This is the worst movie I have seen in a long time. It is slow, irrelevant and says absolutely nothing. You have to be a magician to extract any meaning or relationship to the crisis the country has endured and is still enduring. The photography is awful, almost as if shot by an amateur using a hand held camera. We watch the central character walk and walk and walk and wonder where is she going. The dialog is trivial to say the least. The only saving grace is perhaps the cute little scene between Ana and a little boy towards the end of the film. But it's too late by then. Whe the movie finally ended, the audience reacted with a sigh of relief.
6 Reviews
The birth of a great new director
gga2 September 2006
Ana y los Otros is the first feature film of Celina Murga, who previously acted as assistant director to Damian Szifron (Los Simuladores). And what a great debut it is. The film's first half is slow and a character study. Mostly random encounters of Anna and previous people that knew her in her life, as she returns to her native city. Yet, in each encounter, we learn a little bit more about Anna, without her whole life story ever been told. We are never told why she's back in Parana, but the film lets the spectator begin guessing. This first half of the first film is pretty depressing as the feeling of displacement and awkwardness is prevalent and may easily turn viewers away. But, it is during her dancing that the movie begins shifting its depressing mood. Suddenly, all the pieces come together, as Anna goes on her final quest. It is the last 30 minutes of the film that, with great subtlety, Murga teaches about love and optimism. What had seemed random shots done by a student director, shows us a brilliant person who has seen a lot of cinema and loves it with a passion. Highly recommended. It may indeed be the birth of a great new Argentinian director.
Big waste of time
ileana_7815 August 2006
I'm not saying this movie is bad, just a waste of celluloid...I mean an hour and 16 minutes of this never-ending nothing...what's up with this, I don't know maybe there was a hidden meaningful plot I missed,I don't think so though.
horrible acting and direction..my birthday party video was better acted than this..and what about the story :ridiculously boring and meaningful
nothing ever happens, the movie doesn't even starts and out of the blue is over and nothing happened. I don't think I'm being hard with this peace of C*** on the contrary I think I'm being kind just for posting a comment about it.
please watch this film and you will know what I'm talking about.
horrible acting and direction..my birthday party video was better acted than this..and what about the story :ridiculously boring and meaningful
nothing ever happens, the movie doesn't even starts and out of the blue is over and nothing happened. I don't think I'm being hard with this peace of C*** on the contrary I think I'm being kind just for posting a comment about it.
please watch this film and you will know what I'm talking about.
The devastating effects of the Argentine crisis
Trenszmacher11 November 2003
This is an excellent film in many ways. The lead actress is superb in her portrayal as Ana. One really feels that one is observing her life, like in a reality show. This is something new and young Argentine directors have been doing for some years, embedding their films with uncommon (though often slow to most viewers) realism, reminiscent of Iranian films.
The downward spiral in Ana's life, and the search for her past, now that the capital Buenos Aires is no longer the land of opportunity, is a perfect mirror of what is happening to Argentina's "educated" youth and "former" middle class as a whole. After all, the country's middle class (70% of the population in the 1980s) now represents less than 30% of the population. And this film and its characters convey this decadence without preaching, assigning blame, playing politics, or stereotypical characters.
Nor does the film resort to the excesses and shock value of similarly themed European films about the plight of young Eastern Europeans, as seen in British, French, German, Swedish and Polish movies these past few years.
Yes, the film is of particular interest here in South America. There were great crises in the 90s, but few people recognize and document the Argentinian one, arguably the most drastic and dramatic one of them all. Russia, Indonesia, Turkey and Mexico made big news. But none of these countries was ever among the world's richest per capita during the last century, nor did any of them ever have a huge, predominant capitalist middle class, where young people always had good expectations for their future.
Anyway, people in Europe or Asia may think the situation presented in this film is a splice of life from their own countries. But that's not really the case. This film shows these differences. There are no refugees here. It's the native born people like ANA who previously were the vast majority of the population who have a very uncertain future.
