This film isn't deserving of the excess of praise it has been lauded with. It's entertaining, thought provoking at times, but not by a long mile, a master piece.
The third short is the most exciting. I would have much preferred this story to have been a main feature length road movie. It captures beautifully the lush landscapes of Argentina, underscored by an 80s Giorgio Moroder music soundtrack. Leonardo Sbraglia is excellent in the lead and so is the insane brute, hot on his heels.
By the end of this third short however, the film has climaxed. And there's still more than 1,5 hours to follow. How is that time going to be filled?
More shorts follow where the corruption of humans is exposed and offset against pitch black humour. They are criticisms against sick modern day over-bureaucratic societies, in this case Argentina (but it could be transposed to most other parts of the world). It shows how people create hell for each other; and how some puncture that infernal catch 22 to cathartic effect. It does a decent enough job at it.
The 6th and last short film is a relentless frenzy of noise and visual chaos, and fittingly so, the story is also a convoluted mess. Unfortunately this short is the longest of them all. It makes the entire film end on a bum note for me. Annihilating all the goodwill, the director had garnered from me up until then.
It made me realise that at no single point during any of the shorts, had I been emotionally touched, nor did I have a moment of intellectual revelation. The film is made up of smoke and mirrors, hiding the fact that there's no heart in the film. Nor is it a product of a great mind; just some half-finished ideas strung together to add up to the duration of one long feature. It's simply one of those movies that a certain public must see and talk highly of, because it's a case of the Emperor's new clothes, really.
The third short is the most exciting. I would have much preferred this story to have been a main feature length road movie. It captures beautifully the lush landscapes of Argentina, underscored by an 80s Giorgio Moroder music soundtrack. Leonardo Sbraglia is excellent in the lead and so is the insane brute, hot on his heels.
By the end of this third short however, the film has climaxed. And there's still more than 1,5 hours to follow. How is that time going to be filled?
More shorts follow where the corruption of humans is exposed and offset against pitch black humour. They are criticisms against sick modern day over-bureaucratic societies, in this case Argentina (but it could be transposed to most other parts of the world). It shows how people create hell for each other; and how some puncture that infernal catch 22 to cathartic effect. It does a decent enough job at it.
The 6th and last short film is a relentless frenzy of noise and visual chaos, and fittingly so, the story is also a convoluted mess. Unfortunately this short is the longest of them all. It makes the entire film end on a bum note for me. Annihilating all the goodwill, the director had garnered from me up until then.
It made me realise that at no single point during any of the shorts, had I been emotionally touched, nor did I have a moment of intellectual revelation. The film is made up of smoke and mirrors, hiding the fact that there's no heart in the film. Nor is it a product of a great mind; just some half-finished ideas strung together to add up to the duration of one long feature. It's simply one of those movies that a certain public must see and talk highly of, because it's a case of the Emperor's new clothes, really.