Moebius

Moebius is an example of what you can do with a low-budget (less than 250,000 $) film. It´s a great movie made by the students of the Universidad del Cine. I think it´s great for some reasons: first because these students had the courage to shot a sci-fi movie in Argentina, that involves many risks, such as never be shown in any cinema, or never finishing it because of subsidy problems (in my country these ones go to the titles that are seen by the major quantity of people, and not to the ones that are better). Second, because the plot makes you stay until the end of the movie and it´s one of the most original plots I´ve ever seen. Finally, because it´s not an improvised film; all the details of it were revised very carefully, and I can´t see any technical errors (that are common in other low-budget movies). I rate Moebius with an 8 out of 10.

As every math undergraduate knows, a Möbius (or Moebious) strip is made as follows. You take a paper strip and glue the ends together; before gluing you rotate one of the ends hy 180 degrees. The Möbius strip has some intriguing properties. Imagine two ants standing at a point of the surface. The first walks along the strip while the second stays in place. Eventually, the first ant will reach the starting point but on the other side of the surface, thus it wiii be invisible to the second ant. This is the origin of the script; only, instead of an ant we have a subway train circulating on rails that sit on a Möbius strip or some higher dimensional version thereof.

Out of this bit of geometry and some cinematic phantasy, director Gustavo Mosquera R. (the R stands for Roral) and his scriptwriters have assembled a taut science fiction film that, unlike others of the genre, does not require excessive doses of suspension of disbelief. The scenario is the Buenos Aires subway system and much of the action happens in its vast, labyrinthine tunnels, underground galleries and workshops that at times seem to represent the Underworld, the kingdom of Hades of Greek mythology.

The Universidad Nacional del Cine (National University of Cinema), founded in 1991 in Buenos Aires teaches every artistic and technical aspect of making movies. It has has been responsible for (and financed) several major projects, this movie being the first. Director Mosquera, a professor at the University enlisted a group of more than forty students that were divided into teams (direction, production, script, art, cinematography, montage, sound) and were instrumental n all aspects of the making of the movie. It was filmed in actual, old fashioned stock and resulted in a very polished product which has attained international recognition (e. G. the MoMA festival New Directors, New Film in 1997) and has already had a remake, Moebius 17 (2005). Perhaps the disappearing train (and the authorities pretending it never happened) is an allegory for the many Argentines disappeared during the military dictatorship of 1976 - 1982.

Perfectly balanced , well directed , great cast. A must see. A true example of what can be found beyond main stream. A psych-suspense , almost thriller like script , that leaves the viewer the choice of building his own barrier , at the point where each of us believes fiction ends and reality starts and vice versa. It takes place in Buenos Aires , but it's NOT local at all ,but rather Universal , it could be happening anywhere in the world . Extremely believable , tension increases as the story develops .It's refreshing to learn that this movie was made with only 3% of the average cost of a Hollywood production . Another indisputable proof that Talent is enough , regardless of the amounts of cash available to expend. Watch it , it worths every inch of celluloid , and every minute of your time

Moebius, the movie, has been around for a while now, and has a very good reputation. But this movie is definitely overrated. Though the pitch is very good, it suffers from various flaws that spoil the quality of the movie. First, the plot is obscure and is sometimes hard to follow. Mosquera chose to deal with the desaparecidos issue. It is a very sensitive issue in Argentina and therefore it is courageous of him. But he had room for criticism and his approach of this subject is rather cold. He could have chosen to insist on the political aspect of his movie but instead he chose to develop the dry philosophical/Borges side of it. And this side is not enhanced by the rhythm of the movie which is particularly jerky between underground scenes and outdoors scenes. It would have deserved more fluidity and even spinning to deal with that moebius strip issue. On that point, that choice seems incoherent. Next point the characters, they are cartoons. They act most of the time on one single level whereas we could have expected more subtility. For example, the subway's director is an impulsive, grotesque, slow-thinking character. Would you really expect that from the director of the subway of Buenos Aires? The only character who keeps her mystery is the one of the young girl, the others are only stereotypes. Finally, it lacks poetry and sensibility. Los desaparecidos, the nostalgia floating around, the young girl could have induced more emotion and it is, to my mind, the main failure of that movie. You never feel concerned by the characters or the story. Nevertheless, some interesting points can be stressed. Regarding the budget and the crew this film is rather good and moreover the light used creates a very interesting claustrophobic atmosphere. Finally, the idea would have deserved a better treatment. It is a shame.

Just saw this and on balance thought it was a very good and unique film. Would like to add that the cinematography and lighting are excellent, and the locations chosen are amazing. The atmosphere created by these two things alone made me enjoy the film - I could pretty much forgive the strange storyline. This is coming from someone who loved "Pi" and "Primer" - good scifi must have plausible science and in my opinion, and this is where "Moebius" fell short.

Subterranean Buenos Aires is an interesting and probably challenging place to shoot a film - but these students pulled it off admirably. There are some clever camera angles and tracking shots, and what looks like some post-production that brings some rich colours to the film.

Recommended as an unconventional sci-fi, in an unconventional time and place.