"Antonia's Line" is one of those movies that's in love with its own quirkiness. This isn't always necessarily bad. Quirky films can be quite delightful when done well. However, in this case, the quirkiness comes at the expense of plot and logic. My sense is that this film's director intended Antonia and her line of female descendants to represent strong, fearless heroines imbued with the fighting feminist spirit. I get this sense because most of the men in this film are brutes, buffoons or a combination of the two, and the women kick butt, make love to each other and tell all of the men off at regular intervals.
This film is insulting to anyone who truly values feminist sensibilities in our movie culture. As so often happens, the makers of this movie equate "strong" with callous and emotionally distant. It's hard to care about Antonia and her relations because they all come across as either vacuous or heinous. Antonia's daughter casually chooses a complete stranger to impregnate her because she wants a child but doesn't want to have to deal with the father. Did she ever think that maybe the child would want a father. Is selfishness like this supposed to impress me with its strength of character?
The script meanders from one incident to the next, characters you barely learn anything about appear and drop out of the movie listlessly, and the pacing of the whole thing is limpid. The film is only about 110 minutes long but feels much longer.
I'm tired of the trend of thinking that propagates the belief that in order to be considered strong, women must prove that they can live entirely without men. That's such a juvenile attitude and serves no purpose. Callousness is callousness whether displayed by a man or a woman, and there's nothing weak about leaving yourself vulnerable to the complex relationships that spring between men and women. Of all the life lessons Antonia supposedly passes down to her ancestors, this is the one she forgot to include.
Grade: D+
This film is insulting to anyone who truly values feminist sensibilities in our movie culture. As so often happens, the makers of this movie equate "strong" with callous and emotionally distant. It's hard to care about Antonia and her relations because they all come across as either vacuous or heinous. Antonia's daughter casually chooses a complete stranger to impregnate her because she wants a child but doesn't want to have to deal with the father. Did she ever think that maybe the child would want a father. Is selfishness like this supposed to impress me with its strength of character?
The script meanders from one incident to the next, characters you barely learn anything about appear and drop out of the movie listlessly, and the pacing of the whole thing is limpid. The film is only about 110 minutes long but feels much longer.
I'm tired of the trend of thinking that propagates the belief that in order to be considered strong, women must prove that they can live entirely without men. That's such a juvenile attitude and serves no purpose. Callousness is callousness whether displayed by a man or a woman, and there's nothing weak about leaving yourself vulnerable to the complex relationships that spring between men and women. Of all the life lessons Antonia supposedly passes down to her ancestors, this is the one she forgot to include.
Grade: D+