(Played in Competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival)
Written and directed by Lucrecia Martel, La nina santa (The Holy Girl) is the story of a young woman who meets a troubled doctor at a medical conference at a hotel where she hopes to help him from himself. The film is a multi-themed film that explores a young woman coming into adulthood as she discovers sexuality as well as dealing with aspects of her own faith. Starring Mercedes Moran, Carlos Belloso, Alejandro Urdapilleta, Juliet Zylberberg, and Maria Alche. La nina santa is a mesmerizing and provocative film from Lucrecia Martel.
Set in a hotel at the Argentine town of Salta, the film revolves a 16-year old girl whose encounter with a visiting doctor at a medical conference is hoping to save him as he copes with the work he has to do at the conference. It’s a film that isn’t just about a girl’s exploration with her sexuality but also with her faith as she goes to a religious school where she gets the idea to help this man after he had accidentally groped her when the two were watching a man performing music with a theremin. Lucrecia Martel’s screenplay doesn’t have much of a plot as it’s really more of a study of behavior and attraction with this young woman coming-of-age in not just through her ideas of faith but also becoming aware of her sexuality. Much of it is set in the hotel where this young girl Amalia (Maria Alche) lives at with her mother Helena (Mercedes Moran) and her uncle Freddy (Alejandro Urdapilleta) as they run the place which is struggling to remain afloat.
Martel’s script also play into this growing attraction towards Dr. Jano (Carlos Belloso) and Helena as the former is just a visitor for this medical conference as he is also married though is aware of his feelings for Helena. His encounter with Amalia is by sheer accident as he first thinks of her as a prostitute or something unaware that she’s Helena’s daughter. Adding to Amalia’s own growing determination to help Dr. Jano is her fascination with faith and sex is the exploration from her own best friend Josefina (Juliet Zylberberg) who has a boyfriend as she becomes intrigued by the idea of pre-marital sex as well as the idea of miracles after seeing a neighbor fall down from the second floor of their apartment naked and survive.
Martel’s direction is definitely entrancing for some of the compositions that she creates as much of it is set in this dilapidated hotel on location in Salta as well as additional locations near the town in the Salta Province of Argentina. While there are some close-ups that help play into Amalia’s own development in her fascination with sex and faith, much of Martel’s direction rely on medium and wide shots to capture the chaos that is happening with this medical conference as well as the sense of claustrophobia that they’re all in at these rooms in the hotel. There are also moments in the film that is quite offbeat yet intriguing as it relates to Amalia and Josefina’s own interest in miracles but also things that is typical with teenage girls. There aren’t a lot of camera movements in Martel’s direction as it’s more about a scene as it’s unfolding as well as the drama which includes the two first encounters between Amalia and Dr. Jano where they watch this theremin player as it’s just this innocent moment in the film.
Martel also creates moments that definitely play up the theme of sexuality and attraction but it’s only in very subtle moments as there isn’t even a lot of nudity other than a couple of full-frontal shots from men for brief moments. There are a few moments of sex as it relates to Amalia and Josefina with the latter having sex with a boyfriend but don’t reveal anything gratuitous. The dramatic climax which involves Helena and Dr. Jano doing a presentation is more about the tension that is looming between Dr. Jano and Amalia as well as outsiders about rumors involving a visitor and someone at the hotel. Yet, Martel is more about Amalia discovering herself as well as Helena dealing with the attraction she has towards the married Dr. Jano whose family had arrived for this conference. Overall, Martel creates an intoxicating and gripping film about a young woman’s fascination with sex and faith.
Cinematographer Felix Monti does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as it’s very low-key to play into the many interiors and lighting for some of the scenes inside the hotel. Editor Santiago Ricci does brilliant work with the editing as it feature some unique rhythmic cutting to play into the drama as well as some of the dramatic suspenseful moments. Art director Graciela Oderigo and set decorator Fernando Brun do fantastic work with the look of the hotel rooms as well as the pool and the classroom where Amalia and Josefina learn about miracles.
