Since the beginning of cinema, there have been countless films about bigotry, prejudice, and hate. Some are political and others more personal and intimate. Sometimes, we see stories of men and women who struggle just for their basic right to love and be loved. And when tragedy hits, everyone mourns and grieve just like anybody else.
Marina Vidal (Daniala Vega), is a young, transgender woman in a relationship with Orlando (Francisco Reyes), a man thirty-years her elder. The two of them are taking a giant step together. She is moving in with him.
At Marina's birthday celebration, with the Chilean nightlife as its backdrop, Orlando and Marina share an intimate dinner, complete with just the right gift. As one would expect, dancing and love-making follow.
Then, for no apparent reason, Orlando suffers some sort of attack. Panicked, Marina helps him into the car as best as she can, though, at one point, he fell down some stairs, in spite of Marina's help.
He dies in the hospital from an aneurysm. Marina is told about an abrasion on Orlando's head he'd sustained when he fell. They connect it and its possible connection with Orlando's death.
Immediately, the police show up to question Marina. The investigator (Amparo Noguera) wants to know what Orlando was paying Marina. The assumption that Marina's a prostitute is already established in her mind.
The so-called investigation would better be referred to as an exercise in cruelty when the investigator decides that Marina's sex is relevant. It leads up to one of the most crushingly humiliating experiences of her life. It's very hard to watch. Of course, Orlando's family were the ones to call the cops in the first place.
That's just the start of Marina's world crashing down on her head. First, she's alone in the world, she's lost her lover. Now, she's a target, a punching bag meant to absorb the grief of other people.
When Orlando's ex-wife Sonja, (Aline Kuppenheim), comes to claim his car, she gives Marina harsh instructions. She is not to come to the wake or the burial. Why? Sonja answers with honesty and sincerity. Sonja believes Marina is a perversion. Sonja's offended at the thought of someone she cares about being with the girl. Marina's very existence seems to offend her. She tells her that she's a perversion.
When Marina shows up at the wake anyway, Sonja stands up and shouts. Marina is shamed in public and reluctantly leaves. Orlando's family, his son, ex-wife, granddaughter, all except his brother persist in mistreating her.
All of this is happening to her while she's still in the throes of grief. She is stunned with mourning and still being told she doesn't have the basic right to grieve. "A Fantastic Woman" brings up an interesting question. Does a family in mourning have the right to tell somebody who loved him deeply that they will not allow her to say goodbye? The film explores the answers delicately and with care.
Yes, the film is muted and maddening at the same time. Lelio manages to find the intimate and very human side of grief. It's this year's entry from Chile for Best Foreign Language Film. It's already been celebrated around the world on the Festival Circuit.
Now, "A Fantastic Woman" is getting some recognition in the States because of the Oscar Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. "A Fantastic Woman" is a treasure and is fittingly getting the attention it deserves.
Do you remember the moment you discovered you were a sexual creature? You think of others as more than just handsome or beautiful. You actually want to do things to them. You start to wonder creatively what those things could be.
Luca Guadagnino's "Call Me By Your Name," reaches back to that moment when one's sexuality first rears its head.
Every summer, the Perlman family hosts a guest for the summer. The patriarch, Mr. Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg), is a professor and it's an opportunity for a kind of mentorship. This summer, that guest is Oliver (Armie Hammer), a twenty-four-year-old student of Mr. Perlman.
At first, Elio (Timothee Chalamet), the Perlmans' seventeen-year-old son, doesn't like Oliver at all. In fact, Oliver is kind of a dick. He's arrogant and dismissive. He refuses any overtures of friendship, but he himself demands constant companionship. He expects others to drop everything to accommodate him. So yeah, Oliver is not just kind of a dick. He's a straight-up bastard.
Elio has to spend almost all of his time entertaining Oliver. He has to go on errands with him. Whenever it suits Oliver, he insists Elio must accompany him all of the time as he goes bike riding or swimming, etc.
Slowly, Elio's feelings turn from annoyance to attraction. Like a little man-crush, and the romance builds from there.
At the same time, Elio is curious about sex in general. He hasn't found his identification yet, so while he's falling for Oliver, his romance with girlfriend Marzia (Esther Garrel) is progressing, getting more serious and more sexual.
But as his attraction to Olivier turns into infatuation, he has to make some kind of choice. To be fair, Marzia deserves that much. She needs to know where her relationship with Elio is going.
The bulk of the film concentrates on the evolving romance between Oliver and Elio. Now, the time he spends with Oliver, running errands, bike riding, swimming etc. have gone from tedious to treasured.
The way the story plays out with this small intimate group of characters, against the backdrop of northern Italy in the summer makes me think of Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty." Just as in "Stealing Beauty," the characters adore each other and that endears them to us. Plus, the love scenes between Oliver and Elio are soft and intimate.
