Dredd (2012)

I still remembered the awful Judge Dredd (1995) with Sylvester Stallone. So I was kind of suspicious of this film that reminded me a bit of the terrible G.I. Joe saga. In short, I was not ready for Dredd, one of my favorite action films of 2012. In retrospect, I regret that I missed the chance to see it in 3-D in the theaters. In a sort of compensation, the Blu-Ray/DVD pack comes with a nice array of extras that, if you are a little bit like me, you will devour afterwards if you really enjoyed the movie.

Actually, the plot is not very original to say the least: in a futuristic American society characterized by rampant chaos and crime, the policemen have evolved into “judge, jury and executioner” all in one. In one of his missions, Judge Dredd is trapped by a drug-dealing gang inside a mammoth residential building with more than 200 levels and thousands of inhabitants.

The situation reminded me of The Raid: Redemption (2011), an amazing Indonesian film that broke the limits of what you could show in body fight scenes. We do not see those scenes here. What we do find in Dredd is a superb use of the slow-motion tool and a hypnotic soundtrack, both a terrific combination that succeed stylizing and somehow subduing the gory violence of the film.

The arid main character is accompanied by a female rookie officer that adds a very welcomed human touch to the whole thing. Much like any other superhero that upholds “society” values of law and order to the extreme, the almost robotic features of a character like Judge Dredd remind us of the prescience of comics and science fiction imagining an authoritarian model to be implanted in the future, a model that has started to become closer than ever to become a reality since 9/11.

Based on a British comic inspired by fascist iconography, Dredd is not an actor’s vehicle. In fact, Karl Urban as Judge Dredd is covered with a full-size helmet all the time and, at the most, his acting is reduced to mouth gestures of repulsion and loathing. Filmed in South Africa and directed by Pete Travis, Dredd is full of violence but is always surprising and stunning… just the way that a B-Series movie should be.

Sex, violence and the missing chapter in "A Clockwork Orange"

Watching the Blu-Ray extras of A Clockwork Orange, I found out that the original book by British author Anthony Burgess — that I never read, sorry— included a final chapter where Alexander DeLarge, the terrible character that is interpreted by Malcolm McDowell, personally decides to “choose” good over evil. Being the whole story a denunciation of modern governments trying to brainwash convicts to forcibly turn them into model citizens, this is an important part of the plot to say the least. 

Apparently, in the face of the wide criticism that the movie attracted in 1971 for its alleged glorification of violence, Burgess defended the Stanley Kubrick movie publicly in his country but, in private, he always felt bad because the movie did not include the ending he originally conceived. Moreover, Burgess detested violence himself and the book was a manner of coming to terms with his own feelings on the topic since his first wife had been herself a rape victim.

Doing some extra research on the topic, I found out that the film script had been based on the U.S. edition of the book and the American publishers had originally convinced Burgess to print the book without the "redemptive" final chapter. When Kubrick belatedly read this chapter he agreed with the American publishers and, for better or worse, he discarded it. 

Now, I understand Kubrick’s decision. The film seems perfect as it is, with its ending celebrating the main character tendencies to sexual excess and violence being restored after he is brainwashed in reverse to his original state, denouncing also, in a very funny way, the overt manipulation of the public opinion by the political power through the media. In terms of the violence and how it is being portrayed though, there is a big question mark here, and the question of course is… was this the right thing to do? 

Apparently, even Kubrick got scared with the reactions to the film in England, when violent acts by teenagers supposedly “inspired” by the movie started to happen here and there. Even more reason to concern was added by the threats that Kubrick’s family started to receive in that time. Finally, the director decided to prohibit further exhibitions of the movie in the UK, and this was a decision that was upheld until his death in 1999. For years, the movie became a legend in England, only accessible by pirate video copies or imports brought-in by travelers. 

I have always felt fascinated by A Clockwork Orange. Now that I saw it again, I guess I may never be able to see another film with such sense of wonder. Not only because of the hypnotic first-person narration by Malcolm McDowell, the perfect position of the camera in every take, the abundant humor and sarcasm we find, and the amalgam of grandiose music, clothing and mise-en-scene that predicted the future in so many ways but also because, being so politically incorrect, maybe a movie like this also precluded its futuristic social portrait of sex and violence of becoming a reality. 

Feminists got encouraged by movies like this. And they were right to be. There is an absolute macho perspective in regards to the sexual liberation of the society depicted in the film. Automated bars where patrons had to milk the breasts of naked women sculptures to obtain drugged cocktails that incite adrenaline rushes might be impossible today, but were totally conceivable years ago. 

