My Review: Casa de Mi Padre (3/10)

"If you were smart you would know that you are dumb."

Directed by Matt Piedmont (known mostly for his work in Saturday Night Live and the Funny or Die videos) and written by Andrew Steele, Casa de Mi Padre, is a spoof on the Mexican tele novellas. It was a nice idea, but poorly executed considering there were very few funny moments and five minutes into the film the gags wore off. This could have worked much better as a 5 minute skit in SNL, but it doesn't have enough comedic moments to carry the film for 80 minutes. I'll give Casa De Mi Padre credit for being original and for trying something different, but the story just dragged during most of the film. Will Ferrell surprised me as he delivered all his lines in spanish by learning them phonetically; he may not have spoken perfect spanish but he did a decent job and I had no problem understanding him. Unfortunately despite having an interesting idea for the film, the execution was just too simple and the laughs were practically nonexistent. Casa De Mi Padre is a hollow film and there isn't much more to it.

Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) has been living in his father's ranch in Mexico all his life. He's not bright, but he's loyal to his father, Miguel (Pedro Armendariz Jr.). He spends most of his time with his buddies, Esteban (Efren Ramirez) and Manuel (Adrian Martinez) goofing around while he cares for his father's animals. His younger brother, Raul (Diego Luna), is an international businessman who has returned to save the ranch and introduce his new fiancé, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez), to the family. However, Raul seems to be running an illegitimate business and Armando warns him he has brought trouble to the ranch. The town's drug lord, Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal), has declared war on Raul for interfering in his area, while Raul has also drawn the attention of DEA Agent Parker (Nick Offerman).

Will Ferrell is a funny guy and most of his films work for me, but Casa De Mi Padre is just too dull and uninspired. It's a shame because there is a talented cast, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal are two of the best Mexican actors, Nick Offerman always delivers, and Genesis Rodriguez is a beautiful actress. I grew up in South America, so I'm familiar with the novellas they were trying to spoof, but after five minutes the jokes wore off. The trailers made me believe this was going to be hilarious, but it wasn't at all. There were some funny moments involving the production design and the animatronic white jaguar, but everything else was poorly executed.

My Review: Amores Perros (8/10)

"You and your plans. You know what my grandmother used to say? If you want to make God laugh... tell Him your plans."

Amores Perros was Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu's directorial debut, and he really entered with a bang winning several awards for this acclaimed film. Along with the success of Guillermo del Toro (El Espinazo del Diablo) and Alfonso Cuaron (Y Tu Mama Tambien), these trio of directors began the renaissance movement in Mexico during the beginning of the century. Today they are all directing big budget movies in Hollywood, but it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for this gem of a movie that put Mexican cinema in the international map again. Gael Garcia Bernal was also a revelation in this film and has become a well known actor after his performance here and in Y Tu Mama Tambien. Having watched Iñarritu's later films, 21 Grams and Babel, I kind of knew what to expect from Amores Perros. He has a way of interconnecting several stories and playing with linear chronological events, and Amores Perros seems to be the film that started this trait. I wish I would've seen this film before the others because this feels like a more complete film, but I have grown a bit tired of the director's stylish and depressing vision of the world. This is still a great film with some powerful scenes, although the movie does suffer from being a little too long (150 minutes) and I thought one of the stories (Valeria and Daniel's) wasn't up to the same level of the other two and I could have done without it. Having said that I still believe this is one of his best films and definitely Mexico's best film. It deserves all the awards it has received and should've won an Oscar for best foreign picture if it didn't have to compete against Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The script from Guillermo Arriaga was also gripping and realistic. In my opinion Iñarritu's best work has been done alongside Arriaga.

The film centers on three interconnected stories that overlap with each other in a terrible car accident. The first story focuses on Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his sister-in-law Susana (Vanessa Bauche), with whom he's secretly in love. His brother, Ramiro (Marco Perez) treats her terribly, but Octavio promises to take care of her if she runs away with him. In order to make money, Octavio gets involved with dog fighting, since his dog happens to be a great fighter. When one of the dog fights goes wrong, Octavio has to escape from a group of gang leaders that eventually cause the traffic accident. The second story (and my least favorite one) centers on the relationship between a successful model, Valeria (Goya Toledo) and magazine editor named Daniel (Alvaro Guerrero) who has abandoned his family to live with her. And finally the third story introduces us to a bum named El Chivo (Emilio Echeverría) who also works as a contracted killer. All these characters also seem to have special relationships with their dogs. 

