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El método (2005)
Getting a job isn't easy these days
"The Method" begins with a group of executive job candidates arriving at an office to interview for an open executive position. They are informed that the interview process will use an obscure interview method designed to have the best candidate for the job rise to the occasion. The candidates play a series of games and discuss hypothetical situations until they are eventually whittled down to the final candidate.
Director Marcelo Pineyro did an excellent job converting "The Method" from play to film. The fact that the film takes place mostly in one room makes it an intrinsically difficult shoot to begin with. Instead of it being a problem due to a lack of action the confining setting allows the audience to pay attention to the cast and get to know them.
A movie of this kind has to have a strong cast to be effective, and the makers of the movie were very successful in locating one. Eduardo Noriega, Eduard Fernandez, and Pablo Echarri all turn in strong performances on a very confining set.
In addition to the job candidates themselves the film is also critical of corporations and how they can encourage this culture of cold blooded behavior. The complete lack of concern by the job candidates and executives as they look down on rioting protesters at the front of the building also speaks volumes.
"The Method" is ultimately a study of how cold and calculating people can be to achieve their goals. It is a quality film with a strong cast that deserves to be seen.
13 Tzameti (2005)
Highly effective and entertaining thriller
"13 Tzameti" follows Sebastien -played capably by George Babluani- as he struggles to find work in a small town. He gets a job roofing the house of a drug addict who has the misfortune of overdosing before Sebastien can finish, and subsequently paid. Luckily for Sebastien, before the drug addict dies he overhears him talking about a big money making job opportunity on the horizon. Sebastien comes into possession of the train ticket needed to get to the job, and decides to go down the rabbit hole. Unfortunately for Sebastien, he doesn't find a Wonderland, in fact quite the opposite. Before he knows what's going on he's in way over his head in a sinister world that he could never have known existed.
A French language film shot entirely in black and white, "13 Tzameti" is a skillfully captured film that is devoted to telling its twisted story. Director Gela Babluani (brother to star George) and cinematographer Tariel Meliava do not try to do too much with the camera, and succeed at developing extreme tension on screen without having gallons of blood or using other oft used thriller/horror movie surprises. It is pragmatic storytelling all the way here, and it is very effective. In fact, the audience feels that it is part of the story as details are revealed to us at the same time as Sebastien. As a result, "13 Tzameti" frequently has the look and feel of a documentary because of this technique.
The acting in "13 Tzameti" is extremely consistent, and sometimes very good indeed. George Babluani does a fine job as Sebastien while Philippe Passon delivers a very good (if abbreviated) performance as the drug addict whose death perpetuates the entire story. Pascal Bongard and Aurelien Recoing also give entertaining performances during the meat of the film.
13 Tzameti is a simple, but highly effective thriller that is a fine debut from director Gela Babluani. I look forward to watching more films from this clearly talented director.
Calvaire (2004)
Shocking, but not much more.
It's a hard life being a singer I'm told. In the film "Calvaire" we find out how difficult it truly can be. Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) is a singer who is working weddings and retirement homes. Things don't seem to be going too well for Marc as eighty year old women as well as their attendants decide to throw themselves at him. Unfortunately things get much worse for young Marc. On the way to his next gig, Marc's car breaks down in an out of the way hamlet, and he is forced to stay at an inn run by the lonely Bartel (Jackie Berroyer). Bartel takes a liking to the boy and decides that Marc will stick around whether he likes it or not. The worst part for Marc is that Bartel isn't even the worst citizen in town. What follows is a crash course in depravity for the singer.
"Calvaire" is not a movie that breaks boundaries. The comparison to movies such as "Deliverance", "Misery", and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" are fairly easy to make. Like the aforementioned films, "Calvaire" is a disturbing movie about kidnapping, violence, rape, and bestiality. What makes this movie different from others of its genre is the strong performance of Jackie Berroyer as Bartel. As the film progresses, the audience sees Bartel transform from a friendly but lonely inn keeper to a psychotic who misses his wife just a little too much. Unfortunately, Berroyer's fine performance is not enough. The appearance of the town's even less savory customers takes the film into a predictable and unfulfilling end.
Despite some problems with the story, and the fact that the movie was obviously shot on a limited budget, "Calvaire" does not suffer technically. Belgian director Fabri Du Welz did a good job utilizing the materials at hand and shot a thoroughly disturbing movie.
"Calvaire" is another example of the current trend of horror movies that go out of their way to shock people. Jackie Berroyer's performance does help to differentiate "Calvaire" from its peers, but ultimately it is not enough to make it a compelling film.
You're Gonna Miss Me (2005)
An interesting documentary that doesn't quite pay off
Roky Erickson and his band, the 13th Floor Elevators were a 60's rock band that seemed on the cusp of great success. They achieved a small amount of fame and this was greatly due to the power of Roky Erickson's voice. (It's very easy to believe that Janis Joplin was greatly influenced by Erickson as the film contends.) As with many other bands of the era, the group experimented heavily with psychedelic drugs. When Roky combined rampant drug use along with a preexisting mental illness he began behaving much more erratically, and slowly began fading away from society.
"You're Gonna Miss Me.." attempts to fill in what has happened to Roky in the twenty or so years since he disappeared from the public eye as well as show his current status. As it turns out, Erickson has been living in Austin under the care of his mother who has made him virtually unavailable to any other members of his family or doctors to help him with his illness. Indeed, one of the first times we see Roky today he is enraptured with a Mr. Potato Head doll. A huge rift has developed within his family, as it appears that Erickson's mother is also in dire need of some psychiatry as well. The creators of "You're Gonna Miss Me" have certainly chosen an interesting subject, and generally present it well. They did a fine job of capturing Roky, his living conditions, and his relationship with his mother. They also managed to locate more than enough footage throughout the years to document Roky's unraveling.
Despite the compelling material, there are a number of problems with the documentary. First, there is only passing attention paid to Erickson's father, brothers, or son. There was obviously much that had happened over the years between the family and Roky's mother that was not discussed during the documentary. I felt that those people had a lot to do with the story, but I was never allowed to really get to know them. There was even a remark made in passing during the film that Roky's father may have molested one or more of his sons, but for whatever reason the filmmakers chose not to investigate this further. The ending of the documentary left me wanting as well. There was a long period of time that Roky was in therapy and was taking medicine that the audience does not get to see. We jump from Roky being almost completely out of it to somewhat coherent months later. It would have been fascinating to see Erickson slowly reemerge. Although we get to see Roky pick up the guitar the guitar again, he clearly had a long way to go, and I'm sure the movie would have played better if the filmmakers had continued following Erickson for a while longer. Luckily the DVD bonus materials help achieve that sense of closure the film lacks.
The 13th Floor Elevators still have many fans today (some of them famous musician tons in their own right), and Erickson's fall into the depths of mental illness is an interesting and tragic one. The viewer can't help but feel that if the right actions had been taken at any number of critical times in Erickson's life that he might have avoided a large number of his problems.