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Reviews
Átame! (1989)
Revolting, sexist film
*** SPOILERS -- ENTIRE PLOT REVEALED ***
There have been people here who have called this film sexist with a dangerous message, and others who insist this is a figment of the imagination.
These are the facts of what this film expects us to believe:
A woman is forcibly kidnapped at her home. She is threatened with a knife, and when she screams, she is given a brutal headbutt, knocking out one of her teeth, swelling up her cheek, leaving her face gashed and bleeding. She loses consciousness. When she regains consciousness, she is continually tied up with rope to her bed, and her mouth is always kept shut with tape. Her abductor claims he has the right to kidnap her because they had sexual relations within the previous year. He is physically and verbally abusive to her. He instructs her to call her mother, and then threatens that he will slit both their throats if she tries to tell her mother she is kidnapped. She is treated like an animal in a cage. Her abductor insists, though, that he "simply wants her to get to know him" and that once she knows him, she will see how adorable he is and fall in love with him. He also tells her he's spent his entire life in mental hospitals, but she apparently takes little note of this fact. However, she tells him she will "never love him" and that he is wasting his time. Yet he persists, taking every rebuff and rejection as a sign to pursue even further, to never give up.
Miraculously, our abductor's plan works! After a couple days, he returns to her after he was beaten to a pulp and robbed on the street. (Of course, this was in retaliation to a robbery at knifepoint committed by him previously.) While she is tending his open sores, she begins to complain openly about the "animals" which did this to him. She starts to caress his body while she tends his wounds, and before long she is kissing his open sores, and not long after that she's telling him "don't come" and "don't pull it out yet" while she screams in ecstatic pleasure to his pounding. After they have sex, she tells him, "Ah, yes. NOW I remember you." Remember, boys, THAT'S the way to get a woman to remember you. After all, a woman NEVER forgets a good f**king. After the woman is rescued and finds herself safe among family and friends, what does she do? Call the police? Press charges? Start her way through a painful emotional process? NO! The first thing she does is go out and find her Cary Grant so she can bring him back to meet the family! Cary Grant gets the girl! They all drive off into a sunset (REALLY!) and live happily ever after. THE frigging END.
These are just the facts of the film. It's a nice story. I'll let you come to your own conclusions.
Having known women friends who have been physically and verbally abused, stalked for months, and harassed while dating, this film was anything but funny. While no one in their right mind will walk away with the impression that kidnapping and assault will win a woman's heart, the impression will be formed in the subconscious (especially upon the young and impressionable) that yeah, she really does want it rough; yeah, she really does want you to force her around; yeah, they all like the bad boys after all; and yeah, "no" really means "yes", they just don't realize it. People mention S&M in regard to this movie. Irrelevant -- people who practice S&M do so based on trust and loving relationships; kidnapping is based on fear, mistrust, and violent force. The two are polar opposites of each other.
Even the scenes of sex and nudity are unnecessary and distracting. Wow, women masturbate. How shocking. Wow, people sweat and moan during sex. How exciting. None of it advances the plot much. The scenes only seem to be there to get that artsy-fartsy NC-17 rating, which supposedly adds a touch of class and respectability to an otherwise boring and tedious film.
Prime Suspect 2 (1992)
Nearly flawless
Television has never been considered "high art", but this 4-hour miniseries is about as close to that as you're going to find. When I first saw this series several years ago, I said it was the finest television miniseries I'd ever seen (so, longer-running series like I Claudius don't fall into this category). I recently saw it again, and I stand by my original opinion. Virtually every aspect of this series is exception and memorable -- an intricate, intriguing detective story, finely-drawn characters, subtle probing of psychological, social, and racial issues, remarkable acting, original and impressive cinematography, incredible editing, clear direction...even great costume design and an unforgettable musical score. This series was as riveting to me the second time I saw it as the first, and I constantly noticed many nuances and attention to detail which I missed the first time. This is a remarkable film, which stands up to repeated viewing and can be enjoyed on many levels. I can't recommend it enough. You won't be disappointed. (And I really don't engage in such hyperbole often...see some of my other reviews!)
Blow Out (1981)
Entertaining, but overrated
Imagine you're the only witness to an "accidental" drowning. Not only are you the only witness, you have a recording of the drowning as well. Then imagine you're told you should forget about the whole thing, keep your mouth shut, and return to life as if nothing happened.
This is the situation in which John Travolta finds himself at the beginning of Blow Out, an entertaining film which has its moments, but ultimately suffers from bad writing and a preposterous ending.
