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F I N D I N G - N E M O

2003.andrew STANTON

5.0/5.0

a story about death that flirts with many genres and delivers a movie full of love, almost a decade after its release we can confirm that this film is an all-time classic.

seasondays fifth spring film festival

W E S T - S I D E - S T O R Y

1961.robert WISE [& jerome ROBBINS]

5.0/5.0

a masterpiece, no doubt; it is an energetic and intense picture that lifts an already outstanding musical to a whole new level, a cinematic level.

it is not just another adaptation of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’s ROMEO & JULIET; yes, it is the same love story between a man and a woman that come from different backgrounds but unlike most adaptations this film explores the hard relationships between gangs in a society where cultures [or races] have migrated from their home countries.

it is not the serious picture the screenplay might suggest but a colorful and dynamic experience that takes full advantage of this audiovisual medium; no other movie has been smart enough to use the screen as a window into the stage but being playful enough to use as many camera angles and shots as possible without creating a chaotic product.

the fact that this film is very well acted and features an ensemble of actors that fifty years later are still not famous just shows how good a job the directors did.

in a SENTENCE: an outstanding masterpiece that most people miss, a musical like no other that is not the average cheesy and corny love story.

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L E B A N O N

2009.samuel MAOZ

5.0/5.0

claustrophobic and explosive, this film is a force to be reckoned with; set in a day inside a tank it follows the story of a platoon of soldiers exploring their emotions and thoughts.

SSDS 2010 IN REVIEW: the [extra] film that define my year + DIRECTING + ENSEMBLE + PRODUCTION DESIGN

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#53MUESTRA INTERNACIONAL DE LA CINETECA

E L E N A

2011.andrey ZVYAGINTSEV

5.0/5.0

without a doubt this movie is minimal and simple but it does ring a lot of bells; featuring an extraordinary performance by NADEZHDA MARKINA this film is an achievement in every regard.

seasondays fourth spring film festival

M U L H O L L A N D - D R I V E

2001.david LYNCH

5.0/5.0

i could have never guess that my very first time watching the picture would be in a movie theater where i believe is the perfect place to watch any and every movie.

i was expecting to be shocked and surprised and the movie did exceeded by wildest expectations even though i was shocked and surprised in a completely different way.

after some laughs and some scares i was starting to wonder why everyone thought that this film was so surreal because by that point every thing was completely comprehensible, of course, the main characters have to visit that club and after that point magic happened and this film became a trip.

the movie magic is perhaps the fact that it is all comfortable and under control until that very climatic event and scene that will drive you mad, but when looking back at those happy times you find the whole experience strangely uncomfortable and you will try to take control.

the movie magic then relies so much on the directing that you [have to] start wondering whether that bright and glowing atmosphere is the result of an overly optimistic view of NAOMI WATTS world or it is all a dreamlike/hypnotic parallel universe imagined by LAURA ELENA HARRING.

like many other films in the director’s filmography you will find many almost completely reasonable explanations but i will always understand this film as a tale told by a child.

i would go as far as to declare that this film is perhaps another fable in LYNCH’s repertory teaching the little pros and the many cons of HOLLYWOOD, a legend or myth of TINSELTOWN.

i would also go as far as to declare that considering my last point every female character might as well be the same character at a different point in life and in time.

in the shot above, LAURA ELENA HARRING is in front of two mirrows that show her in two completely different ways, one is the way we know her, one is the way she defines her.

in a SENTENCE: there are not so many pictures where you can define as both an experience worth experimenting and a psychological experiment worth experiencing, this film will drive you mad every time you try to comprehend what you were looking at.

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#FICUNAM

M E E K ’ S - C U T O F F

2010.kelly REICHARDT

5.0/5.0

a pleasant strike, a positive surprise; this film proves that even when there’s nothing going on, there something worth seeing; featuring great production values the movie works as the perfect [anti]western.

favorite scene: MRS EMILY TETHEROW helps the native-american “guiding” their group; she fixes his leather shoe.

