All posts filed under: (un)filmed

movies / películas

‘Beautiful Boy’: A true story of addiction and hope

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Looking for your teenage son on the streets when he doesn’t come home can be an excruciating experience. It’s a recurring one for David Sheff (Steve Carell). His son, Nic Sheff (Timothée Chalamet), tends to disappear when he is high.   The movie “Beautiful Boy” is the story of father and son, David and Nic Sheff, and their ongoing battle with Nic’s drug dependency. The script is based on two memoirs: “Beautiful Boy,” by David Sheff and “Tweak,” by Nic Sheff.   The movie tries to blend two perspectives of addiction: one from a father who is constantly trying to help his addicted son and the other from the son, who tries to stay sober only to relapse. The story is a reminder that when someone is addicted to a substance it affects their entire family.   From the first scene, David is trying to help Nic, who is doing crystal meth. He wants to know more about his son’s drug addiction, in an attempt to help him. We go back to the previous year …

‘A Star is Born’: A Heartfelt Remake

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Fame, talent and love are at the heart of the new reincarnation of “A Star is Born.” The film marks Bradley Cooper’s impressive directorial debut. He also co-wrote the screenplay, composed original songs for the film and produced it. His female counterpart is the pop superstar Lady Gaga. She fills in the shoes of previous divas who took on the role: Judy Garland in 1954 and Barbra Streisand in 1976. The story has been told previously in three movies but this version feels particularly personal and grand. The movie follows the love story between Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) and Ally (Lady Gaga). They meet in a drag queen bar where she is the only performer singing live. Ally sings a cover of “La Vie en Rose.” Jackson is mesmerized by her performance and meets her backstage. While he is waiting for her, he sings to an audience of a few drag queens. Ally watches him from afar and an instant connection is made through their love of music. They go out into the night, get …

‘All About Nina’: the movie that echoes a movement

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“All About Nina,” featured in the Spotlight Screening at the Boston Women’s Film Festival at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge during the last week of September, is the dramedy that reiterates the current #MeToo climate. The festival’s main goal is to highlight female-centric stories directed by women. This year, it offered 16 films made in 2017 and 2018 from China, New Zealand, Indonesia and the U.S. with two venues at the Boston Museum of Modern Arts and The Brattle Theatre. They also added two previously released films to the festival’s schedule. “All About Nina” tells the story of stand-up comedian Nina Geld, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Nina writes her set around her own bad decisions and performs it with coarse jokes. The director, Eva Vives, who also wrote the screenplay, based Nina’s struggles on her own life experience. Vives was not a stand-up comedian, but she was a regular audience member in New York stand-up shows when she was younger. She has previously said that attending these shows helped her come to grips to what happened to …

‘Blaze’: The Forgotten Troubadour

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Country music’s best kept secret might just be Blaze Foley. The singer-songwriter who died at 39 from a gunshot wound in 1989 is the topic of Ethan Hawke’s latest directorial cinematic work, Blaze. The movie is based on Blaze’s partner and muse Sybil Rosen’s memoir “Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley.” Hawke and Rosen co-wrote the screenplay. The movie diverges from the usual chronological structure of a biopic. Hawke took a chance in showing specific periods of Foley’s life that let the audience see a complex character. The narrative is divided in the past when Rosen, played by Alia Shawkat, and Foley, interpreted by newcomer Ben Dickey, lived in a tree house. The warm colors and idyllic montages show a dreamer in the cusp of looking for something bigger. When Blaze and Sybil leave their home to look for better opportunities, Blaze says to Sybil, “I don’t want to be a star, I want to be a legend.” The movie goes back and forth with Blaze’s performing his repertoire to an indifferent …

Swiss Army Man

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The experience of watching Swiss Army Man can be summed up by the last quote of the movie, “What the fuck?” The movie that caused walkouts during its first screening at Sundance is pretty weird. However, a beautiful and well-soundtracked narrative drives its strangeness. The movie starts with garbage floating across the sea. Messages like “I’m so bored. I don’t want to die alone. Help me.” can be seen scribbled on juice boxes and a little boat made out of trash. Hank (Paul Dano), lost on a deserted island, is humming quietly while he adjusts the rope around his neck. But he sees someone (Daniel Radcliffe) wash ashore. Soon enough, Hank realizes the body is a flatulent corpse and returns to his suicidal start point. Before he gives the deadly step, the corpse farts its way into the sea. Hank runs while his joyous chants blend with the soundtrack. He mounts the corpse and uses his farts to propel him to safety. After, this first scene you know you have something special on your hands. …

