La dama regresa (1996) User Reviews

Miss Sarli deserves better... and so does the public!

[whatsupomar · 1/10 · 5 February 2008]

I guess Mr. Polanco must have seen "Sextette," that 1978 embarrassment that brought back Mae West at age 80+ as a sex siren in full swing. He probably thought "if they can get away with it in the U.S. I can do the same here" so he fetched retired film star Isabel Sarli, Argentina's most outstanding contribution to the Grade Z sexexplotation genre and built a movie around her. The fact that the lady is past 60 years old doesn't seem to bother him so he dresses her up in what he hopes is an elegant and sexy wardrobe, makes her stand in ridiculously designed sets, surrounded by exotic motifs and eye-catching props and proceeds to photograph her under diffused lighting through camera lenses that contain several layers of filters. So much for the director's creativity. Miss Sarli seems quite embarrassed by all the gimmicks and it gets to the point when one feels sorry for her and decides to give the film a chance. Then you realize that the screenplay is also a disaster, that the proceedings are too slow to sustain life and that the whole thing is just one big messy waste of time. The saddest thing is that Polanco, with a little imagination and a team of good comedy writers could have done a nice, entertaining take-off of the awful films Miss Sarli did in her youth under the direction of her husband Armando Bo. It could have redeemed her by highlighting her sense of humor instead of her boobs, but not such a luck. Mr. Polanco seems too fascinated by the fact that he lured the retired star back from oblivion without really knowing what to do with her. Pity!

An abstract touch of Fellini

[personaa_grataa · 8/10 · 23 March 2007]

I watched 5-6 films by Jorge Polaco in Pune International film festival. It was quite strange that polaco is not very much known in the world. His films, including this title also are a unique opportunity to watch human's relations, Sex and Psychologic issues from a very different perspective. I highly recommend his films to anyone who plans to watch a film seriously and considers cinema as a medium to broaden horizon of his/her thoughts. Polaco is definitely a very talented film director who has a very deep understanding of the medium and is aware of all the elements he uses in his frames. Uses of architecture, colors and internal elements in his shots are very intelligent.