La piel que habito, 2011 (The Skin I live In)

La piel que habito, 2011
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Jan Cornet



Stage: Kino Šiška, stage of Liffe. Hard and tight seats :)


La piel in short: In honor of his late wife who died in a flaming car accident, scientist, Dr. Robert Ledgard, is trying to synthesize the perfect skin which can withstand burns, cuts or any other kind of damage. As he gets closer to perfecting this skin on his flawless patient, the scientific community starts growing skeptical and his past is revealed that shows how his patient is closely linked to tragic events he would like to forget.




Preps: again, Liffe selection cannot go without Almodovar. I don't have a clue what the movie stands for. But I expect not to be dissappointed, responding to the fact that we are dealing with Almodovar.



Reality: I am excited from the beginning until the last second. Almodovar keeps up the pace and breaths with the expectations I have from one of his pieces. Still, an annoying thought runs through my mind - I have seen The human centipede a while ago and I must say that I am thinking about what was first - the centipede or this one? Or some other piece, on the approximately same topic. As we enter the dawn of movies that need a special thrill to keep the exciting mode on (like The Saw, etc), there have been several movies lately on this topic - a mad scientist (surgeon), living in oblivion or like a normal person, makes some sort of testing on live people.

This movie fits into one of these "Fritzl from Österreich categories. Since the stories about kidnapping some people and keeping them in basement, abusing them, making tests on them, have started to arise in public, also the respect/judgement for these cruel actions has started to reflect on movies. In this case, it's the case of vengeance of a father because a young man, under influence of drugs, seduces and "half"rapes his young daughter. "half" in sense, that up to a point it was an agreement, after that she loses her mind. And in vengeance seeking point, father kidnaps the boy and as a plastic surgeon he makes a woman out of him. Firstly, with vagina input, later on with complete transformation. And as a cherry to a cake, taking her in as his mistress. Now here most of the audience would get some sick signs in their stomachs. Nevertheless, the transformation is brilliant. Banderas in this piece as a great surgeon, trying to find a perfect uni-skin, that could resist to fire and everything that could hurt it. In this "ginny pig" test, he tests the skin on the real corps (breathing new woman called Vera).

There are many ways to depict the surgery. In Human Centipede you can vomit right in the middle of some scenes, if your stomach isn't that dandy. In this case, Pedro takes us on a slightly lighter mission - you can only imagine, what the operations are like, because you see the post effect and are not really there when he inserts the vagina, etc. So in some sense, a lighter version in comparison with others. However, things we depict ourselves in our imagination can be even tougher on soul than the ones that are on a plate in front of us.

Now, what is the father experiencing, is another thing. One sight of him as a scientist, and you are sure, he's in love with his profession. Being with the new Vera, takes us on a tour of a harmed, damaged ego and soul, because sadness and grief is reflecting from every pore he has. The third thing, seeing him as someone that tortures someone else for his sins, makes you convinced that every person can be cruel, if the terms are in favor of being harsh about something.

The middle scene with Tiger coming in, raping Vera, can be observed from a completely different perspective once you realize it was once a man this Tiger now is raping. And gives a dark influence on the complete scene. Do you applaud to the deserved punishment of persons? In this case, you cannot resist the flavor of revenge, because most of us disagree with violence in shape of raping women or men. However in this particular scene you don't feel with the raped man (now woman). You feel as if he deserves to get what he did to a girl. Eye for an eye. However, how severe must a punishment be? That's really up to individual to decide. Here you feel somehow deeply disturbed, and you never reach peace.

Somehow the kid manages to escape and appears before his mother as Vera. I feel that in this moment the movie is not really over, however, Almodovar decides to end it. Shame.. it would impress me to see the story afterwards. Now I only imagihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifne how a person like this faces the new reality. And the people around it, obviously. A prime piece, worth seeing. And worth thinking about things we do and the way they echo in eternity.