Kubrick himself never intended to put reins to this twisted vision of the future, maybe just for fun, maybe to provoke and excite its audience, or maybe to incite contradictory feelings to a point where we do not have another choice but questioning ourselves. When after his treatment Alex is shown to the public to demonstrate that he is incapable of hurting anyone, for instance, he is presented in a stage next to a gorgeous naked woman, feeling immediately sexually aroused. Interrupted by the neutralizing pain that he has been conditioned to feel, he is unable to touch her. When this is done though, the woman remains at the stage longer than expected, happy to exhibit her beautiful body and bowing to the applause of an ecstatic audience that includes us, the spectators. 

Also, even if the Singing in the Rain scene is the most famous rape scene in the movie, Kubrick inserts another sequence where a big-breasted, attractive woman is about to be raped amid giggling comments and jokes. These days, not even a genius like Kubrick could get away with a scene like this.

Maybe we should thank old Kubrick for that.

January 10, 2013 

La cara oculta / The Hidden Face (2011)

La cara oculta (The Hidden Face) es una coproducción hispano-colombiana estrenada en el 2011 que ahora se halla disponible vía la suscripción digital de Netflix en EEUU. Dirigida por el colombiano Andrés Baiz con una sensibilidad más europea que americana, las cosas maduran aquí de forma lenta pero contundente. La historia gira en torno a una pareja en la que un joven director de orquesta español (Quim Gutiérrez) decide tomar un trabajo dirigiendo la Filarmónica de Bogotá, hacia donde se muda con su chica (Clara Lago) para luego alquilar una hermosa casa de campo que fue construida por una familia alemana emigrada. 

La película comienza con el desconsolado novio viendo un video mensaje en el que su chica le da la despedida diciéndole que jamás intente buscarla. Buscando refugio en el licor, el director conoce a una guapa mesera (Martina García) con quien poco a poco intenta olvidar a su ex-novia, entablando una intensa relación física. La chica se muda a la casa pero siente que en ella hay una misteriosa presencia que, por momentos, la hace sospechar que vive en una casa embrujada. 

Bueno, ésta es sólo la mitad de la trama, y lo demás se desenvuelve como una segunda película mucho más animada, en la que, con un nuevo punto de vista, revisitamos lo que ya habíamos visto. Un giro inesperado y bienvenido que le da nueva vida a un film que no parecía prometer demasiado. Aunque de actuaciones solventes, quizá la producción debió tomarse más tiempo entrenando a Quim Gutérrez para sus escenas al frente de la orquesta. Estas débiles escenas atentan contra una credibilidad duramente trabajada por unos jóvenes actores en roles que, en general, parecían demandar más años y experiencia a sus espaldas. 

A condición de que no vea el tráiler, que de manera incomprensible estropea la sorpresa clave de la película, la trama de La cara oculta logra no sólo entretener, sino que nos hace reflexionar sobre los límites que los humanos nos imponemos --o deberíamos imponernos-- para la ambición y la venganza. 

Super 8 (2011)

Movies, movies... I watch all the movies I can. Many of them are movies that I have seen before and, I find myself surprised having very different reactions. I see movies not only on theaters but from Netflix, Redbox, libraries, cable... sometimes I devour three or more movies per day. So, I decided to write short reviews trying to catch up with my voracious viewing habits, so that at least I leave some sort of record.

I decided to begin with Super 8, an entertaining movie directed by J.J. Abrams.



A group of kids is on a hurry trying to make a Super 8 movie --the more accessible film format prior to the popularization of video recording-- to participate in an amateur movie contest. When the group starts to film in a train station, they witness a spectacular accident that is inadvertently recorded in the film, revealing a supernatural edge to the whole situation. Much like the bunch of teen friends that we typically find in Spielberg movies, Super 8 makes a good job of mixing a science fiction plot with typical teen issues and holding the spectator entranced for a good part of its running time. The young actors do a terrific job but the subplots regarding the adults are kind of lame, and the same can be said about the monster/alien and the clumsy military intervention that follows. The spectacular special effects come to the rescue though, and you may say that you had a good time before the final credits start to roll. In many regards Super 8 feels like a homage to the summer blockbusters of the 70's and 80's that attempted to turn the cinema into a sort of mindless, massive entertainment with simple plots and amazing special effects to draw multitudes into the movie theaters. This is no Jaws though, or E.T. which felt real and genuinely moving. But Super 8 is very entertaining if you do not expect to find too much depth. But who is expecting it, anyways!