Living is Easy With Eyes Closed: David Trueba’s film is pleasurable enough, but ultimately it’s also rather bland and excessively neat. The plot is almost insufficient, as the focus are on the characters; however, the characters also feel undeveloped and somewhat uninteresting. Also, not much is told about the world where they live in. The cast is solid and have good chemistry, particularly Natalia de Molina and Javier Cámara, but they are not given much to do. The film looks good and convincingly portrays […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy, drama

Wild Tales: Damián Szifrón’s film has the issue that plagues most projects that present multiple episodes: there’s a certain inconsistency about them. In this case, it’s less about the theme, since all stories share a common element, but the tone: the more the story veers away from realism towards black humour and the absurd, the best the episode is. They are never less than interesting, however. Very well-realized, the cast is generally strong (Erica Rivas and Ricardo Darín are the ones […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy, drama

The Hundred-Foot Journey: the mix of diverse, but equally interesting, cultures, the lovely setting and the well-done combination of genres in Lasse Hallström’s film makes for an engaging and entertaining, if somewhat fluffy, experience. While the plot is somewhat busy, there is an underlying thematic consistency that is commendable. The older pair, Helen Mirren and Om Puri, is nearly magnificent; the younger counterpart, Charlotte Le Bon and Manish Dayal, is given less to do, but are nevertheless solid. Beautifully shot by Linus Sandgren, both the […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy, drama