Келін (Kelin)

It took me a while but finally I was able to watch the debut film by Ermek Tursunov who used to be a journalist-screenwriter but after watching this amazing film have to agree that is a master filmmaker in the making as this unique film not only has very innovative storytelling but also looks and feels like a very modern Greek tragedy set in the cold/white Kazakh steppe. What’s really innovative is that film has not even one word and honestly you don’t miss dialogue at all thanks to excellent performances by what I believe are non-actors. Exceptional.

I tend to like films with very little dialogue when images and visual storytelling are compelling; this is the most “almost-perfect” film where filmmakers can learn the amazing powerful value of images and how sometimes words are not only useless but also needless when actors can perform with body language and facial expressions absolutely everything. Please remember that the film is set in the steppes, so actors have clothes up to their noses and still, they had excellent body language communication with each other and with us viewers. Amazing.

Film tells about a woman, Kelin that is ‘sold’ by her father to the richest suitor, who happens not to be the man she’s in-love and loves her back. After a dramatic blood pact with the man she loves, Kelin leaves with her husband to her new home where a mother-in-law and a brother-in-law awaits for them. As she settles in her new home she discovers the pleasure and happiness of married life, but eventually the man she loves comes back and a drama like you have seen many times before with lots of words explodes, but here not even one word is said and you probably will feel everything more than ever before.

Extraordinary cinematography and truly magnificent takes of Gulsharat Zhubyeva who plays Kelin make this movie a visual delight, but is the strong silent drama what really makes this film absolutely out of the ordinary and must be seen for many that appreciate great cinema. It’s a beautiful and powerful movie with a ‘common’ story told silently without a single word.

I strongly suggest that if you haven’t watch it yet, don’t wait any longer and immerse yourself into this unbelievable good cinema wordless experience. The film was Kazakhstan submission to 2010 Oscar and film was one of the nine selected in the short list, which now I believe was an honor highly deserved.

Big Enjoy!!!

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Partir (Leaving)

Kristin Scott Thomas got a 2010 Cesar Best Actress nomination for her complex characterization of Suzanne a women that gives up her idle bourgeois lifestyle to fully live a passion that consumes her beyond what everyone believe she was capable of and this nominated role is one of the many excellent performances by Scott Thomas where she absolutely steals the film to make it her own.

A very simple story that fast (first scene) builds tension, fully releases passion and slowly goes into a down turn where Suzanne is forced to choose between her previous lifestyle and her passion. This Catherine Corsini film tells about a physiotherapist Suzanne (Scott Thomas) that wants to go back to work, her husband (Yvan Attal) that fixes her a consulting room, and a hired man Ivan (Sergi Lopez) to build the room; but when Ivan and Suzanne meet mutual attraction is sudden and violent.

Perhaps is a little bit unfair but since not long ago I was able to watch another film with similar story I can’t help but to mention that find story more credible in this film than in I Am Love; credibility comes from storytelling style that here since the very first scene sets tone and manner for the entire film to deliver at the end with tension solution and the very-French-cinema open ended finale. But also here there are three very good actors that do an excellent job creating believable and very complex characters, while the Italian film had many more characters, tension and drama was built only with Tilda Swinton character when maybe another characters could have helped to create a more enjoyable, credible and entertaining situation.

Absolutely a film I strongly recommend to those that have to watch everything with Kristin Scott Thomas (like me), but also to those that love very-French cinema with strong compelling, entertaining, and credible story in an emotionally intense turmoil voyage into human relationships where love, passion, attraction, and most of all, cruelty prevail.

Enjoy!!!

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Nacidas para Sufrir (Born to Suffer)

From the Made in Spain section of 2010 San Sebastian fest and 2010 Berlinale a film with a story that I’m sure is not as easy as obvious narrative tells plus good performances by an all female cast with the most puzzling characters that maybe are like “this” or maybe not. This Miguel Albaladejo film was a nice surprise as I enjoyed much more than what I imagined especially because the awful movie name, but be sure that this dramedy is not about suffering at all.

In an unusual turn I’m going to spoil the story for you, why? Because I’ll tell the obvious storyline and when you watch it will be up to you to figure out if there are other meanings to the story or not. Film tells about elderly Flora that after her sister death is afraid her nieces will send her to a nursery home when she wants to stay at her home doing the chores she has always done. So she figures out that the best way to retain her independence is to marry her younger servant, Purita, and the first gay/lesbian marriage happens in the most traditional, typical and stereotyped little village of Spain.

That’s the story that many talk about the tragicomic exploitation situation where Flora dominates and Purita is the slave, but then you’ll find enough clues about Purita’s and Flora’s past to start to guess that maybe these two women were just hiding -with a very elaborated plan- the obvious attraction between both women. No matter what you believe you have seen in the story, I’m sure that you will enjoy the movie with all the plot twists and good performances by the two lead actresses playing Flora and Purita.

As a film is like a borderline of auteur and commercial cinema and I believe what makes it not only mainstream is the dark, very-dark, storytelling narrative technique that know many will enjoy beyond the obvious storyline.

I’m not sure if I should call this film with lesbian interest as definitively is not the usual film in the genre, plus it will be up to the viewer to elucidate the interpretation that pleases you most; nevertheless this is a film about women and how they interact with each other in adverse surrounding situations and as such definitively I do recommend the film.

I was positively surprised by the dark story, the good performances and the story versatility with as many interpretations as you wish to find.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC