Toronto International Film Festival
BARCELONA, Spain -- With Sex and Lucia and The Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Spanish director Julio Medem firmly established his own dreamy, winding plots, suffused with philosophical themes and spiced with a liberal dose of sex. Medem's work is not to everyone's taste, but his new film, Chaotic Ana, is carried by imagination and the force of a strong cast. It should do well in Spanish-speaking territories and in art houses elsewhere. The film screens in the Toronto International Film Festival.
"Ana" tells the story of a young Spanish woman from age 18 to 22. Under hypnosis, she is convinced that her life is the continuation of four other women's lives, all of whom died tragically at age 22. The audience is asked to believe this is her "chaos" -- and the reason she is given to nasty turns when confronted with images that remind her of these women. If the audience does not take the film too literally and indulges Medem's idea that Ana is basically tormented by demons, then they can enjoy the action more.
Ana, played by Medem's new muse Manuela Velles, is transported from her home on the hippy Spanish island of Ibiza to an artists' commune in Madrid by mother figure Justine (Charlotte Rampling). She falls for a disturbed Arab named Said (Nicolas Cazale), then undergoes hypnosis to confront her "other women." Ana ends up on a boat bound for New York and finally travels through Arizona with her dashing hypnotist (Asier Newman).
The plot veers annoyingly from one scene to another with little explanation. But the film is far more interesting when you know that Ana was inspired by Medem's own sister, who died tragically in a traffic crash. He wrote the film as a form of tribute to her.
Indeed, the Ana character becomes a feminist hero, struggling against the aggression of man. This theme is carried off with a marvelous ending when Ana wreaks glorious revenge on U.S. political ambitions abroad, symbolized by an obnoxious American politician.
Velles, whose previous experience was one television advertisement, carries the film, showing a maturity way beyond her years. She is not daunted by a cast that includes the likes of Rampling, Matthias Habich (The Downfall) and Lluis Homar (Bad Education). Velles might lack the sex appeal of a Penelope Cruz or a Paz Vega, but she offers much promise.
The real charm of this film is that it keeps the viewer guessing what strange turn it will take. Or indeed, what it is all about. It is a little long at nearly two hours but never seems plodding.
CHAOTIC ANA
Sogecine/Alicia Produce
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Julio Medem
Executive producers: Simon de Santiago, Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Koldo Zuazua, Julio Medem
Director of photography: Mario Montero
Music: Jocelyn Pool
Costume designer: Estibaliz Markiegi
Co-producer: Sebastian Alvarez
Art director: Montse Sanz
Editor: Polo Aledo
Cast:
Ana: Manuela Velles
Justine: Charlotte Rampling
Linda: Bebe Rebulledo
Anglo: Asier Newman
Said: Nicolas Cazale
Lucas: Raul Pena
Mister Halcon: Gerrit Graham
Klaus: Matthias Habich
Ismael: Lluis Homar
Running time -- 156 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BARCELONA, Spain -- With Sex and Lucia and The Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Spanish director Julio Medem firmly established his own dreamy, winding plots, suffused with philosophical themes and spiced with a liberal dose of sex. Medem's work is not to everyone's taste, but his new film, Chaotic Ana, is carried by imagination and the force of a strong cast. It should do well in Spanish-speaking territories and in art houses elsewhere. The film screens in the Toronto International Film Festival.
"Ana" tells the story of a young Spanish woman from age 18 to 22. Under hypnosis, she is convinced that her life is the continuation of four other women's lives, all of whom died tragically at age 22. The audience is asked to believe this is her "chaos" -- and the reason she is given to nasty turns when confronted with images that remind her of these women. If the audience does not take the film too literally and indulges Medem's idea that Ana is basically tormented by demons, then they can enjoy the action more.
Ana, played by Medem's new muse Manuela Velles, is transported from her home on the hippy Spanish island of Ibiza to an artists' commune in Madrid by mother figure Justine (Charlotte Rampling). She falls for a disturbed Arab named Said (Nicolas Cazale), then undergoes hypnosis to confront her "other women." Ana ends up on a boat bound for New York and finally travels through Arizona with her dashing hypnotist (Asier Newman).
The plot veers annoyingly from one scene to another with little explanation. But the film is far more interesting when you know that Ana was inspired by Medem's own sister, who died tragically in a traffic crash. He wrote the film as a form of tribute to her.
Indeed, the Ana character becomes a feminist hero, struggling against the aggression of man. This theme is carried off with a marvelous ending when Ana wreaks glorious revenge on U.S. political ambitions abroad, symbolized by an obnoxious American politician.
Velles, whose previous experience was one television advertisement, carries the film, showing a maturity way beyond her years. She is not daunted by a cast that includes the likes of Rampling, Matthias Habich (The Downfall) and Lluis Homar (Bad Education). Velles might lack the sex appeal of a Penelope Cruz or a Paz Vega, but she offers much promise.
The real charm of this film is that it keeps the viewer guessing what strange turn it will take. Or indeed, what it is all about. It is a little long at nearly two hours but never seems plodding.
CHAOTIC ANA
Sogecine/Alicia Produce
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Julio Medem
Executive producers: Simon de Santiago, Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Koldo Zuazua, Julio Medem
Director of photography: Mario Montero
Music: Jocelyn Pool
Costume designer: Estibaliz Markiegi
Co-producer: Sebastian Alvarez
Art director: Montse Sanz
Editor: Polo Aledo
Cast:
Ana: Manuela Velles
Justine: Charlotte Rampling
Linda: Bebe Rebulledo
Anglo: Asier Newman
Said: Nicolas Cazale
Lucas: Raul Pena
Mister Halcon: Gerrit Graham
Klaus: Matthias Habich
Ismael: Lluis Homar
Running time -- 156 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Locarno International Film Festival
LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Spanish director Jaime Marques Olarreaga's first feature Thieves has the look and feel of a Hollywood vehicle designed to launch its young leads -- Juan Jose Ballesta and Maria Valverde -- and that might work, though the film doesn't.
Screened here in the International Competition, Thieves is handsome and polished, shot in widescreen with a commercial soundtrack, and the leads are appealing. Warner Bros. International Spain is on board, and the film could thrive in Latin markets, but making a splash beyond that might be tough.
Alex (Ballesta) and Sara (Valverde) are the thieves. He was born to it, having a mother who is a pickpocket. She does it for kicks, having a wealthy father. They meet cute when he spots her pocketing a CD in a store, and they become partners in crime. He's a hunk, and she's a beauty. They make a lovely couple but lousy thieves.
The problem is that the film tries to make stealing wallets look sexy. But it remains petty theft, and the first time Alex and Sara go after a bigger prize, they bungle it badly.
The young man's fate is couched in romantic terms as he is left alone at age 7 when his idolized mother (Maria Ballesteros) is arrested after dipping into the pocket of a cop on a subway train. Spain's punishment of such crimes is evidently severe as Alex is next seen as a handsome young man emerging from foster care. Somehow Mom has kept their old apartment though she's not around, and he persuades the landlord to let him live there. Trained to cut hair, he gets a job at a barbershop. But the first time a customer complains, he elects to follow the family trade by stealing his wallet.
Spotting the attractive young Sara's clumsy attempts at shoplifting, he practically stalks her until winning her over with the promise of high excitement in picking pockets together. Meanwhile, Alex is trying to trace his mother through her suave fence, played by veteran Patrick Bauchau, and he crosses paths with some threatening street toughs.
Screenwriters Olarreaga and executive producer Juan Ibanez try to paper over the many cracks in a story that is really only about two beautiful young people falling for each other. Cinematographer David Azcona captures that well enough, and Ballesta and Valverde are no doubt destined for better things.
THIEVES
Pentagrama Films, Estudios Picasso Fabrica de Ficcion y Maestranza Films with the collaboration of Warner Bros. International Spain
Credits:
Director: Jaime Marques Olarreaga
Screenwriters: Jaime Marques Olarreaga, Juan Ibanez
Story: Jamie Marques Olarreaga, Enrique Lopez Lavigne
Executive producer: Juan Ibanez
Director of photography: David Azcona
Production designer: Juan Botella
Music: Federico Jusid
Costume designer: Fernando Garcia
Editor: Ivan Aledo
Cast:
Alex: Juan Jose Ballesta
Sara: Maria Valverde
Antique dealer: Patrick Bauchau
Alex's mother: Maria Ballesteros
Hairdresser: Carlos Kaniowsky
Running time -- 101 minutes
No MPAA rating...
LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Spanish director Jaime Marques Olarreaga's first feature Thieves has the look and feel of a Hollywood vehicle designed to launch its young leads -- Juan Jose Ballesta and Maria Valverde -- and that might work, though the film doesn't.
Screened here in the International Competition, Thieves is handsome and polished, shot in widescreen with a commercial soundtrack, and the leads are appealing. Warner Bros. International Spain is on board, and the film could thrive in Latin markets, but making a splash beyond that might be tough.
Alex (Ballesta) and Sara (Valverde) are the thieves. He was born to it, having a mother who is a pickpocket. She does it for kicks, having a wealthy father. They meet cute when he spots her pocketing a CD in a store, and they become partners in crime. He's a hunk, and she's a beauty. They make a lovely couple but lousy thieves.
The problem is that the film tries to make stealing wallets look sexy. But it remains petty theft, and the first time Alex and Sara go after a bigger prize, they bungle it badly.
The young man's fate is couched in romantic terms as he is left alone at age 7 when his idolized mother (Maria Ballesteros) is arrested after dipping into the pocket of a cop on a subway train. Spain's punishment of such crimes is evidently severe as Alex is next seen as a handsome young man emerging from foster care. Somehow Mom has kept their old apartment though she's not around, and he persuades the landlord to let him live there. Trained to cut hair, he gets a job at a barbershop. But the first time a customer complains, he elects to follow the family trade by stealing his wallet.
Spotting the attractive young Sara's clumsy attempts at shoplifting, he practically stalks her until winning her over with the promise of high excitement in picking pockets together. Meanwhile, Alex is trying to trace his mother through her suave fence, played by veteran Patrick Bauchau, and he crosses paths with some threatening street toughs.
Screenwriters Olarreaga and executive producer Juan Ibanez try to paper over the many cracks in a story that is really only about two beautiful young people falling for each other. Cinematographer David Azcona captures that well enough, and Ballesta and Valverde are no doubt destined for better things.
THIEVES
Pentagrama Films, Estudios Picasso Fabrica de Ficcion y Maestranza Films with the collaboration of Warner Bros. International Spain
Credits:
Director: Jaime Marques Olarreaga
Screenwriters: Jaime Marques Olarreaga, Juan Ibanez
Story: Jamie Marques Olarreaga, Enrique Lopez Lavigne
Executive producer: Juan Ibanez
Director of photography: David Azcona
Production designer: Juan Botella
Music: Federico Jusid
Costume designer: Fernando Garcia
Editor: Ivan Aledo
Cast:
Alex: Juan Jose Ballesta
Sara: Maria Valverde
Antique dealer: Patrick Bauchau
Alex's mother: Maria Ballesteros
Hairdresser: Carlos Kaniowsky
Running time -- 101 minutes
No MPAA rating...
This review was written for the theatrical release of "28 Weeks Later".LONDON -- Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's "28 Weeks Later", a sequel to Danny Boyle's admired zombie chiller "28 Days Later", is a ferociously entertaining thriller with sympathetic characters, stunning set pieces and pulsating excitement.
Boyle and Alex Garland, who wrote the first film, are executive producers of "28 Weeks Later", which ups the ante on the story of Great Britain's population being almost completely wiped out by a virus that induces in human beings instant rage and the almost unstoppable impulse to kill. It should prove explosively infectious at the boxoffice.
