360 - Jede Begegnung hat Folgen

This film is about a married couple, and the people linked to them through their respective infidelity.

"360" is an artistic film that tells the live stories of may different individuals, loosely linked with Jude Law and Rachel Weisz. Despite the plethora of characters, the story is easy to follow. However, the story itself is not that interesting. Basically, it's A meets B, B meets C, C meets D, D meets E, then A sees F walking past and then F does the same thing B was doing earlier. It is a nice circle, but I am unsure if it is entertaining or interesting to watch. One thing I would like the film to expand on is Blanca's fate after she found the suitcase. That would have been interesting. Overall, "360" is an OK film to watch, but don't expect much from it.

Movies linking different stories taking place all over the world are usually are praised for the interweaving plot coming together with some big revelation. Think about Babel, universally praised for mixing intercontinental tragedy. I liked it moderately, as it was a bit too gloomy, and I would not put it in my top-ten list.

On the other hand, 360 working on a similar take, was vilified almost unanimously. On a different merry-go-round we have the stories of an English businessman ready to stray with a prostitute in Vienna, while his wife is already straying in London with a Brazilian guy, whose fiancée is dumping him for said infidelity and traveling back home, etc… Since the prostitute is having her photos taken by a photographer for her online advert, the movie starts and finishes with a girl entering the study, thus coming round 360 degrees. A couple of stories are quite weak, such as the Brazilian girl meeting a sex offender en route to Brazil and the prostitute's sister running away with a stranger. However, compared to Babel what is missing here is mega tragedy and that is exactly what made Babel so pretentious, with its existentialist grandeur.

Therefore, I liked 360 better because its characters are more "normal" – except, perhaps, the Russian mobsters – and their lives are not experiencing huge calamities. They just change or adjust slightly. I guess that was not liked by the critics (and public). Nowadays, a level of extra-drama seems to be required in ever massive doses to relieve with excitement our numbed existences … at least for a couple of hours.

The idea of narrating different linked stories of characters is certainly not new and the material in this picture is quite abundant: a lot of complex characters, a lot of deep and tense backgrounds. The limit was that the director probably wanted to explore too many characters and too many situations, and the result is that no single story or character is sufficiently developed and seem to be more kept separate than interconnected. The idea that people's lives are connected comes out as banal and evident, as part of any person not living secluded at home, and the fact that in the picture the links go from Europe to the US to Brasil is simply because it deals with dynamic people who move across the world. Some story lines, such as Hopkins' search for his lost daughter could have been explored more deeply, on the contrary it remains faded like the other stories.

Nothing to say against shooting, the use of split scenes is effective and tries to underline the idea of interconnections, and the subtle use of camera tries to make the characters' personalities come out, but in the end do not make up for a general underdevelopment. Nothing to say against the talented, but a little wasted cast, who give depth to the characters, although in the end we cannot but miss some more insight and deepening of both characters and stories.

As the beginning of the story goes, life will eventually present us with two possible directions: the one we choose to follow is for no one but us to decide.

"360" is the latest movie by Fernando Meirelles, a man with some good achievements under his belt. And taking life in its pure existence is a great source of inspiration for his work, where it is hard not to relate to. This time Meirelles brings us a beautiful concocted plan where some aspects of daily life are put into context, mixing different Nationalities and aspirations, dreams and sometimes tragedies that come together full circle, as the title itself states. It is moving, but never funny. Intelligent and simple, granting almost two hours of reflective observation that may teach us one thing or another. All stories are able to stand alone for themselves, but they are smartly interconnected, showing life never differentiates wherever it is at. Beautifully done.

I ran across 360 by chance and really enjoyed it. Yet, when searching for more information in internet the generic title proved difficult to google. After some clicking things started to unfold: the same author directed City of God and the movie is a loose adaptation of one Arthur Schnitzler's play. Although i can't say much about the latter, the former impressed me even more since i've enjoyed that movie, as well.

The cast is brilliant with famous actors popping in and out of view and blending discreetly with otherwise great performance of less known colleagues. We effortlessly move with them across cities, countries and continents as it otherwise is the case in globally interconnected world at the start of the 21st century.

The more i think about 360 the more interesting details i discover in retrospect. Probably the strongest message is that there is a good seed even in the worst of us. The other is that we all eventually get what we want but some of us also get what they deserve.

What i particularly enjoyed is that a lot of things are either foreshadowed or left unsaid. This gives room for viewer's imagination to kick in, which, in turn, is rather uncommon in the era of realism and boredom in movies with artistic tendencies.

To sum it up, the only reason my vote is two stars shy of the best note is that i understand how this kind of movie might not be everyone's cup of tea.