Skip to main content

Reir, Cantar, Tal Vez Llorar (Spanish) [To Laugh, To Sing, Perchance to Cry]

What the hell did I just see? This one was so damn amateurish that a basic school play put together might be taken more seriously. Right from the script , to fillers, to acting , to direction; almost everything was horrible, except for the basic story idea. The makers had something good on their hands and could have made a poignant love story and show audiences a mirror towards how we perceive immigrants, but OMG! this was atrociously bad.

Set in Barcelona, Toni, a trans woman, who works as a hair dresser is looking for love. One day she meets a Moroccan youth 20 year old, trying to hide from the police and she brings him home to help her. She slowly starts to fall in love despite the prying eyes of neighbors who are not very sure of what the arrangement is. Seeing a hot young man, many of her friends and other people at clubs try to hit on the guy but he has eyes for Toni and soon they fall in love. In the midst of this love affair, the days go by: looking for a job, paying the rent, parties, dances, nosy neighbours, problems to solve, time with friends, other lovers; life, with its joys and hardships, thrills and devastations. One day they fight over some random stuff and the guy leaves Toni's place and meets another woman leaving Toni completely heartbroken.

Where do I even begin on how bad this film was. I mean, if this was a satttire or a comedy, I could understand , but I dont think it was either. It was supposed to be drama where food was fake, baby was a doll, you could see actor looking for cues towards the camera, the lead actor was stiff as wooden, the neighbors were weird, I mean everything was bad. There were a lot of random side characters who added nothing to the story. Toni, was the only actress who did a half decent job of even trying to act. The less I say about direction, the better it will be. The makers likely had a good idea on hand -  the best and the worst of ourselves, of classism, racism and transphobia, of the onslaught of love and heartbreak, of a city on the margins. But for me, it was not a comedy or parody (which if it had been, I would have reviewed with a different lens), but as I saw it, it is one of the worst films that ic an remember seeing in recent times. (1/10)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who ...