Mr. Meebles from San Sebastian kicks it off with a two-fer review, covering Rian Johnson's fairy tale conman flick as well as Javier Fesser's CAMINO, which he praises to the high heavens! Enjoy!
Hey Harry!!!
Love your site etc...
I just came back from the San Sebastian International Film Festival, in the lovely city of San Sebastian, Spain.
I managed to get tickets for "The brothers Bloom", which happened to be the film that closed the festival, and I loved it.
Although far in tone from the moody and dark "Brick", Johnson's new film delivers in the wit and visual power which were more than hinted in his previous and first film. The film has hilarious moments and great performances, my favourite being Rachel Weisz's character, which unless you are a heartless bastard, you totally fall in love with after 2 minutes of her first appearance.
Highlights: the introductory scene telling the story of the brothers. Funny, quick, visually attractive and very enjoyable.
Not so goods: the end. One might expect a finale which is much bigger in scope, given the build up during the film, and given that it is, after all, a con film.
Anyway, great film. Rian Johnson is certainly a guy we have to keep an eye on.
But the big, BIG surprise from this year's festival was a spanish film, quite a modest one (5 million euros budget) called "Camino", from director Javier Fesser.
This is Fesser's third film, him being the mind behind "El milagro de P.Tinto" (1998), a cartoonish-styled film which has become some sort of cult film around europe, and which was quite a big success in europe and japan. He also directed "La Gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón", which was also a comedy based on popular spanish comic-book characters, and which was (maybe still is) the spanish-produced biggest grossing film in spanish film history. He was also nominated 2 years ago for an Oscar for his short film "Binta and the great idea".
Having introduced the guy, I must say that Fesser is known here mainly for his comedies, always visually powerful and funny in the "road runner and coyote" sense of fun. There had been a lot of talk about his new film, as he had taken a u-turn and was shooting a drama inspired on the story of a girl brought up in a very catholic family (Opus Dei family, to be precise).
I attended the premiere in San Sebastian, and was literally blown away by the film. The story spins around 11 year old Camino, a girl who lives with her mom and dad. The mother, one of the most interesting characters, is a very religous woman who loves her child dearly, but wants her to have as strong believes as herself. The father is somewhat of a counterpart, being more skeptic and always questioning the teaching methods of his wife, without ever really opposing her.
But the heart and soul of the film is Camino herself, played by newcomer Nerea Camacho (also 11 year old). She is a beautiful girl who perspires happines through each and every one of her skin-pores. But one day they find that she has a serious back-bone cancer, and her life changes completely. At the same time, Camino falls in love with a boy she randomly meets, so the film tells us the story of a girl that faces two things that are completely new to her: love and death. Sounds harsh? It is. The film is a tough one, really. I don't think there was one single dry eye in the theater after the credits, and I mean it.
This may sound as a cheesy saturday-afternoon film, but very far from it. Fesser manages to tell a story with so many layers of interpretation, so much sub-text, and such controversial characters, that once you see the film, it sticks to your mind for days and days. Not only the ideas and dialogues in the film help doing this, but also the forementioned visual power that Fesser had already proofed a master of. In "Camino", a hand-held camera guides us through the life of this exceptional girl who suffers and loves equally, only changing to smooth dollies and steady-cams when she dreams. And what dreams too. The inner world of Camino is portrayed through her dreams and nightmares, all full of symbolism and astonishing fx which play nicely in between the suffering and crying scenes and the explicit hospital operations.
The best thing though, is Nerea Camacho, the young actress, who will get all the audience to totally fall in love with her, suffer with her, die with her... (no spoiler here, the film opens with her death-bed scene, then going back 5 months in time). Her acting is so good I am 100% sure she is going to get every possible award. Remember Haley Joel Osment in 6th Sense? He is an amateur beside this girl. She is THAT good.
The film is also creating a lot of controversy, because, objective as it is, it shows aspects of the Opus Dei which they don't like being showed, so there is some sort of un-official, underground campaign trying to demonise and bash the film. Nevertheless, it is certainly the spanish film of the year, and I am pretty sure it will win pretty much everything at this year's Goya awards (sort of the spanish oscars).
I assume it will be relased in the US (not on a big scale, that's for sure) and I really hope you have the chance to watch it, I'm sure you will enjoy it. If anything, this is a film that doesn't leave anybody cold: you either hate it or love it, but you will think and discuss about it for days and days. Isn't this a good achievement for a director? I think so.
I send you the official poster, which includes the shocking tag line: "Do you want me to pray for you to also die?"
You can have a look at the trailer (with english subtitles) in the film's website by clicking here!!
Should you use it, call me Mr. Meebles
Hi all,
This past Saturday night I was able to see The Brothers Bloom at the San Diego Film Festival. I will try to only reveal some very minor spoilers, as the joy of this movie is not knowing how it will unfold. A quick recap for anyone who doesn't know, the film stars Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo as Bloom and Stephen, two conman brothers who have spent their entire lives performing cons to get by. Stephen is the mastermind of the two, organizing and planning all of their jobs, while Bloom continually attempts to quit. The third member of their group is Bang Bang, the gun and explosives expert, played by Rinko Kikuchi. Despite Bloom's insistence each time that it will be his last, Stephen manages to always bring him back in for one more job. The con that takes center stage in the film involves a wealthy loner named Penelope, played wonderfully by Rachel Weisz. As the film goes on, the con that the brothers had started evolves in interesting ways that may or may not be what they originally intended. One of the strengths of the film I felt was that there did not seem to be an attempt to convolute the plot with numerous twists and turns like some con movies. It is actually fairly straightforward, but there is still the chance for it to go in an unexpected direction. The way it concludes is satisfying and appropriate to the rest of the movie. The performances from all four of the main players were excellent. For me though, the standout was Rachel Weisz, who was able to play sad, fun, cute and intriguing and make me believe every minute of it. The movie has a very fun and slightly whimsical tone, with an almost storybook like quality as each new step of the con is introduced via handwritten notes and sketches. Rian Johnson has crafted an incredible second feature that is almost a complete tonal opposite to Brick, but is just as confidently made as his debut, if not more so. My wife loved it as well, with some of our favorite moments being the introduction of the brothers as children, the judging of Bloom's first meeting with Penelope, smuggling snacks, Bang Bang's reaction to a larger than expected explosion, and many others. I cannot praise the film highly enough and wholeheartedly recommend it for everyone to check out when it releases this winter.
Thanks for reading,
Kid Chicago