Six months after being declared safe from infection, Britain is being repopulated with evacuees and those lucky enough to have been away at the time of the outbreak. Joined by pockets of survivors, they are housed in high-rises on the Isle of Dogs in the east end of London. The place is a heavily guarded fortress with constant surveillance by the U.S. military, whose snipers spy on the inhabitants as much as potential invaders.
The remainder of London and the rest of the country are empty of people, but security is maintained at the highest level because of the instant and deadly fury unleashed by the virus. Inevitably, however, the security is breached, and when it does the inmates are at risk as much from their military masters as from the infection.
Robert Carlyle stars as Don, a man whose children, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy Mackintosh Muggleton), were on holiday when the outbreak occurred. He has a guilty secret, as the film's opening sequence shows him and wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) with some other survivors in a remote country house attacked by hordes of the infected. Don manages to escape but leaves his wife to her fate.
When Alice surprisingly shows up, medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne) discovers that she has a gene that protects her from the virus, and son Andy has the gene, too. When unflinching Gen. Stone (Idris Elba) escalates security to Code Red, Scarlet and Special Forces Sgt. Doyle (Jeremy Renner) risk their lives in order to get Andy and Tammy to safety.
Fresnadillo, whose debut film "Intacto" attracted the attention of Boyle and Garland, was responsible for the screenplay along with Rowan Joffe ("Gas Attack", "Last Resort") and one of the film's producers, Enrique Lopez Lavigne. It expands the logic of the first film in adventurous ways even if it does give in to the genre's tradition of allowing characters to show up in the most unlikely places.
In Mark Tildesley's production design, London's devastation looks impossibly handsome, with exhilarating work from cinematographer Enrique Chediak and editor Chris Gill. John Murphy's vibrantly electric score adds to the spine-tingling narrative pace.
Carlyle and McCormack handle their changing characters with great flair, and there are sterling contributions from Byrne ("Sunshine"), Renner (TV's "Dahmer"), Elba (TV's "The Wire") and Harold Perrineau as a helpful helicopter pilot. Poots and Muggleton are the rarest of young performers in being both credible and appealing while some very nasty things are going on around them.
For once, there is a happy absence of misogyny in a horror movie, though the body count is high as a result of Fresnadillo's expert technique and imaginative eye for carnage. The frenetic pace allows him to make his points vividly without dwelling on the horror so that the film speeds along to its shattering climax and cautionary coda.
28 WEEKS LATER
Fox Atomic
DNA Films
Credits:
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Screenwriters: Rowan Joffe, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Jesus Olmo
Producers: Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
Executive producers: Danny Boyle, Alex Garland
Co-producer: Bernard Bellew
Director of photography: Enrique Chediak
Production designer: Mark Tildesley
Music: John Murphy
Costume designer: Jane Petrie
Editor: Chris Gill
Cast:
Don: Robert Carlyle
Scarlet: Rose Byrne
Doyle: Jeremy Renner
Flynn: Harold Perrineau
Alice: Catherine McCormack
Andy: Mackintosh Muggleton
Tammy: Imogen Poots
Gen. Stone: Idris Elba
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Boyle and Alex Garland, who wrote the first film, are executive producers of "28 Weeks Later", which ups the ante on the story of Great Britain's population being almost completely wiped out by a virus that induces in human beings instant rage and the almost unstoppable impulse to kill. It should prove explosively infectious at the boxoffice.
Six months after being declared safe from infection, Britain is being repopulated with evacuees and those lucky enough to have been away at the time of the outbreak. Joined by pockets of survivors, they are housed in high-rises on the Isle of Dogs in the east end of London. The place is a heavily guarded fortress with constant surveillance by the U.S. military, whose snipers spy on the inhabitants as much as potential invaders.
The remainder of London and the rest of the country are empty of people, but security is maintained at the highest level because of the instant and deadly fury unleashed by the virus. Inevitably, however, the security is breached, and when it does the inmates are at risk as much from their military masters as from the infection.
