By M
I sort of follow Fernando Meirelles since City of God. So I watched this without watching the trailer first or reading anything about it. I did see the long list of actors, which made me nervous. Not that I dislike any of them, but I said to myself “how is he going to make all those people fit”? The cast list includes names from all over the world (one of them being french comedian Jamel Debbouze)…which made me suspicious.
So, how does he make them all fit? Of course, there is only one answer to that in contemporary cinema: you tell a dozen stories and make people’s paths cross, à la Iñárritu. Well, ok. The stories are also à la Iñárritu: the innocent husband who doesn’t dare to cheat on his wife with a prostitute (who belongs to the mafia) while the wife is cheating on him with a young Brazilian photographer, whose girlfriend leaves, bla bla bla
The message: Nice-calm worlds are so close to nasty-tough words, we just don’t see it (and we should be told).
Why not.
Meirelles tries everything: he divides the screen, uses 21st century editing techniques (I won’t reveal these so that you can enjoy them), and gives a lot of thought to the idea of reflection (quelle coincidence!), image reflection of course. There are mirrors, shots through windows, doors, etc. He tries tons of different things. Some of them work, some others don’t, but they all surprise you, which is great.
Oh, I wondered if Haneke had seen this movie and whether that was why he gave Dinara Drukarova the role of the nurse in Amour. No, seriously, what is it with giving this poor girl only nurse roles? As for the rest of actors, well… Anthony Hopkins doesn’t play a psychopath despite a psychopath being present in the movie, Jude Law plays this “I used to be beautiful but I am so tired and bald, what do you want me to do?” frustrated/guilty (they come as a package) husband, Rachel Weisz plays the perfect successful woman, owner of a gallery (she is the perfect wife also, except she sleeps with a 25 year old — which makes you reflect on appearances, see?), Jamel Debbouze is the perfect muslim and Moritz Bleibtreu plays a cynical German. Believe me, I could go on.
Watch the trailer and see if you want to watch it, the experience is ok.
cucurbitacee 