After witnessing the drowning of a potential Presidential nominee (think Chappaquidick), Travolta is suspicious of foul play for at least two reasons. First, he was told to keep quiet. This would be enough to make most people suspicious. But Travolta has other evidence -- his own recording of the drowning and his own memory of the "accident". As a sound effects man for B-movies, Travolta is familiar with the subtleties of recorded sound, and his recording convinces him there is more to the accident than simple adultery and drunk driving. Of course, he's right.
The most positive element of the film is Travolta himself. He manages to center and ground the film, something which nothing else in the film is able to achieve. He's great to watch -- especially during the opening scene of the film, in which (thankfully) there is no dialogue. He makes the most of what's given to him, and his presence is formidable. It was his performance that kept my interest.
Beyond this, however, I'm at a loss to understand all the generous praise heaped upon this film. In particular, I found the music distracting and irratating. Does every important scene have to be manipulated into an operatic gesture? The plot itself isn't too focused. There is a "slasher" subplot which seems to serve no purpose at all. Some of the dialogue is ridiculous, including a scene between Travolta and Allen which takes perhaps 5-7 minutes, but seems to last an hour and a half, while Allen describes the nuances of cosmetics and Travolta recalls his previous work.
The movie starts with a good idea, but never really seems to develop it much. Although it's entertaining, I didn't care much about anyone except Travolta. Especially not Allen, whose character is written as the stereotypical dumb blonde.
I won't say much about the ending, except that it's incredibly unique. Whether that's good or bad is your own opinion. I was laughing during the ending, which (I presume) I wasn't supposed to be doing. Maybe I haven't seen enough Wagner. ;)
If you're looking for light entertainment, I give a marginal recommendation. If you're looking for more substance and consistency, I have to recommend The Conversation, a far more powerful and disturbing examination of voyeurism...and its consequences.
-- 5 starts out of 10
Scream (1996)
Neither scary nor funny
First of all, I should say up-front that I'm not a horror movie fan. Horror movies have never appealed to me much, and I find most of them rather boring. There are a few horror movies which I do think are excellent, for instance Poltergeist, The Exorcist, and Silence of the Lambs. In general, however, the appeal of the horror genre is a puzzle to me.
With this in mind, I rented Scream with an open mind. I knew nothing about the movie itself, except that it had gathered good reviews. I wanted to be scared and entertained. As it turned out, neither wish came true.
Scream is a movie ABOUT movies and the people who watch them. Specifically, Scream is a movie about horror movies and the people who watch horror movies. I didn't know this beforehand, although it became clear soon itself. A killer is on the loose, and Neve Campbell appears to be the primary target. Of course, this isn't what the movie is all about. The plot is merely a vehicle for the main characters, who all seem to be extremely knowledgeable horror movie fans. Throughout the film, they endlessly discuss and remark about horror movies, making references to famous films and well-known devices in the horror genre.
The satire didn't work for me. I'm sure this has something to do with the fact I'm not a horror fan. Or perhaps the satire worked too well. Within minutes of the first scene, I was certain I was watching a "movie within a movie". When the credits never rolled and the lights never rose on a sea of teenage moviegoers, I realized this was satire. I sulked and hoped for the best.
Unfortunately, even the humor which I understood well seemed heavy-handed and spoon-fed. Then again, some of the cliches and devices of the horror genre are so glaringly obvious that it might be difficult to satirize them at all, without appearing heavy-handed in the process.
The main characters painstakingly point out all the "mistakes" which the characters in horror movies typically make. Then, they go on and make the same mistakes themselves. I suppose this is in keeping in line with the rest of the satire, but it doesn't make for a very entertaining story. When Neve Campbell undresses for her boyfriend, she fails to reveal her top to the camera, and this exception only serves to highlight the rule of how closely the main characters mimic the characters they see. After all, as is pointed out, "there's always a *** shot".
Many people describe this as a "scary" movie. To be honest, I've been more frightened at the thought of an upcoming topology midterm than I was frightened by this movie. It was anything but scary. In order for a movie to be scary, anticipation must be built up. As Hitchcock said, (modulo a slight paraphrase), "Terror is achieved by anticipation of the event, NOT the event itself." Scream is all event and no anticipation. There's nothing scary about watching teenagers get chased around and hacked to bits.
This is just my opinion, of course. You should take into account my lack of interest and knowledge in the horror genre in general. If you're a great horror fan, and you know a lot about horror movies, you may very well like this movie. Myself, I'm not a horror fan, and I found it quite boring and tedious. If you're interested in a movie ABOUT the movies, I would recommend The Player, which was far more clever. If you're interested in being scared out of your wits, watch the original Dutch version of The Vanishing. Now THAT'S a scary movie.
-- 4 out of 10 stars