A good companion movie to this one is HOY Y MAÑANA (TODAY AND TOMORROW), a more hard core and brutal account of what a young college student becomes in today's Buenos Aires. If you enjoy ANA Y LOS OTROS, I definitely recommend HOY Y MAÑANA. They sometimes play in the same film festival together. Here, one played in Rio and the other in S. Paulo.
So, you can see them both, and get two different angles of the troubles Argentina's youth are facing, while also seeing two excellent films from a country which has been producing a great deal of quality cinema in the last 6 years or so, in spite of the terrible economic crisis. Check these films out. They're worthwhile, fresh, and different.
The downward spiral in Ana's life, and the search for her past, now that the capital Buenos Aires is no longer the land of opportunity, is a perfect mirror of what is happening to Argentina's "educated" youth and "former" middle class as a whole. After all, the country's middle class (70% of the population in the 1980s) now represents less than 30% of the population. And this film and its characters convey this decadence without preaching, assigning blame, playing politics, or stereotypical characters.
Nor does the film resort to the excesses and shock value of similarly themed European films about the plight of young Eastern Europeans, as seen in British, French, German, Swedish and Polish movies these past few years.
Yes, the film is of particular interest here in South America. There were great crises in the 90s, but few people recognize and document the Argentinian one, arguably the most drastic and dramatic one of them all. Russia, Indonesia, Turkey and Mexico made big news. But none of these countries was ever among the world's richest per capita during the last century, nor did any of them ever have a huge, predominant capitalist middle class, where young people always had good expectations for their future.
Anyway, people in Europe or Asia may think the situation presented in this film is a splice of life from their own countries. But that's not really the case. This film shows these differences. There are no refugees here. It's the native born people like ANA who previously were the vast majority of the population who have a very uncertain future.
A good companion movie to this one is HOY Y MAÑANA (TODAY AND TOMORROW), a more hard core and brutal account of what a young college student becomes in today's Buenos Aires. If you enjoy ANA Y LOS OTROS, I definitely recommend HOY Y MAÑANA. They sometimes play in the same film festival together. Here, one played in Rio and the other in S. Paulo.
So, you can see them both, and get two different angles of the troubles Argentina's youth are facing, while also seeing two excellent films from a country which has been producing a great deal of quality cinema in the last 6 years or so, in spite of the terrible economic crisis. Check these films out. They're worthwhile, fresh, and different.
Absolutely curtains
isaimichel1 April 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this film shortly after it was released. I am writing this review because I feel the reviews here do not do this movie the justice it deserves. And I don't mean that in the good way.
This movie is terrible in almost every way a movie can be. It has no real plot, poor cinematography, and non-existent acting. I thought the first 80 minutes of the film were a gag or some poorly executed art house build-up to a plot. Then the credits rolled and I felt taken advantage of.
The best way to sum up this movie is: she walks. Ana just walks.
Here is the plot: Ana leaves Buenos Aires back to the place she grew up. She looks for a friend. She finds her friend's house but he isn't home so ... wait for it ... she just comes back another day. Movie ends when she walks into his house. End of story.
The only two other events are a dance she goes to and a little boy she talks to on the street. I can only guess they had to improvise to give something for Ana to do while she waits for her friend. The scene with the little boy is interesting for the 2-3 minutes it exists, but only because the rest of the film is completely and utterly uninteresting. By the way, neither of those two scenes in any way effect the outcome of the film; they could have been cut and it would have changed nothing (except spare the viewer 40 minutes of coma-inducing footage).
Oh, and by the way, when she enters the house it is just a far street shot of a door opening and her entering. Roll credits. You never see the friend.
The dance scene contains the only minor point of tension or character interest. After the dancing, a male friend of Ana insinuates he wants to start a relationship with her. She politely changes the subject throughout the party. She goes to her cousin's house in the morning and falls asleep. Yes, it's really that lame. In fact my description of this scene is actually more interesting than the scene itself.
I can't believe someone actually wrote this script; at best, they did 2 takes for each scene and ad-libbed some dialog. You don't learn anything about Ana (or even her friend) during the film.