Costume designer Julio Suarez does nice work with the clothes as it is mostly casual from the more conservative look of the adults to the looser look of the kids and teenagers. The sound work of Guido Berenblum, Marcos De Aguirre, David Miranda-Hardy, and Victor Alejandro Tendler is amazing for its intricate sound mixing to play into to the atmosphere of the hotels as well as some of the quieter moments in the pool. The film’s music by Andres Gerszenzon is wonderful for its low-key score that is a mixture of piano-based music and ambient-electronic music that adds to the drama while its soundtracks consists of the theremin music and pop music from Argentina.
The casting by Nicolas Levin and Natalia Smirnoff is great as it feature some notable small roles and appearances from Monica Villa as Josefina’s mother, Leandro Stivelman as Josefina’s boyfriend Julian, Manuel Schaller as the theremin player, Marta Lubos as Freddy’s wife Mitra who runs the hotel kitchen, the duo of Arthur Goetz and Alejo Mango as a couple of visiting doctors for conference, and Mia Maestro in a terrific small role as Amalia and Josefina’s teacher. Julieta Zylberberg is fantastic as Josefina as Amalia’s best friend who is also fascinated with the ideas of sex and faith as she goes into her own exploration while keeping secrets for Amalia. Alejandro Urdapilleta is superb as Amalia’s uncle Freddy as a man who is trying to keep his family’s hotel afloat by inviting doctors for a conference as he also copes with the chaos happening at the hotel.
Maria Alche is excellent as Amalia as a 16-year old girl whose encounter with a married doctor has her eager to save him as she’s unaware of what really happened as she is caught between her own desires sexually as well as being loyal to her faith. Carlos Belloso is brilliant as Dr. Jano as a married man troubled by his own place in the world as he finds himself attracted to Helena while dealing with the chaos over the medical conference as well as Amalia’s presence. Finally, there’s Mercedes Moran in an amazing performance as Helena as Amalia’s mother who is dealing with her own loneliness and the state of her family hotel as she connect with Dr. Jano unaware of what is going on with her daughter as it’s this very restrained yet radiant performance from Moran.
La nina santa is an incredible film from Lucrecia Martel. Featuring a great cast and compelling yet provocative premise on faith and a girl exploring her sexuality, it’s a film that doesn’t play by conventions as it showcases what people will do to try and find salvation. In the end, La nina santa is a phenomenal film from Lucrecia Martel.
Lucrecia Martel Films: La Cienaga - The Headless Woman - Zama - The Auteurs #65: Lucrecia Martel
© thevoid99 2017
Based on the biography Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera, Frida is a story about life of the surrealist Mexican painter and her relationship with the painter Diego Rivera that would span for many years through ups and downs. Directed by Julie Taymor and screenplay by Clancy Sigal, Diane Lake, Gregory Nava, and Anna Thomas, the film is an unconventional take on Kahlo’s life from the accident she suffered at the 18 that would plague her for the rest of her life to the people she would meet in her lifetime. Playing Kahlo is Salma Hayek while Alfred Molina would play her husband in Diego Rivera. Also starring Geoffrey Rush, Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Mia Maestro, Roger Rees, Diego Luna, Edward Norton, and Antonio Banderas. Frida is a lavish yet extraordinary film from Julie Taymor.
The film is an offbeat and surrealistic telling of the life of Frida Kahlo from the year she would be severely injured from a bus accident in 1922 that would plague her for the rest of her life to her final year of her life in 1954. During this time, she would meet the mural artist Diego Rivera whom she would be married to in 1929 and later remarry in 1940 after a one-year divorce where their marriage was a dysfunctional one due to his flings with other women and her bisexuality. It’s a film that plays more into the art of Kahlo and the events of her life that would drive her art as she would be appreciated as well as reviled for her art as well as views on politics due to her affiliation with Marxism as she would meet and have an affair with Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush).
