After reading an article that said Gabriel Garcia Marques loved Guerra's vision of his story, I went to the theater with curiosity and was blown away.
Despite being a respected director adapting a famous author, with gorgeous visuals from one of Brazil's best cinematographer, the film was poorly released and quickly vanished from the few screens it was shown, the weirdness of it also scared a lot of critics and viewers but being a fan of Lynch and Cronenberg the film definitely 'clicked' with me. Guerra translated the feel of Marques' narrative very well (he adapted the Colombian writer a few times before so, he's actually comfortable doing it), it's a dense and sometimes obtuse look at several characters and the environment they're inserted, a decaying, rain-soaked village in the middle of nowhere, not a very subtle analogy to the community's own sick and twisted souls, but it helps to create an uncomfortable and effective setting.
Not all actors are at ease with the dialog though, which sticks a little too much to the original source, only the lead (Medeiros) and a few others seem to find the correct tone but the main star of the film is the narrative. I'll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but i can't review it without mentioning the bizarre twist that will screw the fragile minds of the audience: At certain points the director splits the time line, going back and forth showing different possibilities for certain situations, a bold extravagance that may lose some viewers but it's the point where the film jumps from 'cool' to 'great' for me. Hopefully it will be discovered by a new audience in the future.
Despite being a respected director adapting a famous author, with gorgeous visuals from one of Brazil's best cinematographer, the film was poorly released and quickly vanished from the few screens it was shown, the weirdness of it also scared a lot of critics and viewers but being a fan of Lynch and Cronenberg the film definitely 'clicked' with me. Guerra translated the feel of Marques' narrative very well (he adapted the Colombian writer a few times before so, he's actually comfortable doing it), it's a dense and sometimes obtuse look at several characters and the environment they're inserted, a decaying, rain-soaked village in the middle of nowhere, not a very subtle analogy to the community's own sick and twisted souls, but it helps to create an uncomfortable and effective setting.
Not all actors are at ease with the dialog though, which sticks a little too much to the original source, only the lead (Medeiros) and a few others seem to find the correct tone but the main star of the film is the narrative. I'll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but i can't review it without mentioning the bizarre twist that will screw the fragile minds of the audience: At certain points the director splits the time line, going back and forth showing different possibilities for certain situations, a bold extravagance that may lose some viewers but it's the point where the film jumps from 'cool' to 'great' for me. Hopefully it will be discovered by a new audience in the future.