In Theaters
Carancho (2011) Trapero - During my trip to Buenos Aires, I was shocked by how crazy the driving seems - rarely a stop sign to be found at an intersection and lines marking lanes treated as optional. Basically, driving seems like a chaotic free-for-all. It comes as no surprise that Argentina has thousands of deaths a year caused by car crashes. This Argentinian film focuses on a doctor who rides around in ambulances and a disbarred lawyer who is now an ambulance chaser for an insurance scam. Bloody, visceral, sometimes sexy. Tension develops to the point where you get nervous every time someone gets in a car, but also so thrilled. 4/5
Certified Copy (2011) Kiarostami - To begin, this seems to be about art. In particular, the idea that a copy can be just as important on an emotional level as the original. A man has written a book on this very subject and a woman who comes to a reading offers to show him around town. After a while, we get the impression that the two know each and may be an actual couple. However, the question remains - was the first part all an act, or their relationship a farce? Conceptually interesting, but doesn't quite add up to an enjoyable watch. 3/5
Jane Eyre (2011) Fukunaga - I've never read the book and am not typically interested in period dramas. I saw this because the director last did Sin Nombre. The film is lush, beautiful, and melancholy in tone. Jane is a girl first cast off by her evil aunt and sent to a boarding school where her only friend dies and everyone is beaten. By the time she gets a job as a governess on an estate, she is in need of affection which the vicious and temperamental Rochester gives her. It's easy to understand why she falls in love, but not to return to him. I know it's far too progressive for the time, but I just wanted to see this 19 year-old get to live. 3.5/5
In Home
Le petit soldat (1960) Godard - A film about torture and a war where everyone is wrong (namely France and Algeria) and maybe love is the only thing that can redeem a person with no ideals. Mostly the selling point of this film is getting to gaze upon Anna Karina's face. 3.5/5
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