One thing I have learned from art-house, gay-centered films is that all of the love scenes starts with play fighting. I don't believe that's the way it is in life, but I don't think I've ever seen a gay love sequence without that wrestling kind of foreplay.
The tenderness and subtly which with Guadagnino unfolds this romance is beautiful. If you like love stories at all, you'll enjoy "Call Me By Your Name."
Sometimes, you get a wonderful rare treat that comes straight of your favorites.
Darren Lynn Bousman's "Repo: The Genetic Opera" has given me one such performance. Skinny Puppy just so happens to be my third favorite band of all time. So wasn't I just delighted to hear OhGr would be playing one of the evil brother, son of a Capitalist gone wild. That's another reason to love the film: its firm anti-Capitalist stance. But we'll read about that another day.
For now, enjoy this song with Bill Moseley, Paris Hilton and OhGr in a cute, nihilistic romp.
Pavi Largo: "Ask a gentern who they prefer, ten out of nine will say "The Pavi!" The most dashing, panty-snatching. I will leave your diapers dripping! Two hearts! Mark it up! Pavi steals all of the hearts."
Lee: "I love you."
E. Edward Grey: "We can't do this twenty-four hours a day seven days a week."
Lee: "Why not?"
She makes a very fair point, don't you think?
(Lee sits down at Grey's desk.)
E. Edward Grey: "Put both your hands on the desk, palms down.
(Lee puts her hands on the desk, palms down.)
Lee: "I wanna make love."
E. Edward Grey: "Keep both your feet on the floor until I come back."
Stuntman Mike: "It was a fifty-fifty shot on whether you'd be going left or right. You see we're both going left. You could have just as easily been going left, too. And if that was the case...it would have been a while before you started getting scared. But since you're going the other way, I'm afraid you're gonna have to start getting scared...immediately!"
"Don't look now, but there's one man too many in this room and I think it's you."
Since the beginning of cinema, there have been countless films about bigotry, prejudice, and hate. Some are political and others more personal and intimate. Sometimes, we see stories of men and women who struggle just for their basic right to love and be loved. And when tragedy hits, everyone mourns and grieve just like anybody else.
At Marina's birthday celebration, with the Chilean nightlife as its backdrop, Orlando and Marina share an intimate dinner, complete with just the right gift. As one would expect, dancing and love-making follow.
Then, for no apparent reason, Orlando suffers some sort of attack. Panicked, Marina helps him into the car as best as she can, though, at one point, he fell down some stairs, in spite of Marina's help.
The so-called investigation would better be referred to as an exercise in cruelty when the investigator decides that Marina's sex is relevant. It leads up to one of the most crushingly humiliating experiences of her life. It's very hard to watch. Of course, Orlando's family were the ones to call the cops in the first place.
When Orlando's ex-wife Sonja, (Aline Kuppenheim), comes to claim his car, she gives Marina harsh instructions. She is not to come to the wake or the burial. Why? Sonja answers with honesty and sincerity. Sonja believes Marina is a perversion. Sonja's offended at the thought of someone she cares about being with the girl. Marina's very existence seems to offend her. She tells her that she's a perversion.
"A Fantastic Woman" brings up an interesting question. Does a family in mourning have the right to tell somebody who loved him deeply that they will not allow her to say goodbye? The film explores the answers delicately and with care.
Now, "A Fantastic Woman" is getting some recognition in the States because of the Oscar Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. "A Fantastic Woman" is a treasure and is fittingly getting the attention it deserves.
Don't you love the power of positive thinking? That was David Fincher's gospel in the nineties.
Do you remember the moment you discovered you were a sexual creature? You think of others as more than just handsome or beautiful. You actually want to do things to them. You start to wonder creatively what those things could be.
Elio has to spend almost all of his time entertaining Oliver. He has to go on errands with him. Whenever it suits Oliver, he insists Elio must accompany him all of the time as he goes bike riding or swimming, etc.
At the same time, Elio is curious about sex in general. He hasn't found his identification yet, so while he's falling for Oliver, his romance with girlfriend Marzia (Esther Garrel) is progressing, getting more serious and more sexual.
The way the story plays out with this small intimate group of characters, against the backdrop of northern Italy in the summer makes me think of Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty." Just as in "Stealing Beauty," the characters adore each other and that endears them to us. Plus, the love scenes between Oliver and Elio are soft and intimate.
Sometimes, you get a wonderful rare treat that comes straight of your favorites.
Stuntman Mike: "It was a fifty-fifty shot on whether you'd be going left or right. You see we're both going left. You could have just as easily been going left, too. And if that was the case...it would have been a while before you started getting scared. But since you're going the other way, I'm afraid you're gonna have to start getting scared...immediately!"