Early in Mexican-Canadian filmmaker Nicolás Pereda’s succinctly effective farce Fauna, Paco (Francisco Barreiro), a thespian with a non-speaking part in the popular show Narcos, is asked to conjure up a performance in the middle of an empty pool hall. His girlfriend’s father wants to see him act on command. Adding to the film’s meta undertones that later turn more noticeable is the fact that Barreirois is in fact part of the Netflix series.
Begrudgingly, Paco concedes transforming into a hyper-masculine and overly confident drug-dealer to deliver a short monologue. Unimpressed, the older man demands to see it again. It’s an uncomfortably humorous scene that sets the stage for a nesting doll of performances inquiring about Mexican pop culture’s infatuation with vicious criminals.
Even if none of the characters in Fauna can remember Diego Luna’s name, Narcos remains the pinnacle of this commoditization of violence.
Begrudgingly, Paco concedes transforming into a hyper-masculine and overly confident drug-dealer to deliver a short monologue. Unimpressed, the older man demands to see it again. It’s an uncomfortably humorous scene that sets the stage for a nesting doll of performances inquiring about Mexican pop culture’s infatuation with vicious criminals.
Even if none of the characters in Fauna can remember Diego Luna’s name, Narcos remains the pinnacle of this commoditization of violence.
- 9/26/2020
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Film Stage
Going UNDERGROUNDEverybody and their dog, it seems, feels this off imperative to try to identify common themes in the handful of festival films they (we) (I) see in a given year. It's the Ghost of Hegel, I suppose, demanding that we make sense of our times by referring to some Zeitgeist. (Zeitgeist? Isn't this just as likely to Strand the FilmsWeLike in some oh-so-precious Music Box, to be unearthed years later by members of some as-yet-unassembled Cinema Guild? But I digress.) There may or may not be tendencies running through this year's feature selections, and if there are, that could have as much to do with the people who selected them than with any global mood. But there does seem to be a generalized turning-inward, with filmmakers making works about themselves and their immediate lives, the cinematic process, and the very complexities of communicating with other human beings. There are...
- 9/17/2015
- by Michael Sicinski
- MUBI
There'll be a party following the single screening of Bad Fever this evening at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles. Nick Schager, originally for the Voice, now in the La Weekly: "Writer-director Dustin Guy Defa's stark indie trains its character-study gaze on Eddie (Kentucker Audley), a socially dysfunctional 20-something who — while living at home with his dour mom (Annette Wright), hanging out in empty diners and entertaining stand-up comedy dreams by recording anecdotes on cassette — strikes up a random romance with Irene (Eleonore Hendricks), who lives in an abandoned school and has a fondness for kinky videotaping. Eddie and Irene are kindred misfits in search of some direction and contentment, and if Defa's aesthetics are mundane, his leads' performances are not, especially in the case of Audley, whose darting eyes and hushed, stuttering speech express confused longing with transfixing, train-wreck magnetism."
The New Yorker's Richard Brody: "Defa exerts...
The New Yorker's Richard Brody: "Defa exerts...
- 4/2/2012
- MUBI
Set in the breathtaking beach environment of Veracruz (Mexico) at a near-dilapidated resort-of-sorts, "Artificial Paradises" is a terrific minimalist experience centering on the unlikely relationship between middle-aged grounds worker Salomón (Salomón Hernández) and young heroin abuser Luisa (Luisa Pardo). Similar to the oeuvre of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and even Andrei Tarkovsky in its sensibilities, Yulene Olaizola's first narrative film shuns plot and conventions in favor of the small moments that make up life.
Salomón spends his days caring for the locale, cleaning the property while smoking massive amounts of marijuana. This continuous pattern of labor eventually breaches the aimless wanderings of Luisa, a lonely resident with an unfortunate dependence on smack. A delicately-played bond quickly forms between the two, with Olaizola substituting laborious conversation for short, honest dialogues that display the amenity they find in one another. After Luisa's supply is nearly tapped out, she recruits her new buddy on...
