El pasado

I just saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival. The director and Gael Garcia Bernal were both there (which was quite a thrill).

I don't want to give too much away about the plot, but essentially this film looks at the different ways men and women react to a breakup. It was very interesting, well acted and profound and I enjoyed it thoroughly until about halfway through. Unfortunately, the last part really bothered me and took me from rating it at an 8 or 9 to a 6.

As a woman, I did see myself - to a point- in the first part. I also gained a better understanding on why some men react to a relationship's end as they do. Unfortunately, the final half of the film made some deeply disturbing generalizations about women and their emotional stability, and I was left perturbed. It's one thing to give certain attributes to a character; It's another when an entire gender is implicated.

Nonetheless, the performances are all marvelous. See it - but prepare to have a conversation about it after wards!

"El pasado" is an introspective and provocative movie that asks us the scope of liberty that we have towards our history. Until which point can we forget what we have been through? Or yet, how do we build our narratives? Forgetfulness is a way of healing our evils. In "El pasado" Rimini (Gael Garcia Bernal) is a young translator who lives a torment when getting a divorce from Sofia (Analia Couceyro), with whom he was married for 12 years. Sofia did not accept the separation. Rimini was a translator and he started forgetting some English and French words, languages he mastered quite well up to them. It adds some more suffering to his life. Hector Babenco, the director, who was born in Argentina. He conducted well-commented movies, such as "Playing in the fields of the Lord". As Hitchcock use to do in his films, Babenco plays a short scene in the movie. Try to find when.

First of all, I have to say Analia Couceyro is an incredibly beautiful woman! I'm not sure why some of the reviews are so negative. As far as making women look bad, it makes men look bad too. Because we can all be cruel sometimes and love can make you do crazy things. Anyway, great story and an outstanding cast. Well worth watching.

As far as directing goes, I guess Babenco did a fairly good job. The cinematography nor the soundtrack evokes any real emotional reaction from the viewer.

The acting is decent and no one really stands out. If you look at the other comments posted, you may see a few that make reference to the number of sex scenes.

This is good.

If this movie didn't have sex scenes, you'd fall asleep.

This is a drama that was probably adopted from a really good book. The script wasn't written well and in the end, you'll feel like you wasted a significant deal of your time.

I'm not sure this needs to be added to your Netflix list.

I saw this movie last night, I think this was a good movie and a horrible story, being haunted and trapped by your own past is not always good, at some point the guy (Bernal) seems to have the same tastes,way of thinking as his previuos partner (after 12 years together you figure it out)....once he is over that he find himself lost....making some very bad decisions and not facing them correctly are part of his life, he sabotage his own success after steeping up to his past...interesting movie..leave a bad taste in my mouth...I am not saying that the movie was bad, I am saying that the movie accomplished its target on me...creating an emotion..it was not a nice feeling.