Robert Carlyle stars as Don, a man whose children, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy Mackintosh Muggleton), were on holiday when the outbreak occurred. He has a guilty secret, as the film's opening sequence shows him and wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) with some other survivors in a remote country house attacked by hordes of the infected. Don manages to escape but leaves his wife to her fate.
When Alice surprisingly shows up, medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne) discovers that she has a gene that protects her from the virus, and son Andy has the gene, too. When unflinching Gen. Stone (Idris Elba) escalates security to Code Red, Scarlet and Special Forces Sgt. Doyle (Jeremy Renner) risk their lives in order to get Andy and Tammy to safety.
Fresnadillo, whose debut film "Intacto" attracted the attention of Boyle and Garland, was responsible for the screenplay along with Rowan Joffe ("Gas Attack", "Last Resort") and one of the film's producers, Enrique Lopez Lavigne. It expands the logic of the first film in adventurous ways even if it does give in to the genre's tradition of allowing characters to show up in the most unlikely places.
In Mark Tildesley's production design, London's devastation looks impossibly handsome, with exhilarating work from cinematographer Enrique Chediak and editor Chris Gill. John Murphy's vibrantly electric score adds to the spine-tingling narrative pace.
Carlyle and McCormack handle their changing characters with great flair, and there are sterling contributions from Byrne ("Sunshine"), Renner (TV's "Dahmer"), Elba (TV's "The Wire") and Harold Perrineau as a helpful helicopter pilot. Poots and Muggleton are the rarest of young performers in being both credible and appealing while some very nasty things are going on around them.
For once, there is a happy absence of misogyny in a horror movie, though the body count is high as a result of Fresnadillo's expert technique and imaginative eye for carnage. The frenetic pace allows him to make his points vividly without dwelling on the horror so that the film speeds along to its shattering climax and cautionary coda.
28 WEEKS LATER
Fox Atomic
DNA Films
Credits:
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Screenwriters: Rowan Joffe, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Jesus Olmo
Producers: Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
Executive producers: Danny Boyle, Alex Garland
Co-producer: Bernard Bellew
Director of photography: Enrique Chediak
Production designer: Mark Tildesley
Music: John Murphy
Costume designer: Jane Petrie
Editor: Chris Gill
Cast:
Don: Robert Carlyle
Scarlet: Rose Byrne
Doyle: Jeremy Renner
Flynn: Harold Perrineau
Alice: Catherine McCormack
Andy: Mackintosh Muggleton
Tammy: Imogen Poots
Gen. Stone: Idris Elba
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 5/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Spanish director Julio Medem's feature is a would-be haunting tale of star-crossed lovers. Its audience will be divided into those enamored of its romantic excesses and those put off by its stylization and melodramatic, over-the-top plotting. From its title on down, "Lovers of the Arctic Circle" tries so hard for a fable-like effect that its straining effort lessens whatever charm it might have possessed.
The film is visually gorgeous and beautifully put together, but only the most susceptible will be swept away by its intensity. After being showcased at New Directors/New Films, it is opening today for a commercial run.
Ana and Otto -- both names are palindromes, the better to accentuate the film's exploration of the circular nature of life -- are 8-year-olds whose lives intersect after Ana's father dies in a car crash and Ana decides that his spirit has entered Otto's body. Eventually Otto's father, who is separated, gets together with Ana's mother, and the two children find themselves living with each other part time. As the pair grow older, they fall in love and secretly consummate their relationship. But when Otto moves in with his father in order to be closer to Ana, his mother's resulting anguish kills her, and a grief-stricken Otto runs away.
Ana and Otto thereafter lead separate lives; Ana becomes a schoolteacher and moves in with a man who was Otto's former teacher, while Otto, who has always been obsessed with airplanes, becomes a pilot for a company that flies courier planes between Spain and Finland, near the Arctic Circle. The two don't meet for many years, though their parallel lives often intersect without the other knowing it. Ana, a fierce proponent of the redemptive powers of destiny, remains convinced that they will one day be together, even after she moves to Finland. There she meets a former German pilot who, through a plot contrivance far too complicated to go into, turns out to be the man for whom Otto was named.
