Amores Perros

To write about this film in a few little paragraphs is ambitious. AmoresPerros is for Mexico what Citizen Kane and The Godfather are to America. Mexican cinema is taking off and this is the staple film. Honestly, I wish our critical films were this explosive, but that's not to imply that AmoresPerros is easy to watch.

AmoresPerros, which translates to "Love's a bitch," tells three unique stories that intersect with a violent car crash. Part one, Octavio y Susana, chronicles Octavio's entrance into the violent underworld of dog fighting (they say no dogs were harmed, I'm not sure I believe them) in order to gather enough money to run away with his brother's wife. Daniel y Valeria is the story of a man who leaves his wife and daughters to start a new life with supermodel Valeria who is put in a wheelchair after the horrible collision with Octavio. Part three, El Chivo y Maru follows intellectual turned revolutionary turned private hit man as he tries to finish a job and also subtly regain contact with his daughter.

The stories have dramatically different plots, characters, and social settings, but each story shares in hardships that even class cannot stratify. Just as the characters literally collide, so do their motivations and hurts correspond. None of the characters are above dog-like cruelty or animalistic instincts. It's hard to decide if there's much redemption in the film, but there is certainly some degree of resolution. The film doesn't offer cliche happy endings for the characters, but neither do the stories offer clear pictures of what would constitute a "happy ending" for them. There will always be troubles for these characters, but there will also always be choice of action.

The film captures a unique Mexico City. Shot in real locations with real people there is a definite realism to the picture, but realism is also substantially obscured to allow the film to speak to a broader state of humanity than can be quarantined into a few city blocks of Mexico City. The music is amazingly effective and the color processing of the film--a risky move because that particular development actually ruins the film--gives the film an edge. It's real, but not the real we're used to seeing. It's not altogether new, but the film is so visually and thematically striking that it cannot help it's dramatic impact.

The Reader

I'm not quite sure why this year (2008 really) was so full of cerebral, aesthetically pleasing films that don't actually come to much. Like Revolutionary Road, The Reader is based on a novel, but I cannot really imagine how long the novel could be when so much of the movie is filled with long silent glances and nudity.

Hannah Schmitz (Kate Winslet) helps out much younger Michael (Fiennes/Kross) as he returns home from school sick one day, and the two begin a secret affair despite a large age difference. Hannah likes for Michael to read to her, but eventually she just leaves. Michael does not encounter her again until he is attending the trials for war crimes after WWII as part of his law school education. Hannah is on trial.


The film certainly made me think about the excuses people make for themselves--what I may be responsible for just because I remain ignorant to a lot that is going on in the world. The middle part of this film, however, voices a lot of questions that could have been posed better situationally. I suppose a trial is a good way to ask tough questions, but it's also a setting that demands answers that the film could not readily supply.

I did really enjoy The Reader for the most part. Well, not so much enjoy... but I thought it was beautifully made and acted and dealt with interesting issues. I liked watching the story of the two main characters unfold, but I have a problem with the way illiteracy is held as more shameful than directly causing the deaths of hundreds of people.

Revolutionary Road

If it weren't for the incredible aesthetic beauty of this film it would be almost impossible to watch. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet play a young couple, the Wheelers, in a 1950's suburb who are special. Everyone including themselves can see that they're special but they end up stuck in the same routine of mediocrity as everyone around them and it tears them apart.

The film is beautifully acted, which is good because the audience doesn't get any real glance of the history of these characters outside of their downfall. DiCaprio and Winslet, however, carry on as if they've lived a lifetime together. April Wheeler concocts a grand bohemian plan to pick up their lives and move to Paris so that they can finally begin the life they've always planned. Frank Wheeler eventually agrees and the couple happily make their travel arrangements until practicality and circumstances slow them down.

The first 30 minutes of Revolutionary Road are carried by the incredible rhythm of the camerawork. The contrast between the moving and still cameras stands out beautifully. Director Sam Mendes uses the camera to clearly convey his message--not in a subtle film geek kind of way, but in a way that is easily accessible without being dumbed down.

The Wheeler's problem, if you ask me, isn't conforming to a standard of mediocrity when they could be doing so much more, but rather thinking they're more than the life they've created. The problem here isn't that society stifles all the life out of the Wheelers. Instead they hide their own inadequecies in dreams they cannot fulfill. Their life isn't horrible. We get a glimpse in one scene of how out of touch Frank and April truly are with each other. There is no redemption possible for the Wheelers after how much melodrama they endure, but they brought themselves there. Frank could actually find a way to thrive in his job if only he didn't feel that any commitment to coperate America were selling out. It's his and April's unwavering dedication to a lifestyle that neither of them has the courage to persue that isolates them from happiness. The film overtly critiques characters who live the conveyor belt life without any recognition of what else is possible, but it fails to show anyone who is really happy and alive.

The only honest character is mentally ill, but his exemption from the ordinary rules of society permits him to speak the truth about everything around him, which he certainly does. It's heartbreaking and funny at the same time, and at least he provides a welcome relief from the repressed personalities who populate the rest of the film.

My reaction to the film is the importance of being aware and active. The only happiness in conformity is in ignorance, but that doens't mean that people have to break all social patterns to be happy. The Wheelers funnel into a life that society allows for them while they wait for their chance to do what they really want. The only conscious choices they make are based on whims and circumstance. They take no responsibility for choosing their own paths, always expecting opportunity to strike one day. That is conformity: inaction. Given, April has very few chances to act out wihtout being put away in an institution, but there is also the matter of responsiblity for one's choices, that neither of the Wheelers seem to have.

Fair warning: this is not an uplifting movie. In fact, only watch it late at night so that you can go to sleep and wake up happy the next day.