Jacques Nolot's Porn Theater is a day in the life type of experience, chronicling a day in one of the more taboo locations in society. Examining the underbelly of city life, Nolot's film doesn't hold back in showing this world in all its glory. In this little dark room there are various types of men; straight men looking for gay sex, married men who need a release, transvestites, and old men whose only chance at a sexual encounter lies in this dirty little porn theater. While the film's deeper meanings are a bit elusive, Polot seems to e exploring sexuality with this film, capturing the many different ways people experience pleasure, the uncertainty certered around their desires, while simultaneously documenting the release it gives the individual. It's a stretch to call the film a narrative but the linear through-line centers around a cashier, the only female character in the entire film, who exchanges philosophical conversations with many different visitors of the establishment. Extremely pornographic in nature, Polot's Porn Theater offers a somewhat intimate portrait of this taboo side of society, using an observant eye as it studies its subjects in this dimly lit room of desire. While the film does have some interesting discussions centered around sexuality and desire, Porn Theater is never particularly profound, being more interested in providing a 'day in the life' type of experience.
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Jorge is a tranquil, family man working for a research facility deep in the Chilean forests. When returning home from work Jorge finds himself harrassed by street thugs nightly, who mercilessly intimidate Jorge's entire family. When Jorge's son attempts to stand up for his father, he is seriously injured, which only leads to more threats and daily abuse from the gang of thugs. Attempting to seek help from the legal system, Jorge is greeted by endless beaucracry, leading him to take justice into his own hands. Alejandro Fernandez Almendras' To Kill A Man is an essence a Chiliean version of Charles Bronson's Death Wish, though it's meticulously photographed, understated, and much slower-paced. Illustrating the slow-moving hand of bureacracy, To Kill A Man is an angry film about the legal systems inability to be timely when to protecting innocent people. Compromised almost entirely of static, still photography, To Kill A Man transports the viewer into the modest lifestyle of Jorge, whose world becomes unstable thanks to the criminal element in the community. Beautifully composed and understated, To Kill A Man is not likely to be enjoyed by those looking for an action-packed revenge flick, with the film far more intersted in capturing the psyche of a tranquil man who's pushed to make a decision so outside of himself. Jorge is presented as a very gentle man, with the film juxtaposing the tranquil state of nature where he works, with the darker, ugly world where he lives with his family. The beginning provides the best example of this, the sunlight cutthing through the trees, giving Jorge an almost angelic aura, while he is shown much more in the darkness at his home, perfectly setting up the darker path he inevitably is forced to go down. Paolo Virzi's Human Capital is an ensemble film that tells a story from three unique perspecives. The film begins at the end, finding a cyclist in critical condition after being run off the road by a careening SUV on Christmas Eve. Flashing back several months, Human Capital details the events leading up the accident, centered around the upper-class, priveldged Bernaschi family, and the Ossolas, a struggling middle-class family, whose respective daughter/son are seeing one and other. Using three unique pespectives, Paolo Virzi's Human Capital is a unique character study detailing the darker side of humanity, showcasing how greed and desire run rampant in a world driven by financial gains. The films deconstruction of a typical narrative pays dividends, giving the film additional layers of intrigue, capturing how various transformative moments to one character may be trivial or insignificant to another. While this film is without question well-acted, directed, and engrossing, the film's larger thematic ideas come off hamfisted, unable to truly be profound. The film's message feels a little too on-the-noise, lacking subtlety and any deep statements on the human condition. In the end, the atypical narrative in Human Capital hides a lot of the film's weaknesses, offering a seething, if slight portrait of greed in society. |
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June 2023
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