Since Kahlo’s life was never a conventional one, a straight-forward bio-pic on the artist wouldn’t work as there’s so much to cover as the film’s screenplay sort of deviates from that schematics to play into moments of her life and relationship with Rivera. The first act of the story plays into the accident and Kahlo’s meeting with Rivera whom he would take Kahlo as a protégé only to become his new lover and wife in 1929. Yet, their relationship is a complicated one since Kahlo knows that Rivera likes to sleep with other women which Kahlo does begrudgingly accept since she is also promiscuous. Still, it would eventually cause trouble along with their own political affiliation with Marxism is put to the test in the film’s second act when Rivera is asked by Nelson Rockefeller (Edward Norton) to paint a mural at the Rockefeller Center which would get destroyed due to Rivera’s anti-capitalist views. A move that would leave Rivera returning to Mexico with his pride and ego wounded as his actions would cause a schism between him and Kahlo.
Despite all of the trials and tribulations that Kahlo and Rivera has, the latter is still loyal to the former despite his actions as he would support her from afar just as she would gain fame of her own. It plays into what Kahlo wants as an artist but all of the trappings of fame becomes fleeting where she later gets in trouble over her encounters with Trotsky which would prompt Rivera to come back to her life. Especially as her health would decline in the film’s third act where Rivera is willing to do whatever to get her back and be there for her.
Julie Taymor’s direction definitely plays to much of the surrealistic images that Kahlo creates in her paintings where it is filled with a sense of style as well as an extravagance that is off the wall. Especially as Taymor is playing to a sense of style which feels true to the world that Khalo lives in as she would shoot the film on location in Mexico in order to make the country as a character in the film that would influence Kahlo’s own work. Some of the paintings in the film that are Kahlo’s or re-creation of Kahlo’s work help tell the story into the events that would shape her life including own injury and her marriage as it’s expressed through her own art. Most notably the sequence of the bus accident that would be the cause of Kahlo’s life-suffering injury as it’s presented with an air of style from where the camera is at and the impact of its crash where it mirrors the painting that Kahlo would make later on in her life.
The direction also includes some unique elements of surrealism and humor such as a sequences where Kahlo and Rivera would each play into their own vices as well as the former’s interpretation of the latter’s taste for fame which includes a scene where she imagines Rivera as King Kong. Much of the direction includes some unique compositions in the simple and intimate moments where Taymor knows where to frame Kahlo as if she is recreating one of Kahlo’s paintings where its usage of close-ups and medium shots add to that sense of style. Even the use of wide shots in the scenes at Tenochtitlan at the pyramids where Kahlo shows Trotsky the sites as it displays Mexico at its most beautiful. Even in how Kahlo would view the country as her home which is exactly who she is no matter all of the riches and acclaim she would receive everywhere else. Overall, Taymor creates a very majestic and rapturous film about the life of one of the greatest painters in the 20th Century.
Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto does amazing work with the film‘s dazzling and colorful cinematography for many of the film‘s exterior settings in the day while using some unique dark shadings and lighting schemes for some of the film‘s daytime and nighttime interior scenes. Editor Francoise Bonnot does fantastic work with the editing as it‘s very stylish with its usage of jump-cuts, montages, and dissolves as it plays into the frenetic energy of Kahlo‘s art as well as in some of the dramatic moments in the film. Production designer Felipe Fernandez del Paso, with set decorator Hania Robledo and art director Bernardo Trujillo, does brilliant work with the look of the Kahlo family home where Frida lived with her family as well as the Rivera studio and other places in Mexico as well as the look of the New York City apartment where Rivera and Kahlo lived during Rivera‘s period working for Rockefeller.
Costume designer Julie Weiss does excellent work with the costumes to play into the look of the times as well as the clothes that Rivera wore as well as the dresses and suits that Kahlo would wear. Makeup artist Judy Chin and hairstylist Beatrice De Alba, with prosthetic makeup designer John E. Jackson, do incredible work with the makeup from the look of the unibrow of Kahlo‘s face as well as into the aging makeup of the characters throughout the years. Visual effects supervisors Jeremy Dawson and Dan Schrecker do superb work with the visual effects to play into the surreal look of Kahlo‘s paintings as they would come to life along with some strange sequences including a hospital scene that is full of macabre animation by Stephen and Timothy Quay. Sound designer Blake Leyh does terrific work with the film‘s sound to play into the atmosphere of some of the locations including the very chilling moment in the bus accident scene. The film’s music by Elliot Goldenthal is wonderful for its mixture of lush orchestral music with traditional Mexican music to play into the drama of the film while music supervisors Sarah Botstein and Kathy Nelson bring in a soundtrack filled with jazz and traditional Mexican music of those times.