As the title suggests dogs do play a very important role in this film, not only because the accident is produced in the first place due to a dog fight, but because Iñarritu compares the violence in dog fights with the brutality and savagery of humanity. There are several themes and layers to this film, but Iñarritu knows his craft and delivers a very brutal and realistic film. Amores Perros is an ambitious movie with several scenes that will stick with you and some powerful performances from Gael Garcia Bernal and Emilio Echeverría. Iñarritu is very familiar with the brutality in human nature and isn't afraid to show the dark side of humanity along with the search for true love. Amores Perros is an emotionally involving movie with a gripping humanistic story, but I think Iñarritu should shift gears for his next movie and focus on another aspect of humanity instead. This film was fresh and innovative, but his tricks have grown old after 21 Grams, Babel, and Biutiful. 

Rating: 8,5/10

My Review: No (8/10)

¨Adios, Mr. Pinochet¨

No is one of those films which I wasn’t looking forward to seeing because I just wasn’t interested in the subject matter. I´m not into historical political movies, but this film was much more than that. No works more as a media satire than an actual political movie. The satire works really well and it reminds us of how important the media can be in our society. No should be required viewing for all advertising students in schools around the globe. The film works in great part thanks to Gael Garcia Bernal´s performance as the ad executive who comes up with the campaign for No in the referendum. Bernal has proven in the past that he’s a very reliable actor, and one of the best in Latin America. The film also has great direction from Pablo Larraín, who decided to shoot the film using U-matic video tape to give it a more 80´s vibe since that was the type of video which was used then. That brought a sense of realism to the movie, and at times it felt like a documentary. This was a well crafted film, and a decent contender for best foreign film of the year. It lost to Amour in the Oscars, but received a lot of love in the Cannes Festival last year. The screenplay was very well adapted by Pedro Peirano (who also wrote the screenplay for 2009´s The Maid, a well received Chilean film) from Antonio Skarmeta´s (famous for his novel Il Postino) play. This is one art house film you won´t regret watching.

It´s the end of the 80´s and Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, has called for a national referendum after being pressured by international organisms. After 15 years of dictatorship, Pinochet is allowing the country to vote Yes or No to him extending his rule for 8 more years in the country. Everyone is convinced that this is all a farce and just a means for Pinochet to legalize his authority. Pinochet is also convinced he will win the elections considering that he has brought economic stability to the country. For 27 days both parties will be allowed to have a 15 minute spot of uninterrupted television air time in which they can campaign. This is where the young ad executive known as Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal) comes to play. The No coalition decides to hire him to lead their campaign, but what they don´t realize is that he will bring a unique approach to the campaign. Since Pinochet´s dictatorship was known for its brutal intimidation and censorship, everyone in the No coalition expects to make their voice heard and focus on the violence and brutality of his government, but Saavedra has a different view: He wants to make a joyful, colorful, and upbeat campaign where the primary message is that ¨Chile: happiness is coming.¨ Everyone in the campaign is upset about this, including Saavedra´s ex wife, Veronika (Antonia Zegers), who thinks all this is just a waste of time. However, the campaign begins resonating with voters, and Pinochet´s people decide to hire Saavedra´s boss, Lucho Guzman (Alfredo Castro), to counteract the comedic and joyful campaign. Things won´t be easy for the No coalition because the government begins intimidating and pressuring them through violence, but Saavedra knows that his campaign can change the course of the country for the better.    

Advertising is a powerful weapon in today´s world, and more than ever we see governments trying to control and censor the media. The reason being that they know that it can shift elections and bring down tyrannical leaders. That is why more than ever, we must fight to keep governments from trying to control or censor the media. What a lot of politics have done is use advertising wisely to get elected. The film is a great case study on politics and media and how they are correlated. No is a film everyone involved in media and politics should see because it shows the advantages and disadvantages that this medium has. Pablo Larrain has directed a powerful film which teaches us how the media can influence public opinion so easily. If only we could have more uplifting and joyful political campaigns like this I would be much more interested in voting. I vote yes: go see this movie.      

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