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W H E R E - T H E - W I L D - T H I N G S - A R E

2009.spike JONZE

5.0/5.0

an incredible tale about the lessons of childhood, that’s not really about childhood, but finding yourself in life

seasondays third spring film festival

M A G N O L I A

1999.paulthomas ANDERSON

5.0/5.0

i have watched this film so many times that i have lost count and track of the exact number, but every time i watch it, i find the experience completely new; still, i have to confess it took me three times to watch the entire film from beggining to end, because i could never find the time to watch this three hour journey.

i think the structure and the timing are perfect, the director showcases a whole lot of characters experiences what seems like an “ordinary” day; i have always been obsessed with the -frogs raining from the sky- scene, but this time i completely obsessed with every scene featuring WILLIAM H MACY[specially the bar scene] and MELORA WALTERS[in every scene she is in].

as always the cast is amazing, specially TOM CRUISE [who gives the performance of his career], and as always technically the film is outstanding, but the real star in the crafts is AIMEE MANN’s original songs compilation, every song is amazing and this catalog plays a very important role in the film, it is not just background music.

this film is my favorite film from 1999, the 1990s and to tell you the truth, my favorite film overall, if you haven’t watched it, go get it now.

seasondays third spring film festival

T H E R E - W I L L - B E - B L O O D

2007.paulthomas ANDERSON

5.0/5.0

i still remember the first time i watched -THERE WILL BE BLOOD-, it was early on a FRIDAY in a huge cinema complex in the suburbs of MEXICO CITY, the theatre was almost empty; i was already a huge fan of PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON and had been waiting patiently for his next masterpiece for half a decade, and i remember walking out after the movie and thinking -“THIS IS AN INSTANT MASTERPIECE”-.

a masterpiece shouldn’t be confused with a classic, the first is a film a cult follows, the second a film you watch on christmas with everyone in the family; but enough about vocabulary lessons.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD tells the story of an -OIL MAN-, DANIEL PLAINVIEW, played wonderfully by DANIEL DAY LEWIS [but more of that latter]; DANIEL PLAINVIEW is an entrepeneur in the early days of oil drilling, he is unstoppable, he doesn’t care about anyone, he doesn’t care about anything except getting richer or at least die trying.

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON wrote an amazing story about family, faith, greed, religion, he wrote an amazing story about a man with a crystal clear goal in life and wouldn’t stop for anyone or anything, he knew how to work his family to get an advantage unless and until it became a problem and quietly and quickly got rid of it; and the director knew how to work us into believing that we can “fall in love” [although not the rom-com kind of love] with a greedy man, the same greedy man that we will hate in the “real world” that we live in.

DANIEL DAY LEWIS is, once again, amazing in every second of this three-hour extravaganza, he carries the film effortlessly in both silent and talking scenes and sequences, he made every single line of dialogue an instant quote [PT may be guilty of this phenomenon as well] and he blew our minds away in every sense.

PAUL DANO is amazing too, and acting against or with DAY-LEWIS is not an easy task, but he gave a truly supporting performance underlining the protagonist strenghts, both are responsible [and PT too] for two of my favorite scenes of the decade, the first, the baptism of DANIEL PLAINVIEW, the second, the bowling fight at the end.

overall the film is beautiful, the cinematography by ROBERT ELSWIT, the editing by DYLAN TECHINOR, and the production design by JACK FISK are all outstanding, great shots, well paced and locations & sets that were made to reflect the mood of the picture rather than historically reproduce the mood of that times, which a lot of people for reasons unknown look for when visiting the movies.

however, i think that out of all the technichal elements the one that stands out is the music, brilliantly composed by RADIOHEAD’s own JONNY GREENWOOD, the music still haunts me, every arrangement and every key made the score the cherry on top of an already outstanding picture, and if you ask me JONNY GREENWOOD was robbed of an ACADEMY AWARDS nominations, and therefore the win.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD, as earlier said, is a masterpiece, seen as a whole or in bits and pieces, and missing out in these adventure [ok, maybe a journey] is a mistake you should not do.