Amazingly, the cinematography is just as bad. Some scenes, particularly the workplace of Ana's friend, are poorly lit and too grainy. There are no real 'sets' either, it literally feels as if you are watching someone with a steady-cam walk through their house and/or video-taping a birthday party at a park. The only good thing I can say about the picture is that they didn't use amateur 1st person perspective.
There is no acting. I just don't know how else to describe it.
Do not waste your time watching this tripe. Even if you like watching bad movies (as I do) stay away from this terrible boring, tepid, and thoughtless film.
In particular, to any reviewer ascribing some greater meaning to this film, it has no meaning. At best the film is so pointless that it creates a 'blank slate' where you can project any 'meaning' to it. Maybe Ana represents the lost hope of Latin American youths that wander through life. Maybe Ana is an embodiment of modern man losing faith in urban society and returning to local roots. Or maybe Ana y los otros was just a money grab on the part of the producer for government cultural art grants and filmed over the weekend in the director's back yard. We'll never know.
It's like watching clouds go by and trying to attach philosophical meaning to their shapes. In fact, watching clouds go by is a good way to describe watching this film.
This movie is terrible in almost every way a movie can be. It has no real plot, poor cinematography, and non-existent acting. I thought the first 80 minutes of the film were a gag or some poorly executed art house build-up to a plot. Then the credits rolled and I felt taken advantage of.
The best way to sum up this movie is: she walks. Ana just walks.
Here is the plot: Ana leaves Buenos Aires back to the place she grew up. She looks for a friend. She finds her friend's house but he isn't home so ... wait for it ... she just comes back another day. Movie ends when she walks into his house. End of story.
The only two other events are a dance she goes to and a little boy she talks to on the street. I can only guess they had to improvise to give something for Ana to do while she waits for her friend. The scene with the little boy is interesting for the 2-3 minutes it exists, but only because the rest of the film is completely and utterly uninteresting. By the way, neither of those two scenes in any way effect the outcome of the film; they could have been cut and it would have changed nothing (except spare the viewer 40 minutes of coma-inducing footage).
Oh, and by the way, when she enters the house it is just a far street shot of a door opening and her entering. Roll credits. You never see the friend.
The dance scene contains the only minor point of tension or character interest. After the dancing, a male friend of Ana insinuates he wants to start a relationship with her. She politely changes the subject throughout the party. She goes to her cousin's house in the morning and falls asleep. Yes, it's really that lame. In fact my description of this scene is actually more interesting than the scene itself.
I can't believe someone actually wrote this script; at best, they did 2 takes for each scene and ad-libbed some dialog. You don't learn anything about Ana (or even her friend) during the film.
Amazingly, the cinematography is just as bad. Some scenes, particularly the workplace of Ana's friend, are poorly lit and too grainy. There are no real 'sets' either, it literally feels as if you are watching someone with a steady-cam walk through their house and/or video-taping a birthday party at a park. The only good thing I can say about the picture is that they didn't use amateur 1st person perspective.
There is no acting. I just don't know how else to describe it.
Do not waste your time watching this tripe. Even if you like watching bad movies (as I do) stay away from this terrible boring, tepid, and thoughtless film.
In particular, to any reviewer ascribing some greater meaning to this film, it has no meaning. At best the film is so pointless that it creates a 'blank slate' where you can project any 'meaning' to it. Maybe Ana represents the lost hope of Latin American youths that wander through life. Maybe Ana is an embodiment of modern man losing faith in urban society and returning to local roots. Or maybe Ana y los otros was just a money grab on the part of the producer for government cultural art grants and filmed over the weekend in the director's back yard. We'll never know.
It's like watching clouds go by and trying to attach philosophical meaning to their shapes. In fact, watching clouds go by is a good way to describe watching this film.
Arrival of an Argentine Eric Rohmer
ahicks-28 September 2020
A lovely first film about a the transition of a young woman toward reminding of an old romance of a few years back. Protagonist Ana's psychological quest for reunion with Mariano is compellingly embodied by the captivating performance of Camila Toker, a quest vividly captured by the gracefully moving camera of director Celina Murga and her cinematographers. Ana's many encounters along harvests are as full of human nuanced and charm as those of a good early film by Eric Rohmer.
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