torrelodones49 Reviews

The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

A masterpiece

[10/10 · 26 September 2009]

This is quite frankly an astonishing film. One that fills your entire array of senses and sensitivities, and the praise from Argentine reviewers here is 100 percent justified. Ricardo Darín turns in another majestic performance as a Buenos Aires court employee who is fiercely affected by the rape and murder of a young girl in 1974, a tragedy that dominates his life. Overlapping this theme is the powerfully sensual but never physical relationship between Darín and his superior, the investigating judge played by the superb Soledad Villamil. The connection between the two is electric. It's a pity this film cannot easily transcend the language barrier, if it was an English-language film of the same quality it would already be hailed as a masterpiece. The blending of tragedy, love, violence and humour is brilliant, and the comedy dialogue fantastic. One scene where Ricardo Darín is balled out for having searched an old lady's house is priceless in terms of comic timing and delivery. A wonderful performance also from Guillermo Francella as the court clerk with a drinking problem, in fact the secondary acting is all first-class. The camera-work is impressive, especially the swoop down into the football stadium and the closeups, and the script is also superb. Argentina has nominated the film as its candidate for best foreign film at the Oscar's, it deserves to walk it.

Up (2009)

Something for everyone

[8/10 · 8 August 2009]

This is a charming movie, agree with most of the other posted comments. As a former resident of Venezuela, it was also great to see the tepuis (flat-topped mountains) of the Gran Sabana to the south of the country represented in the movie. Paradise Falls, are of course Angel Falls, the tallest on earth, falling off Ayuntepui mountain, and Charles Muntz, the villain of the story, has his resonance in Professor Challenger of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous book "The Lost World". In the book published in 1912, Challenger also finds a rare animal, in this case a prehistoric flying reptile, on a journey to South America. He reports his discovery back in London but is ridiculed, and returns to capture the beast and bring it back to prove his skeptics wrong. Conan Doyle is widely believed to have taken the tepuis of Venezuela as his inspiration for the book, specifically the huge mountain of Roraima whose summit has exactly the same rain and wind shaped rock formations that appear in the movie.