"Nymphomaniac: Underneath an epic mess there is a great film desperate to get out"

ORIGINAL TITLE: Nymphomaniac
DIRECTOR: Lars von Trier
SCREEN WRITER: Lars von Trier
CAST: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf, Connie Nielsen, Christian Slater, Nicolas Bro, Jesper Christensen, Uma Thurman, Caroline Goodall, Kate Ashfield, Saskia Reeves, Jens Albinus, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mia Goth, Omar Shargawi, Severin von Hoensbroech
RUNNING TIME: 117 min.
RATING: 6.0/10

ANNA PARCERISAS

“Perhaps the only difference between me and other people is that I've always demanded more from the sunset. More spectacular colors when the sun hit the horizon. That's perhaps my only sin”.
Two afternoons ago I went to see Nymphomaniac at one of my favorite cinemas in London, Curzon Soho, between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. I have to say that I was quite eager to see Trier’s last movie. I suppose it’s because of the comments and reviews I’ve read before deciding to watch the movie. I expected some sort of shocking and outstanding movie, but as far as I’m concerned it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. On top of that, if what you are expecting is a two-hour marathon porn movie, you’ll be disappointed as well.
In my opinion, Nymphomaniac volume 1 starts off very well. I have to admit that I was quite impressed by the first scene where we can see some detailed images of rain lashing down and a woman lying hurt in the middle of a narrow and dark street while “Führe mich” by Rammstein is playing. I think the contrast between silent scenes in the pouring rain and the sight of the the body of a woman lying in the street together with the creepy and strong theme of Rammstein’s song is pretty interesting. I would say that the music breaks and swallows up the silence that is supposed to take place in the scene. That can make the viewer think that the life of the woman lying in the street is broken by something.

The film follows Joe (Charlotte Gaisbourg) telling a tale all about her sordid sex life, to a virginal man (Stellan Skarsgard) who found her in a dark alley and took her to his his small flat. Each chapter covers one part of her tale, and tenuously links it with another theme: Fibonacci Numbers, fly-fishing, the human condition, among others.
With that said, I found the beginning of the film quite gripping but unfortunately this didn’t last long. As the movie progressed it turned out to be very off-putting. Especially when you reach Chapter 3, I was getting dead bored. This is the chapter that Uma Thurman appears in, and it doesn't work.. The humour, and there is a lot of humour in this Chapter, and throughout the film, seemed forced, to the point that people seemed to be laughing at the film, rather than with it.

As far as I’m concerned, the movie is well-known for its “high sexual and explicit material” (actually, it was forbidden in Turkey because of this) but honestly I think it is relatively restrained and is unlikely to shock you. Of course there are explicit sexual scenes, but they aren’t out of line. As Gainsbourg and Martin explained in a few interviews the sex scenes were unsimulated. To reach this, von Trier shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles, who really did have sex. So above the waist it was the star and the below the waist were the doubles.
To sum up, I would describe Nymphomaniac as a tour that takes in a singular human experience, including the body and the mind, sex and love, art and life, and all of the complicated and interesting connections between them. For me, a film that goes nowhere, it’s like a good title for a book but you cannot read the pages. It doesn’t stand out in the
crowd, it’s one more movie that could have been a great one but sadly it’s hidden.
Trailer

Crítica de cine: "12 años de esclavitud"

TÍTULO ORIGINAL: 12 Years a Slave
DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen
GUIONISTAS: John Ridley, Solomon Northup
REPARTO: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael K. Williams, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt.

SABERA AHSAN

Películas como “12 años un esclavo” me recuerdan del odio y la crueldad que una persona es capaz de infligir a otro ser humano. Como película es magnífica a nivel de cinematografía y con una actuación impecable que representa la verdadera lucha en la vida de un hombre que pasa de la libertad a la esclavitud  y a la libertad de nuevo.
La película representa el juramento que se hace Solomon a sí mismo de vivir y no sólo sobrevivir a pesar de la brutalidad del mundo en que vive; a pesar del juramento, se ve obligado a elegir la supervivencia porque escoger la vida ya no es una posibilidad. Sigue siendo nuestro héroe, luchando cuando puede por los más débiles y desesperados que él. Es también el intelectual a quien se le ha negado lápiz y papel y su derecho a expresar su opinión y conocimiento, a pesar de su superioridad intelectual. Los que tienen el poder todavía le humillan y lo envilecen una y otra vez hasta que no queda nada más que una sombra de un hombre, negándosele incluso su derecho a un pasado.

