A world premiere in the official competition, Carlos Saura's "Salome" is a dance film that may lack the broad appeal (or overall visual razzle-dazzle) of his Oscar nominee "Tango", but it's another exhilarating exercise in cinema that stands out in a crowd. Fans of the director's oeuvre and ballet aficionados should dance their way to art houses as it makes its way around the world.
Initially conceived as a stage-only work about the biblical story of Salome, King Herod and John the Baptist, Saura's film grew out of his collaboration with Spanish dancer and choreographer Aida Gomez, who plays the title role. With a little fictionalizing in the documentarylike first half-hour -- Pere Arquillue plays the director of a new flamenco version of the Salome story that is gearing up for its first performance -- the movie is climaxed by the dialogue-free, approximately 50-minute ballet.
In the setup, we're made privy through interviews and voice-overs to the creative process and choices that go into staging "Salome". The simple set with three background panels, the lighting, the costumes, the choreography, a little background on Gomez and Javier Toca, who dances John the Baptist, all add up to a smooth intro to the main event.
With music by Roque Banos that incorporates flamenco rhythms and other influences -- with the beautiful guitar playing of Tomatito -- the ballet's story line is simple and evocative of its timeless themes of jealousy, sex and death. When Salome, in a sizzling red dress, seems to succeed at seducing John the Baptist but is then rejected, the bodies and facial expressions say much more than words. When she next performs for stepfather King Herod (Paco Mora) in the dance of veils, with her mother Herodias (Carmen Villena) encouraging her, there's a sensual energy that sweeps one toward the shocking request she makes when it is over.
Likewise, Salome's dance around the severed head of the Baptist is done with such artful artifice one feels the waves of longing and regret that her anger has caused such a fateful crime. Frequently contrasting the dancers with "a real time retro-projection" of the dance in progress, Saura and cinematographers Jose Luis Lopez-Linares and Teo Delgado have fashioned a consistently eye-catching project that triumphs from having such a luminous talent as Gomez in nearly every sequence.
SALOME
Zebra Producciones
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Carlos Saura
Producer: Antonio Saura
Executive producer: Saura Medrano
Choreographers: Jose Antonio, Aida Gomez
Directors of photography: Jose Luis Lopez-Linares, Teo Delgado
Editor: Julia Juaniz
Music: Roque Banos
Costume designer: Pedro Moreno
Cast:
Salome: Aida Gomez
The Director: Pere Arquillue
Herod: Paco Mora
Herodias: Carmen Villena
John the Baptist: Javier Toca
Running time -- 86 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Initially conceived as a stage-only work about the biblical story of Salome, King Herod and John the Baptist, Saura's film grew out of his collaboration with Spanish dancer and choreographer Aida Gomez, who plays the title role. With a little fictionalizing in the documentarylike first half-hour -- Pere Arquillue plays the director of a new flamenco version of the Salome story that is gearing up for its first performance -- the movie is climaxed by the dialogue-free, approximately 50-minute ballet.
In the setup, we're made privy through interviews and voice-overs to the creative process and choices that go into staging "Salome". The simple set with three background panels, the lighting, the costumes, the choreography, a little background on Gomez and Javier Toca, who dances John the Baptist, all add up to a smooth intro to the main event.
With music by Roque Banos that incorporates flamenco rhythms and other influences -- with the beautiful guitar playing of Tomatito -- the ballet's story line is simple and evocative of its timeless themes of jealousy, sex and death. When Salome, in a sizzling red dress, seems to succeed at seducing John the Baptist but is then rejected, the bodies and facial expressions say much more than words. When she next performs for stepfather King Herod (Paco Mora) in the dance of veils, with her mother Herodias (Carmen Villena) encouraging her, there's a sensual energy that sweeps one toward the shocking request she makes when it is over.
Likewise, Salome's dance around the severed head of the Baptist is done with such artful artifice one feels the waves of longing and regret that her anger has caused such a fateful crime. Frequently contrasting the dancers with "a real time retro-projection" of the dance in progress, Saura and cinematographers Jose Luis Lopez-Linares and Teo Delgado have fashioned a consistently eye-catching project that triumphs from having such a luminous talent as Gomez in nearly every sequence.
SALOME
Zebra Producciones
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Carlos Saura
Producer: Antonio Saura
Executive producer: Saura Medrano
Choreographers: Jose Antonio, Aida Gomez
Directors of photography: Jose Luis Lopez-Linares, Teo Delgado
Editor: Julia Juaniz
Music: Roque Banos
Costume designer: Pedro Moreno
Cast:
Salome: Aida Gomez
The Director: Pere Arquillue
Herod: Paco Mora
Herodias: Carmen Villena
John the Baptist: Javier Toca
Running time -- 86 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Director Francisco J. Lombardi is a favorite at the Miami Film Festival, and his thriller "Bajo La Piel" (Under the Skin), which received its U.S. premiere at this year's 14th edition, is a good illustration why.