My personal rate: 8,5 (worthy of every second)

La piel on IMDB

Nowhere Boy, 2009

Nowhere Boy, 2009
Director: Sam Taylor-Wood
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Josh Bolt


Nowhere Boy in short: Imagine John Lennons childhood A spirited teenager, curious, sharp and funny, growing up in the shattered city of Liverpool. Two extraordinary sisters tussle for his love - Mimi, the formidable aunt who raised him from the age of 5 and Julia, the spirited mother who gave him up to Mimis care. Yearning for a normal family, John escapes into art and the new music flooding in from the US. His fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the young Paul McCartney. But just as Johns new life begins, the truth about his past leads to a tragedy he would never escape.


Stage: home theatre

Preps: I wanted to see this in the local theatre, but I missed it. I am a fan of good biographies, especially about famous musicians - the stories that are never shared with the public and all you get to see in present is yellow media/press interesting stories. However, where are the roots of these people - seldomly shared with audience. Hence, a big welcome in my head to yet another supposed to be good biography.


Reality: The movie grasps my attention in an instant. I once listened to the Beatles a lot, and am still a great admiror. However, I never thought about the pre-story. Who was Lennon indeed when he was young? Or in my case, who was McCartney, how did they meet, where did they start jagging on the stage, etc. This is the piece that gives an answer to this up to some level. Doesn't answer how the final crew gathered (by the time the movie ends, there's still Ringo missing). But the other three find themselves more as a coincidence. The relationships and bonding between them, also the relationships in the family - brilliantly shown.
The scenery is perfect, english surroundings, rock n'roll times and obsession with Presley and protagonists of that era. The music in the movie is superb and takes you right up the hill of that time - pushes you into the situations the main cast is showing. Some things you cannot believe existed; like obsession in the movies, when looking at Presley, or jukebox dancing. Did you know rock n' roll means sex? Well, the mother of Lennon gives a good interpretation of this quote in this piece. The relationship between her and Lennon seems to deepen, nevertheless, too many questions remain unanswered.
The movie is a short insight, yet picturesque and filled with emotions. A good one, showing how life can turn up great even if one decides for music - at that point something noone could understand. The idea was that one cannot make a living out of music and that building/making music was for dreamers that will never make a buck out of it.



My personal rating: 7,0 (more than decent insight into Lennon's childhood and first beginnings. And I adore the young look of Paul McCartney.)


Nowhere Boy on IMDB

Nowhere Boy official site

Veronica decides to die, 2009

Veronica decides to die, 2009 (based on Paolo Coelho's piece)
Director: Emily Young
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jonathan Tucker, Erika Christensen




Veronica in short: The story centers on Veronika, a woman in her mid twenties who appears to have everything: good looks, good job and a great life ahead of her. Yet she decides to end her own life. She is unsuccessful and awakens in a mental hospital where she learns that she a short time to live. However in the hospital she meets people who are only 'insane' because they don't always follow society's rules. With little left to lose, Veronika embarks on a journey on which she frees herself to experience relationships and emotions and ultimately discovers what it means to live.

Stage: home cinema

Preps: I heard it to be an awful piece, however due to the fact that it has been filmed in Ljubljana, my home town, it sparkles my interest. I truly want to see Ljubljana in a movie, so I guess this must be a main driver for seeing this.


Reality: I hate this one. The topic is so serious, maybe I am not in the right mood to watch it and maybe I have a problem with suicides - or people that feel the need to do it. I just cannot help seeing this another way than selfish.

The movie is static, nothing in perticular happening, the evolvement in the mental institution is too slow, people are too weird. You cannot have sane people (I mean all of them) in a mental institution, as the movie implies. Eventually someone would have noticed them. All mental institutions have their grey zones (see Shutter Island to know what I am implying to), however they are not black or white.

I didn't see Ljubljana as I expected. It took me about 45 minutes to stop watching this. The cast wasn't great at all, more pathetic than great indeed. And no, I don't recommend it. Do something more useful with your time :=)The only thing you can be perfectly sure about is that if you are in a depressive mode, the movie will increase your level of depression.


My personal rating: 0 (nothing there to judge.. )


Veronica on IMDB
Veronica's official site