laneamala Reviews

Una noche (2012)

Brilliant little gem

[10/10 · 5 January 2014]

This film is brilliant on so many levels from the story, to character development, to script, cinematography and editing. It completely conveys the chaos and desperation of trying to escape an oppressive society, that in spite of the ties of family and community, makes life unbearable. Add to that the coming of age man loving man story in a homophobic Cuba and you can see why these two young men have to run away.

The story unfolds, unrolls, runs through myriad streets, chases, alley ways, emotional twists and turns all very organically. That is the talent of the director and editor to capture the texture of the lives of the characters in the life of Cuba.

I'm surprised this film didn't garner notice or awards as far as I could tell.

Definitely worth watching. It's a great example of contemporary neorealism or neo-neorealism! This could have been a film by Passolini.

Paradise: Love (2012)

Paradise: Ouch

[3/10 · 12 December 2013]

This film is certainly not for the faint of heart. A woman (a nurse). who is obsessive compulsive about cleanliness and who micromanages her daughter, escapes to Kenya for a vacation. She 'loves' her daughter and she wants 'love' from these male prostitutes. The whole concept is extremely sad. Maybe it is true that this is the human condition for some women but I just found it too offensive to watch. It made me sick to my stomach to see the racism and objectification going on. I disagree with other reviewers' descriptions of the sexual frankness and naturalness. The whole film is fraught with awkwardness and vulgarity. None of these characters is really there for love. It is a docu-drama on sexual exploitation and racism. And it reveals painfully the incredible imbalance of power that exists on this planet as well as the extreme lack of sexual maturity and ability to create intimacy in our lives. Eros permeates everything and is what can lead us to experience true intimacy and ecstasy. But when all is seen as an object for one's own pleasure, for an escape from pain, there is no eros, no love. Of course, the filmmaker isn't trying to show us true love. Obviously, this is about the whole problem of the emptiness in these women's lives. And perhaps it shows men who are into sex tourism just what they're doing better than if it were a male centric sex tourist film. But I find it so flat and I agree with one of the reviewers that that is because the director never takes a moment to allow even a bit of connection, true humanity to shine through. It's hard to find this scenario plausible because I can't believe that the only thing these woman want to do is get laid. But then again, I might be naive. Maybe that is all they want after all.

Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009)

Lyrical erotic thriller

[8/10 · 17 March 2013]

I knew nothing about this film or the director and thus had no expectations. I liked the film's title and the opening scene was very striking. I found the story to be a bit convoluted but was very drawn in by the main character, Ryu and her interactions with the two men in her life, one an enigmatic sound recordist and the other, the Spaniard who was the lover of the woman who killed herself and the man that Ryu is supposed to assassinate. She doesn't reveal herself to either man though both ask her to. So we also have no idea who she really is and why she does what she does. This mystery is part of the genre and as such, I accept it. It makes her all the more vulnerable as she begins to blossom through love's power.