Now & Later

This is a very good film. I totally liked it. The plot is different; but one of the best I have every found.I specially liked the leading actress; not just because she is good looking; but because she is a talented actress. She does a great job to attract viewers to the film. The leading actor is also a talented person. He is totally justifying his character. This story is actually making us to think twice about our fast faced life. It influence us to explore the true meaning of life and living. Aren't we all chasing after a dream? Which sometimes making us nothing but zombies who don't have hearts. This film is one of the best I have ever watched. I recommend for anybody who has time to watch a film with patient.

At the very beginning we are welcomed with Wilhelm Reich's quote: "A sexually repressed society will resort to violence". He is an international trader - a speculator who grew up in a typical American family devoted to power and success. She is an illegal immigrant from Nicaragua, and works as a volunteer in a free clinic. When they meet it's a collision of worlds (quite literally) with plenty of sex and conversations about politics, philosophy, and other worldly pleasures. This movie very effectively raises its voice against the culture in which violence is considered to be top-notch entertainment, while sex is taboo and shame.

The male lead in this film is a doctor in real life and apparently quite accomplished in a number of fields. What he is doing in this miserable piece of tripe is beyond me. This guy must really want to be an actor which would be great if he could only act which he cannot. He's tall, dark and handsome and sports quite a package which is shown in all its glory, yet you never really believe this guy because he cannot stop being a doctor. There's even a scene where he's in bed with another man as well as a woman and even then it's almost as though he's in an examining room. When he takes hold of the other fellow's appendage I fully expected him to pull out some medical instrument to deal with the matter, but he does not. Yet one has the distinct feeling that the slab of beef in his hand is simply there for examination and nothing else. The female lead in this film is almost beside the point, playing second fiddle to the doctor's package which gets most of the attention in the film.

Comparing the movie to the critic reviews is like talking about another film: this very true and provocative cinematique angle is nearly a threat to todays society, just because it is honest enough. Unlike what is written in the other user reviews, I think that the explicit sex scenes are NOT the main reason why this film has been chopped up by the critics, but they eventuallly add up to all its superficially called "negative points". Briefly:

1. The sex scenes: it is true that a sexually repressed society will eventually turn out being violent and its people being miserable. The film underlines the oxymoron of how we are "taught" to hypocritically "hide" our need for sex and love, as if it is something bad and anethical, whereas in the end, if openly cultivated, leads to self-fulfilment, joy and mental balance. And reduces hatred and violence.

2. The social point of view: The two leads are surrounded by poverty, social discrimination and injustice in what we think is our "modern equal world". And their relationship is indeed determined by those differences, as they both serve as representatives of two opposite social classes, the upper-class banker and the illegal immigrant. Poverty IS a reality and people ARE being exploited to death for others to consume and win millions. And the film cares to remind us that even if the two protagonists don't exist in reality, there are many many people who are like them.

3. The "we are the heroes" part: now this is a turning point in the film. Sadly enough, politics ARE a way of expressing power and greediness, and some countries/ people are the unlucky victims. The main lead, as a former banker, a former "master of the universe", approaches the most painful part of the movie, the realisation that our political leads may not be so "saint" at all, that our country may have erred, that wars are being provoked just for the profit, that a poor country's future may be a toy in the hands of those who are in power (financially and politcally), that people die for others to get richer etc... All those are issues we are trying to forget or neglect or doubt, and this film makes us look straight up to them, or at least it tries.

Some would rather look straight up to the provocative sex scenes, there is, though, i think, a natural coherency between all the issues addressed by the film (the sex, the politics, the freedom, the social critic) that lead up to a compact, intimate and philosophical end result.

P. S. Give it a try and watch it, with honesty and open mindedness. As all authentically non-Hollywood approaches, the characters in this film are not the great heroes we have to admire and immitate. We merely learn from them. Besides, for instance, I don't see why the sexual theme in "Vicky, Chrsistina, Barcelona" should be more justifiable, less shocking or "intellectual" enough to win an oscar and get plenty of praising critic reviews.

I liked the film very much. The whole story unfolds under the echo of the word "now". Now we live, love, die, fall and rise. Past is too far and future is hidden behind the dreams. It is such a relief when you realize that the only constant thing in life is the inconstancy. And there is no time enough for regrets and despair, no time for loosing yourself in the cave of greed for getting more and more. You should appreciate every single moment and never forget it is a gift.

The main actors managed to inspire all these thoughts. Same feelings inspired the music and some camera decisions. I liked the scene with the bird-kite. And about the sex scenes I find them erotic, not vulgar or rude.