A riveting portrait of a serial killer in a small Peruvian village and the devastating psychological transformation of the local police chief investigating the case, the film is probably a bit too exotic in its setting for significant domestic consumption. Change the setting to, say, a sleepy Southern town and cast a top star, and it would be ripe for an American remake.
A series of severed heads, all those of young men and all missing their eyeballs, shows up in the Peruvian town of Palle, and young chief of police Percy Corso (Jose Luis Ruiz Barahona) doesn't even have a suspect. During the investigation, he's distracted by the presence of the extremely beautiful new coroner, Marina (Ana Risueno), who seduces him for a torrid outdoor encounter but promptly drops him afterward.
Since the murders have a ritualistic bent, Percy asks the local archaeology expert for advice. Professor Catalino (Gianfranco Brero) is a specialist in the pre-Inca culture of the region, and when the murder weapon turns out to be in one of his exhibits, he's promptly arrested.
In the meantime, the chief is becoming unhinged with jealousy as Marina takes up with the wastrel son of the town mayor. One evening, he returns to the station house to find the professor an apparent suicide; he cuts the body down and takes advantage of the situation to precipitate some violent mayhem of his own.
Director Lombardi weaves a tight storytelling web and creates a superbly tension-filled psychological thriller that keeps the audience guessing throughout. Augusto Cabada's screenplay attempts to explore the dark impulses that can induce a seemingly normal person to commit horrific acts of violence, and he succeeds in a surprisingly credible and absorbing fashion.
Even though the plot has holes big enough to drive a truck through, the film is so beautifully nuanced that one is willing to overlook the lapses. It has an ambiguity and unwillingness to tie up loose ends that is refreshing in this era of by-the-numbers storytelling. It's a compelling horror film for adults.
Ruiz Barahona is a quietly powerful presence in the lead role, and Risueno sizzles as the sultry coroner.
BAJO LA PIEL (UNDER THE SKIN)
Alta Films
Director Francisco J. Lombardi
Screenplay Augusto Cabada
Producers Gerardo Herrero,
Javier Lopez Blanco
Executive producer Mariela Besuievsky
Director of photography Teo Delgado
Music Beingen Medizabal
Editor Fernando Pardo
Color
Cast:
Marina Ana Risueno
Percy Corso Jose Luis Ruiz Barahona
Gino Leyva Diego Bertie
Catalino Pinto Gianfranco Brero
Fausto Leyva Jorge Rodriguez Paz
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A riveting portrait of a serial killer in a small Peruvian village and the devastating psychological transformation of the local police chief investigating the case, the film is probably a bit too exotic in its setting for significant domestic consumption. Change the setting to, say, a sleepy Southern town and cast a top star, and it would be ripe for an American remake.
A series of severed heads, all those of young men and all missing their eyeballs, shows up in the Peruvian town of Palle, and young chief of police Percy Corso (Jose Luis Ruiz Barahona) doesn't even have a suspect. During the investigation, he's distracted by the presence of the extremely beautiful new coroner, Marina (Ana Risueno), who seduces him for a torrid outdoor encounter but promptly drops him afterward.
Since the murders have a ritualistic bent, Percy asks the local archaeology expert for advice. Professor Catalino (Gianfranco Brero) is a specialist in the pre-Inca culture of the region, and when the murder weapon turns out to be in one of his exhibits, he's promptly arrested.
In the meantime, the chief is becoming unhinged with jealousy as Marina takes up with the wastrel son of the town mayor. One evening, he returns to the station house to find the professor an apparent suicide; he cuts the body down and takes advantage of the situation to precipitate some violent mayhem of his own.
Director Lombardi weaves a tight storytelling web and creates a superbly tension-filled psychological thriller that keeps the audience guessing throughout. Augusto Cabada's screenplay attempts to explore the dark impulses that can induce a seemingly normal person to commit horrific acts of violence, and he succeeds in a surprisingly credible and absorbing fashion.
Even though the plot has holes big enough to drive a truck through, the film is so beautifully nuanced that one is willing to overlook the lapses. It has an ambiguity and unwillingness to tie up loose ends that is refreshing in this era of by-the-numbers storytelling. It's a compelling horror film for adults.
Ruiz Barahona is a quietly powerful presence in the lead role, and Risueno sizzles as the sultry coroner.
BAJO LA PIEL (UNDER THE SKIN)
Alta Films
Director Francisco J. Lombardi
Screenplay Augusto Cabada
Producers Gerardo Herrero,
Javier Lopez Blanco
Executive producer Mariela Besuievsky
Director of photography Teo Delgado
Music Beingen Medizabal
Editor Fernando Pardo
Color
Cast:
Marina Ana Risueno
Percy Corso Jose Luis Ruiz Barahona
Gino Leyva Diego Bertie
Catalino Pinto Gianfranco Brero
Fausto Leyva Jorge Rodriguez Paz
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.