Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by orejones (D) on January 31, 2004 at 05:18:57

I must confess that we went to see it with mixed feelings, knowing practically nothing about it, only that it was directed by Gonzalex Inarritu, the same man who made "Amores Perros", a film which I liked very much; and that it had a good cast...

Let me say it from the start: it is an excellent film, on every count.

This man Gonzalex Inarritu is a strange case as, even if this is just his second film, he displays a mastery rarely seen on screen: he never hesitates, he doesn´t show a single moment of uncertainty, and he is able to tell an incredibly human story about human condition, in a language which seems confuse at start (well, the first half an hour, or so), until you become familiar with the characters, and things start to make sense to the viewer, then only gaining in weight, and grasping you by your throat scene after scene, with an incredible sense of filmic rhythm.

The kind of story it tells, which at first sight looks like that of several lives becoming interwoven by fate, is not new: there are some well-known cases, as in "Pulp Fiction", or as in "Short Cuts", among others. But this film is much more than that, as in the end of it what you have been looking at (and been forced by this alchemist filmmaker to let it grow inside yourself) is how life, through fate, can play with us in a merciless, while not necessarily cruel way, making sense just as life itself ends. There is passion in it, so much that when the title credits appear on the screen, we were simply extenuated, and unable to speak for a long time: there is love, there is hate, both shown undisguised; and there´s despair, and hope too, as there are questions about who one himself is, and about how futile our actions are when fate comes in...

Acting is simply top class, with only minor details failing occasionally, in the way Sean Penn plays a terminally sick man with a failing heart: he sometimes isn´t weak enough, his voice too firm for an ailing man (but this may be due to translation...), but leaving this aside, there´s not a single character, supporting actors included, which isn´t played in a really convincing, moving, way: Naomi Watts is simply splendid in so many scenes, showing her deep pain, her fiery and desperate love, her weakness..., making her character very credible, and deeply moving; Sean Penn, those minor fails notwithstanding, is very good too, in a role well suited to his tortured looking, never overacting, while letting you see much of his own pain, both physical and animical, his acceptance of rebirth while still keeping a distance between life and himself, then plunging into life once more, and finally accepting life as it is, his final thoughts showing how he has understood life itself: Benicio del Toro playing an outcast who is continually torn between what life, and his own mistakes, have done to him and his newly acquired faith, in which he has tried to find a shelter, just to find out that it simply is not enough, his soul being shattered into pieces and despair..., and those supporting actors...! They are all incredibly good, all faithful to their characters, playing them in the most credible, measured way: Melissa Leo, playing as Benicio´s wife, is human beyond measure, in every aspect; and Charlotte Gainsbough is almost perfect in her short role..., even the children are exceptionally good!

As a perfect example of how good everybody´s work is, just look at the scene in which Naomi Watts is told that her most beloved ones have died, keeping your eye on the expression of the girl (her sister?) at the bottom of the screen, how her face changes, very gradually, from expectation to pain and a withhold cry loaded with a deep sorrow: her role is very short, I´d swear she appears for just a few minutes in the whole film..., but alas is she alive...!

Some may find this film confusing, due to the way it is being told. But, if you let yourself flow with it, then you´ll find that there´s nothing left to chance, that every scene makes sense in the whole of it, and that it is a definite link between each an every one of them, if not in the physical, or temporal, space, yes in the topological space of this superbly told story, made of flesh and blood, and told with soul: it is never told gently, but with strong, fiery sweeps, as it is too important to waste time in niceties, and with a very strong internal coherence. Photography is good, fitting well with the story that is being told.

In few words, an excellent film, even if not to every taste: in the antipodes of that easily forgettable LOTR, it will haunt you for a long time, growing inside you, and making you feel, and think, and making you feel the connection among each and every one of us human beings.

Highly recommended.

Regards

BF