Salomón spends his days caring for the locale, cleaning the property while smoking massive amounts of marijuana. This continuous pattern of labor eventually breaches the aimless wanderings of Luisa, a lonely resident with an unfortunate dependence on smack. A delicately-played bond quickly forms between the two, with Olaizola substituting laborious conversation for short, honest dialogues that display the amenity they find in one another. After Luisa's supply is nearly tapped out, she recruits her new buddy on...
- 3/30/2012
- by Christopher Bell
- The Playlist
(Artificial Paradises world premiered at the 2011 International Film Festival Rotterdam before screening at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. It opens theatrically in New York City at the reRun Gastropub on Friday, March 30, 2012. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.)
Yes, Yulene Olaizola’s Artificial Paradises is about drug addiction. But not only does Olaizola take her time in revealing this agenda, her patient filmmaking and reverence for the gorgeous natural environment in which she shoots keeps that agenda from elbowing its way into the foreground. It’s this gentle approach that distinguishes Artificial Paradises from the rest of the “foreign-film-festival-circuit” pack. This is a minor film, but it resonates and lingers.
Set in the seemingly discarded coastal resort town of Jicacal, Mexico, Artificial Paradises opens with nearly seven minutes of dialogue-free establishing shots. This footage casts such a soothing spell that one would be forgiven for thinking they are...
Yes, Yulene Olaizola’s Artificial Paradises is about drug addiction. But not only does Olaizola take her time in revealing this agenda, her patient filmmaking and reverence for the gorgeous natural environment in which she shoots keeps that agenda from elbowing its way into the foreground. It’s this gentle approach that distinguishes Artificial Paradises from the rest of the “foreign-film-festival-circuit” pack. This is a minor film, but it resonates and lingers.
Set in the seemingly discarded coastal resort town of Jicacal, Mexico, Artificial Paradises opens with nearly seven minutes of dialogue-free establishing shots. This footage casts such a soothing spell that one would be forgiven for thinking they are...
- 3/29/2012
- by Michael Tully
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Artificial Paradises (Paraisos Articiales)
Directed by Yulene Olaizola
Mexico, 2011
Indispensable to any stimulating storyline, characterization is a powerful tool for any film. When a plot is considered too simple or unsubstantial to its structure, a well-crafted character can earn attention and make a film worthwhile. Whether it’s a middle aged loner finding her place in social relationships (Mary from Mike Leigh’s Another Year), or a failing couple fighting against life’s mediocrities (Dean and Cindy from Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine), or a man-child struggling to accept his mother’s new boyfriend (Cyrus from Duplass brother’s Cyrus), a strong character can essentially make a small film huge. Thus is the case for Luisa, a heroin addict seeking repose in a remote beach alongside strangers with problems of their own, in director Yulene Olaizola’s sophomore outing Artificial Paradises (Paraisos Artificiales).
Artificial Paradises follows Luisa as she attempts...
Directed by Yulene Olaizola
Mexico, 2011
Indispensable to any stimulating storyline, characterization is a powerful tool for any film. When a plot is considered too simple or unsubstantial to its structure, a well-crafted character can earn attention and make a film worthwhile. Whether it’s a middle aged loner finding her place in social relationships (Mary from Mike Leigh’s Another Year), or a failing couple fighting against life’s mediocrities (Dean and Cindy from Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine), or a man-child struggling to accept his mother’s new boyfriend (Cyrus from Duplass brother’s Cyrus), a strong character can essentially make a small film huge. Thus is the case for Luisa, a heroin addict seeking repose in a remote beach alongside strangers with problems of their own, in director Yulene Olaizola’s sophomore outing Artificial Paradises (Paraisos Artificiales).
Artificial Paradises follows Luisa as she attempts...
- 4/17/2011
- by Christopher Clemente
- SoundOnSight
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