them and makes them nothing more than an action figure.

At this point, it's unnecessary to mention that besides it's poorly constructed screenplay, "Act of Valor" is imbued by an excessive American patriotism that shows little interest in presenting the reality of the countries in which the action takes place (it happens everywhere except in the U.S.). However, and while the ethics of their propaganda is questionable (and not a bit subtle), at least in this aspect it can be said that "Act of Valor" accomplishes its mission as a recruiting tool. The truly unforgivable sin of the film is that by pretending to honor the American soldiers, it presents them as empty machines void of personality and useful only to do their job. Nothing is know about they like, what they feel or what they think. the only think known about them is that they are good at killing. Not a particularly honorable portrait.

4/10
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This review was originally published in Spanish for Habitación 101 in May the 25th of 2012. Habitación 101 is a great site to check for news and reviews on cinema and theatre in Spanish.