The film’s marvelous cast includes some notable small appearances from Saffron Burrows as a British woman Kahlo seduces in New York City, Lila Downs as a tango singer at a party, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez as the surrealist Andre Breton, Diego Luna as a schoolmate of the young Kahlo in Alex, Patricia Reyes Spindola as Kahlo’s mother, and Valeria Golino as Rivera’s second wife Lupe Marin whom Kahlo would befriend and paint a portrait of her. Antonio Banderas is terrific in a small role as the artist David Alfaro Siqueiros whom Rivera would argue with over politics while Ashley Judd is wonderful as the Italian photographer/artist Tina Modotti. Roger Rees is superb as Kahlo’s father Guillermo is also an artist as he copes with the injury that his daughter suffered while encouraging her to become an artist. Mia Maestro is excellent as Kahlo’s loyal sister Cristina who would later become Rivera’s assistant as it would later cause trouble.
Edward Norton is fantastic as Nelson Rockefeller who asks Rivera to make a mural at the Rockefeller Center until he sees whom Rivera would put in the mural. Geoffrey Rush is brilliant as Leon Trotsky as the Marxist revolutionary who is granted political asylum in Mexico as he befriends Rivera and Kahlo while having an affair with Kahlo. Alfred Molina is amazing as Diego Rivera as this mural painter who is large both in look and in personality as he’s an artist that is big on ideas while displaying Marxist ideals to help the people yet is a total contradiction since he also likes to party with the rich and famous as Molina showcases a man that is flawed yet full of charm and humility. Finally, there’s Salma Hayek in an incredible performance as the titular character as she displays not just charm but also a person that is willing to make a name for herself on her own terms while displaying a sense of individuality as it’s definitely Hayek at her most lively in terms of humor and drama.
Frida is a phenomenal film from Julie Taymor that features a remarkable performance from Salma Hayek in the titular role. Along with a very strong supporting performance from Alfred Molina as well as a great look and an offbeat yet engaging script. It’s a film that doesn’t just tell the story of a great artist but also a person who deals with all of the trappings of fame as she is willing to not make compromises on who she is or where she came from. In the end, Frida is a dazzling film from Julie Taymor.
Julie Taymor Films: Titus (1999 film) - Across the Universe - The Tempest - The Auteurs #42: Julie Taymor
© thevoid99 2015
Based on the travelogue by Che Guevara and the book Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary by Alberto Granado, The Motorcycle Diaries is the story of Che Guevara’s 1952 expedition all across South America with his friend Alberto Granado as they would encounter many things that would shape Guevara’s outlook into the world. Directed by Walter Salles and screenplay by Jose Rivera, the film is an exploration about the journey of two men from Argentina to Venezuela through the entire South American continent as Gael Garcia Bernal plays Guevara and Rodrigo de la Serna as Alberto Granado. Also starring Mercedes Moran, Mia Maestro, and Jean Pierre Noher. The Motorcycle Diaries is an enriching and mesmerizing film from Walter Salles.
The film explores the trip that Guevara and Granado would take in early 1952 from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Venezuela on a motorcycle called the Mighty One where the two men would endure many things that would plant the seeds for Guevara’s desire to change the world. Yet, the film showcases a sense of innocence that emerges early on when Guevara was known as Ernesto Guevara de la Serna. A man who was just a 23-year old middle-class medical student who goes on a journey with Granado who was a chemist at the time as the two travel all over South America through Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and the Amazon where they would encounter a world that is filled with inequality and turmoil. Especially as Guevara would question everything that he had encounter as well as the need to make a difference for a world that is quite trouble.
