Gaudi Afternoon

So you want a movie where a heterosexual woman gets inside a detective story set in a queer underworld, so to speak. She is not heavily shocked, but rather bemused, mostly, as the situations and the people she meet are not really very dangerous. If this sounds good, then I suppose this movie is for you, as it has some unusual characters, but it seems friendly to everyone, including the viewer. I found it funny and charming.

What a wonderful film! Whoever's responsible for assembling cast should get an award for casting. Taylor, Davis, Lewis and Harden are four of the most interesting actors to watch on screen. The story is brilliant. It is an honest, thoughtful and unapologetic look at motherhood, gender and intimate relationships. Juliette Lewis gives the best performance she's ever given in the role of April (a character unlike any she's ever played). Lili Taylor is sincerely brilliant and intense as usual. Judy Davis and Marcia Gay Harden are hilarious. Even the city of Barcelona and the architecture of the artist Gaudi are characters in this film. I am not familiar with this director's other work but her vision is very seductive. The camera angles, her use of color and the pace at which the film ebbs and flows is the reason I love cinema so much. The little girl who plays Delihah (Courtney Jines) is a total treat. She's smart but she's still childlike. She's complex without sounding a kid reading 'adult' lines. I reccommend this film whole-heartedly.

I was curious to see this film because of Judy Davis and Marcia Gay Harden being in it. I was surprised, then, to see Lili Taylor and Juliette Lewis as well. The acting was admirable on all accounts and Judy Davis played a tough and curious literary woman translator that Davis was able to make likable despite the character being repressed and brittle.

The story worked up until near the end when things got a little ludicrous concerning people meeting up and then the child disappearing and it seemed weirdly frantic at some points. For the most part it was an enjoyable film with surprises now and then. I was quite surprised to learn after I looked up some information later about this film that it was directed by Susan Seidelman as I've liked her work in the past. It's good to know she still has a flair for creating films about women who are put in situations where they begin to questions their lives so far and the decisions they've made.

Terrific mystery story filmed in Barcelona, Spain, stars Judy Davis as an American loner who translates books. One day she meets a mysterious woman named Frankie (Marcia Gay Harden) who wants to hire her to find her husband. She can't speak Spanish (actually it's Catalan in Barcelona) and needs her help. She offers quick cash, so Davis takes the seemingly innocent job.

Instead, Davis finds herself caught up in a web of deception that includes the husband, a kid, a woman named April, and a magician. No one is what they seems to be.

Set against the spectacular and other-worldly architecture of Antoni Gaudi, the story delves into a shadowy world and teaches Davis a big lesson in,life.

As Cassandra the translator, Judy Davis brings her brittle edginess to the fore and creates a believable character who can't stop being intrigued by the bizarre people she meets. Marcia Gay Harden is a hoot as Frankie, and she's matched by Juliette Lewis as the hippie April, Lili Taylor as Ben, and Christopher Bowen as Hamilton the magician who lip syncs to Dean Martin's "Sway" in his nightclub act. Also Courtney Jines as the kid and Maria Barranco as the landlady.

Memorable film is a feast for the eyes and offers several excellent performances. Not to be missed.

I was surprised to see how much some people here disliked this movie. It's a nice little comedy with good performances, an engaging storyline and a nice pace. I notice a lot of the criticisms are from people who have a very definite idea of how such a movie should be made. Many are comparing it favorably or unfavorably with Almodovar's films, none of which I've seen, and some with the book, which I haven't read. Taken on its own, it's excellent, and Judy Davis is, as always, terrific (I feel in the same way critics want this movie to be a different movie, they want Davis to be a different character - one complained her hair was always a mess, which was sort of the point - but Davis is perfect for the character that the movie is portraying, even if she's not perfect for that movie some people feel should have been made instead).

It's also nice to enjoy something by Seidelman. She started so great and then got so awful that I gave up on her years ago and haven't even seen anything she's done in years except for one or two TV series episodes, but while this is no Smithereens (I don't think she's capable of ever doing that again) it's nearly as good as Desperately Seeking Susan. Perhaps success destroys Seidelman, and she can only make good movies when she's obscure.