I rate this in the middle because it requires a rating. I really think most American viewers will find it very boring, as it comes across as an art film with very little dialogue which usually are one sided conversations. The photography is not noteworthy IMHO, but very consistent.
One reviewer comments that the movie is about espionage. Perhaps in a very minimal way. The main character is a man who says very little. Often the only thing he says is the word "no." Always in response to "you don't speak Spanish, do you?" always the first question by a contact in a new city. The irony is that he is in Spain and they ask him in Spanish. Then they usually finish a monologue in English, which is an assumption that he understands. I think the opening phrase is merely a code phrase, not an odd coincidence.
There is often a black helicopter within each city, identified at one point as the American.
At the end of the movie, the American happens to be Bill Murray of all people whom the Man Who Speaks But Little kills him with a guitar string from an 90+ year old guitar. Bill Murray cries something about being brainwashed by Bohemian in art and music and reality seeming to be whatever the group the American represents is. The killer replies "reality is arbitrary."
The Man Who Speaks But Little returns to his starting point and changes from his characteristic suits to casual warm-up clothes, does he signify the common man?
Is this a message that the common man will overthrow the supposed control of world culture and media...showing both the limits of control that one group has upon art and thought? Does it simultaneously show the power or limits of control by the common man, or to limit the control over his perceptions and thoughts, the definition of art?
I am not a student of film per se, but one of life. I found this movie quirky but interesting enough to sit through the repetitiveness, waiting for the moments that are different and sometimes seem random but are obviously not. There are definite existential themes throughout the movie, especially with the phrase "la vida vale nada" repeated several times, which apparently in Spanish means "life means nothing."
If you enjoy analysis and interpretation of literature, theatre etc you may find a few hours of discussion about the meanings of this movie. This review is my own subjective interpretation. One user reviewer describes this as a Zen masterpiece. I'm not an expert in Zen but if it means contradiction, I would have to agree for I think the writer or director is saying this movie is about this and this and this but it is also about nothing. In Zen, it is said control is an illusion, which speaks to the title about the limits of control, the limits of illusion. The world is Maya, also translatable as illusion. Since the world is illusion, you need not worry over anything which happens within, only act as if it matters, meaning doing the right thing but do not let the outcome trouble your harmony.
One reviewer comments that the movie is about espionage. Perhaps in a very minimal way. The main character is a man who says very little. Often the only thing he says is the word "no." Always in response to "you don't speak Spanish, do you?" always the first question by a contact in a new city. The irony is that he is in Spain and they ask him in Spanish. Then they usually finish a monologue in English, which is an assumption that he understands. I think the opening phrase is merely a code phrase, not an odd coincidence.
There is often a black helicopter within each city, identified at one point as the American.
At the end of the movie, the American happens to be Bill Murray of all people whom the Man Who Speaks But Little kills him with a guitar string from an 90+ year old guitar. Bill Murray cries something about being brainwashed by Bohemian in art and music and reality seeming to be whatever the group the American represents is. The killer replies "reality is arbitrary."
The Man Who Speaks But Little returns to his starting point and changes from his characteristic suits to casual warm-up clothes, does he signify the common man?
Is this a message that the common man will overthrow the supposed control of world culture and media...showing both the limits of control that one group has upon art and thought? Does it simultaneously show the power or limits of control by the common man, or to limit the control over his perceptions and thoughts, the definition of art?
I am not a student of film per se, but one of life. I found this movie quirky but interesting enough to sit through the repetitiveness, waiting for the moments that are different and sometimes seem random but are obviously not. There are definite existential themes throughout the movie, especially with the phrase "la vida vale nada" repeated several times, which apparently in Spanish means "life means nothing."
If you enjoy analysis and interpretation of literature, theatre etc you may find a few hours of discussion about the meanings of this movie. This review is my own subjective interpretation. One user reviewer describes this as a Zen masterpiece. I'm not an expert in Zen but if it means contradiction, I would have to agree for I think the writer or director is saying this movie is about this and this and this but it is also about nothing. In Zen, it is said control is an illusion, which speaks to the title about the limits of control, the limits of illusion. The world is Maya, also translatable as illusion. Since the world is illusion, you need not worry over anything which happens within, only act as if it matters, meaning doing the right thing but do not let the outcome trouble your harmony.