Coraline

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Coraline is an unexpected, different and utterly beautiful, stop-motion animated movie. It’s based on the book with the same name written by Neil Gaiman. Henry Selick, who directed “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” headed this movie. Selick creates a magical world, which not only Coraline wants to get lost in but anyone who gets a peek will do too. The unlikely road of Coraline to the big screen starts with the book it’s based on. Coraline is a children’s book that many have found a bit disturbing. The story gets darker and more adventurous as you go along. It might be because it’s not all yellow brick roads or chocolate factories. Maybe is the lack of adult supervision that 80s kids enjoyed, or the other mother’s macabre plan. Neil Gaiman always thought of Coraline as a kids’ story, which he wrote for her daughters. However, his literary agent, Merrilee Heifetz, thought the book was too scary for kids. Gaiman suggested that she should read it to her daughters, aged eight and six at the time, and …

Inside Out

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La nueva película animada de Pixar “Inside Out” (Intensa Mente) es un nuevo territorio para su animación. Después de películas animadas, ahora clásicas, como “Toy Story”, “Up”, “Finding Nemo”, Pixar se ha hecho de una buena reputación en cuanto a historias animadas. Siempre esperamos que la historia nos sorprenda, impresione y sobre todo nos mueva. Su objetivo principal, que sólo se puede apreciar en retrospectiva como adulto, es que la película se vuelva un hito de nuestra infancia. Mi generación fue marcada por todas las películas de Disney como “El Rey León”, “La Bella y la Bestia” y cuando la animación tomó un paso más con “Toy Story” nuestros juguetes tomaron un nuevo significado. Probablemente la audiencia que disfrutó más “Toy Story 3” fueron los veinteañeros que se regocijaban en la nostalgia de sus juguetes y lo que implica dejar tu infancia atrás. “Inside Out” no se perderá en la historia de las películas animadas de Pixar, después de varios años de creación ha restablecido a la compañía como la más innovadora. La película es …

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

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Existen muchas películas apocalípticas que generalmente consisten en las historias de los hombres y mujeres que tratan de salvar a la Tierra, lográndolo la mayoría de las veces. La acción es espectacular pero siempre olvidan al resto de los habitantes del planeta que no abordan las misiones espaciales. “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”, el título es bastante explícito acerca de la trama, empieza cuando la misión para salvar al planeta ha fallado y el fin de la humanidad es eminente. ¿Qué sucede cuándo sabes que los días de la humanidad están contados? Orgías, drogas, sexo, arrepentimiento y la oportunidad rehacer tu vida en los pocos días que te quedan. Dodge (Steve Carell) descubre que su esposa es en realidad sólo su compañera de casa y no sabe lo que quiere para el final de sus días. Mientras que su vecina Penny (Keira Knightley) sólo quiere regresar a Inglaterra para estar con su familia pero llegó 15 minutos tarde al último vuelo. A causa de un disturbio en las calles sus vidas …

Into The Wild

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La historia de Christopher Johnson McCandless fue llevada a la pantalla grande en el 2007 por Sean Penn, quien la escribió y dirigió. La película está basada en el libro con el mismo nombre “Into The Wild” de Jon Krakauer, quien primero escribió un artículo sobre la odisea de McCandless para la revista Outside. No fue suficiente para Krakauer, la historia resonaba demasiado para él porque se asimilaba a sus propias experiencias en Alaska. Con la ayuda de la familia McCandless, Krakauer siguió los pasos que alguna vez Chris McCandless tomó. Aunque en el camino era mejor conocido como Alexander Supertramp. Krakauer conoció a varias personas que cruzaron caminos con “Alex” y permitieron formar un mejor retrato de quien era McCandless que de otro manera se hubiera perdido en the wilderness. Después de 10 años de espera, Sean Penn obtuvo el permiso de la familia para hacer la película. El resultado fue una obra donde el compromiso por contar esta historia es evidente en cada detalle. En el libro Krakauer quiere explicar por qué McCandless …

Inception

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En el 2010, entre “The Dark Knight” (2008) y “The Dark Knight Rises”, Christopher Nolan era el constante tema de conversación por su filme “Inception”. La película de los múltiples niveles de sueños que impresionó a muchos y enojó a otros. En la ciudad de México, Warner Bros. tuvo problemas con las dos distribuidoras de cine mexicanas y se rehusaron a exhibir la película. La tercera cadena, ahora inexistente, era la única que la tenía en cartelera. Las colas eran interminables y debías llegar horas antes para conseguir boletos. Cuando la película terminó, recuerdo que mi primera palabra fue: “wow”. No podía creer lo que había visto, la historia, los lugares y los efectos a esa escala no se comparaban con nada de lo que había visto antes. Nolan describe “Inception” como una heist movie por que Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) reúne un equipo para originar una idea dentro de la mente de Robert Fisher (Cillian Murphy). Una vez que aceptas la premisa de que pueden entrar en el subconsciente de alguien, te rindes ante un …