Jose Rivera’s screenplay definitely takes its time to develop Guevara’s sensibility about the ways of the world as he goes from this middle-class med student with a girlfriend who wants him to travel to America. Yet, some of the things he sees such as a mining couple who lost their jobs due to their affiliation with the Communist party as well as death and all sorts of things. While the Granado character is portrayed as a man of humor who has a lust for life, he is also a man that can bullshit his way through anything and get things done as he would be the person that Guevara would need to travel through South America. Their encounters with some of these atrocities in South America which would culminate with them working at the Amazon at a leper colony. Rivera’s script doesn’t go for any kind of structure but rather something loose that pays true to what Guevara and Granado would encounter without the need to overemphasize many of the politic and social context of the story. Especially as the film features a lot of voice-over narration from Guevara’s perspective to play into his own development.
Walter Salles’ direction is entrancing not just for the way he captures the sense of unpredictability of the road film but also one that would be an experience that would change two men. Though half of the film is spent with the two men on a motorcycle that barely works, it has this liveliness where Salles shoots on location in different colonies based on the books along with some moments that play into the development of these two men. Some of which is presented in handheld camera shots or with a simple more controlling camera work where Salles plays into this unique world that is full of life but also one in turmoil considering that it is filled with indigenous people who are disconnected from the rest of the world. Salles would use some voiceover narration to express Guevara’s reflections on the world such as a key scene at Machu Picchu that played his own struggle with the ways of the world. Even as Salles would find some hope in this leper colony in the way Guevara would defy something that he thinks couldn’t be done to reveal that anything is possible. Overall, Salles crafts a very engaging yet intoxicating film about the road trip that would shape the life of a young Che Guevara.
Cinematographer Eric Gautier does great work with the film‘s very beautiful cinematography from some of the naturalistic look of the film‘s many exterior settings to some low-key lights for some of its interiors. Editor Daniel Rezende does excellent work in the editing in creating a few montages as well as jump-cuts and other stylistic flourishes to play into the looseness of the story. Production designer Carlos Conti, with art directors Graciela Oderigo, Laurent Ott, and Maria Eugenio Suerio, does nice work with the few set pieces such as the houses Guevara and Granado go to as well as the shelter of the leper colony.
Costume designers Beatriz De Benedetto and Marisa Urruti do terrific work with the period costumes with the dresses the women wear to the more rugged look of the men. Sound designer Frank Gaeta does fantastic work with the sound to capture some of the aspects of the locations along with some of the moments in the cities to capture some of the small parties and the sound of the motorcycle. The film’s music by Gustavo Santaolalla is phenomenal for its mixture of folk music with some electric guitar that is low-key yet very entrancing to play into the sense of the journey while music supervisor Adrian Nicolas Sosa creates a wonderful soundtrack filled with the music of the times from those countries plus some traditional pieces and a song by Jorge Drexler for the film’s final credits.
The casting by Walter Rippell is superb as it features some notable small performances from Jorge Chiarella as a Peruvian contact they stay at, Mercedes’ Moran as Guevara’s mother, Jean Pierre Noher as Guevara’s father, Antonella Costa as an ailing woman suffering from leprosy, and Mia Maestro as Guevara’s girlfriend Chichina. Rodrigo de la Serna is marvelous as Alberto Granado as this guy who can bullshit his way through anything while looking for a good time but also be someone who can be very helpful. Finally, there’s Gael Garcia Bernal in an incredible performance as the young Che Guevara as a young doctor with a lot of ideals as he comes of age into seeing what is happening in South America as Bernal brings a sensitivity and earnestness to the role in display Guevara as a young man who later create a revolution.
The Motorcycle Diaries is an outstanding film from Walter Salles that features great performances from Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna. The film is a truly beautiful yet captivating story about the journey that would shape the life of a young Che Guevara before he becomes a revolutionary. In the end, The Motorcycle Diaries is a magnificent film from Walter Salles.
Walter Salles Films: (A Grande Arte) - (Foreign Land) - (Central Station) - (Midnight (1998 film)) - (Behind the Sun) - (Dark Water (2005 film)) - (Linha de Passe) - (On the Road (2012 film))
Related: Che
© thevoid99 2014