Aunque esta película es sobre la esperanza de recuperar la libertad y una vida que era, falta la esperanza, a diferencia de los de la serie "Raíces ", basada en la verdadera historia de la familia de Alex Haley. El mensaje de “Raíces” estaba claro: pelea con todos los huesos de su cuerpo, todas las facultades de su mente y, si no puede hacer una diferencia en su vida, se sacrifica por la próxima generación.
Solomon se ve obligado a cumplir y sobrevivir y, sin embargo, cuando la oportunidad, cuidadosamente evaluada, por fin llega, Solomon toma el riesgo pero fracasa. Pero cuando el destino le ofrece otra oportunidad de justicia en forma angelical, ejecutada por Brad Pitt, sigue adelante, aunque todavía trepidando de miedo, y  la esperanza  vuelve a su vida.
Esta no es una película como  “Gladiador” en donde las habilidades militares pueden superar incluso al más grande de los opresores, como es la esclavitud, donde el valor de un hombre solo se pesa en términos de lo que puede producir. El valor intelectual de Solomon tan solo lo expondrá a más dolor y humillación. Sin embargo, esto es lo que ha venido contando en la verdadera vida de un hombre y todo lo que tuvo que soportar y sufrir, por lo que ¿quién soy yo para desafiar el mensaje de la historia? La última esperanza pienso que no se representa en la película, sino más bien en la vida que llevó después de su emancipación, la lucha por los demás y contra la esclavitud. Y quizás el hecho más conmovedor es que él escribió sobre sus experiencias de estos 12 años, lo que nos ha permitido recordar la brutalidad y la inmoralidad de la esclavitud, no sólo hace tantos siglos, sino también la esclavitud en nuestra propia vida.
Finalmente las leyes, la sociedad, la supervivencia, la codicia y la historia han permitido que las sociedades tengan este comportamiento hacia otros seres humanos para humillar, degradar y negar a alguien su humanidad. ¿Puedo, con la mano en el corazón, jurar que durante mi vida me he comportado impecablemente hacia todos los seres humanos que he conocido? ¿No, no puedo? ¿He dado la espalda, de vez en cuando, en la humillación y el sufrimiento a los demás? Sí, tal vez lo he hecho.

Cinema review: "Martha Marcy May Marlene"

ORIGINAL TITLE: Martha Marcy May Marlene
DIRECTOR: Sean Durkin
PRODUCER: Fox Searchlight Pictures / BorderLine Films / FilmHaven Entertainment
SCREEN WRITER: Sean Durkin
CAST: Elizabeth Olsen, Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, Julia Garner, Louisa Krause, Christopher Abbott
RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes
VALORATION: 8.5/10

ANNA PARCERISAS 

I’m going to start my first post of my new blog introducing one of my favorite movies. 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' is what I call an extraordinary powerful psychological drama but, at the same time, it contains some aspects of the thrillers. This indie movie shows us the topic of the cults from an impartial point of view; in any scene of the movie the director postulates for and against the cults, what’s more, when any character uses the word cult, they refer to it by calling it “The Family”, which reminds us of Charles Manson’s cult. It arouse in California in the late 60's and soon Manson's notoriety spread rapidly throughout America and the rest of the world because of his numerous murders including pregnant Hollywood actress and Roman Polanski’s wife, Sharon Tate, who was brutally killed (16 times stabbed following a Satanic ritual) along with four others .    

The movie begins showing us a group of people, who they mention as “The Family”, living in some kind of a hippie hut. As soon as the film progresses, we can see that they all throw on some behaviors out of the normal - they only eat once a day and at a specific time, all the members of the group live under strict rules established by a leader who they accept, respect and consider these rules as something normal in their lives.

Among these members of “The Family” there is Martha (Elisabeth Olsen), a girl who escapes from the cult running into the woods in order to reach the city center. After that, she calls up her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson), who she hadn’t talked to or even communicated with for the past two years.

Lucy lives in a house in front of a lake with her husband Ted (Hug Dancy). In there, they will try, especially Lucy, to get back all the time they hadn’t spent together.

Nevertheless, no sooner is Martha settled in her new home than she starts having a weird behavior - she mixes up reality with fiction; and her dreams, paranoia and a stream of stressing, mysterious, and out of line events is what keeps the spectator glued to the screen every single minute of the film.  In these scenes Martha is constantly haunted by flashbacks, which take the spectator back to her life and experiences in the commune. In these flashbacks we can see the cruel, tormenting and haunting process that the new members of “The Family”have to undergo, including rapes, hard work on the farm, orgies, a drastic change in their nutritional habits, etc. All controlled and managed by their charismatic leader - Patrick (John Hawkes).

In one of those days in the commune, Patrick sings a song to Martha which is called “She’s just a picture”. The song isn't a compliment to Martha at all, it's just another way to manipulate her. She thinks he's singing a sweet song about her when actually it's just about how empty he thinks she is. Once more we can link that aspect of Patrick spending time singing and playing the guitar in the commune to Charles Manson.

Anyway, the end of the film is one of those that leave the viewer with haunting images and moments of the movie for hours on end, not for what it shows, but what it doesn’t show, the unanswered questions. The first time I watched the movie I thought it was a kind of a joke or something and I just didn’t believe that the film had ended until I saw the credits rolling. So because of that I started to remember the amount of ongoing images watched and trying to find an acceptable ending for the film. Although the ending is excessively open, you can figure out that the car following Martha is Patrick's and two other members of the commune.

So the message of the film is clear: the cult may let you leave, but your mind will never leave the cult. 

The technical part is good too, it is based on showing reality and flashbacks which show up between dialogues and silences. Although I have to say that the movie is full of silences, they are very relevant throughout movie. They show us the character’s attitudes with simple stares and images that convey shocking scenes and important dialogues among the characters.

All the performances of the characters are in so many ways most impressive too, especially the young actress Elisabeth Olsen, who shows us the submission that a person that has been in a cult has to undergo, while hiding behind four different names (Martha Marcy May Marlene) that shows us her non-definition, insecurity and manipulation. Another interpretation that has to be said is the one from John Hawkes, showing us the power of the leader controlling all the members of the group as though they were toys.  

Martha Marcy May Marlene is one of these wonderful indie movies that are rare and underrated. This film is one of those that give the viewer plenty of food for thought.