Otto and Ana eventually see each other again, under circumstances that will leave some in tears and others shaking their heads in bafflement. Of course, as the curmudgeons in the audience will no doubt decide, these romantic travails could have been avoided if Otto hadn't run away.
"Arctic Circle" is one of those symbolic, magical realism tales that relies on an endless series of coincidences, near misses and pseudo-mystical events to propel its utterly implausible plot. Those with an appetite for such fare will find much to appreciate, especially since Medem has framed his intricately constructed story in a glossy visual manner that is gorgeous to look at, and Najwa Nimri, who plays the grown-up Ana, delivers a performance of haunting intensity.
LOVERS OF THE ARTIC CIRCLE
A Fine Line Features release
Director/screenwriter: Julio Medem
Producers: Fernando Bovaira, Enrique Lopez Lavigne
Executive producers: Txarli Llorente
Director of photography: Kalo F. Berridi
Editor: Ivan Aledo
Composer: Alberto Iglesias
Cast:
Color/stereo
Otto: Fele Martinez
Ana: Najwa Nimri
Alvaro: Nancho Novo
Olga: Maru Valdivielso
Otto as a child: Peru Medem
Ana as a child: Sara Valiente
Running time -- 112 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The film is visually gorgeous and beautifully put together, but only the most susceptible will be swept away by its intensity. After being showcased at New Directors/New Films, it is opening today for a commercial run.
Ana and Otto -- both names are palindromes, the better to accentuate the film's exploration of the circular nature of life -- are 8-year-olds whose lives intersect after Ana's father dies in a car crash and Ana decides that his spirit has entered Otto's body. Eventually Otto's father, who is separated, gets together with Ana's mother, and the two children find themselves living with each other part time. As the pair grow older, they fall in love and secretly consummate their relationship. But when Otto moves in with his father in order to be closer to Ana, his mother's resulting anguish kills her, and a grief-stricken Otto runs away.
Ana and Otto thereafter lead separate lives; Ana becomes a schoolteacher and moves in with a man who was Otto's former teacher, while Otto, who has always been obsessed with airplanes, becomes a pilot for a company that flies courier planes between Spain and Finland, near the Arctic Circle. The two don't meet for many years, though their parallel lives often intersect without the other knowing it. Ana, a fierce proponent of the redemptive powers of destiny, remains convinced that they will one day be together, even after she moves to Finland. There she meets a former German pilot who, through a plot contrivance far too complicated to go into, turns out to be the man for whom Otto was named.
Otto and Ana eventually see each other again, under circumstances that will leave some in tears and others shaking their heads in bafflement. Of course, as the curmudgeons in the audience will no doubt decide, these romantic travails could have been avoided if Otto hadn't run away.
"Arctic Circle" is one of those symbolic, magical realism tales that relies on an endless series of coincidences, near misses and pseudo-mystical events to propel its utterly implausible plot. Those with an appetite for such fare will find much to appreciate, especially since Medem has framed his intricately constructed story in a glossy visual manner that is gorgeous to look at, and Najwa Nimri, who plays the grown-up Ana, delivers a performance of haunting intensity.
LOVERS OF THE ARTIC CIRCLE
A Fine Line Features release
Director/screenwriter: Julio Medem
Producers: Fernando Bovaira, Enrique Lopez Lavigne
Executive producers: Txarli Llorente
Director of photography: Kalo F. Berridi
Editor: Ivan Aledo
Composer: Alberto Iglesias
Cast:
Color/stereo
Otto: Fele Martinez
Ana: Najwa Nimri
Alvaro: Nancho Novo
Olga: Maru Valdivielso
Otto as a child: Peru Medem
Ana as a child: Sara Valiente
Running time -- 112 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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