Moebius

I saw this film at the New Directors/New Films festival in New York a couple of years ago. I've never seen anything quite like it! It's not quite science-fiction, yet it's as off-the-wall and fantastic as any conventional sci-fi flick. You know you're in for a new type of experience when a film's hero is the practitioner of an obscure branch of mathematics.

Any description of the plot would only diminish it. It's astonishing to think that this was basically a student project. Someone has to get this film released onto videotape fast, so that more people can get the opportunity to enjoy its metaphysical pleasures....

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.

First I have to say, this movie is been done by the students of Buenos Aires School of Cinema, so it's a great job accomplished! Firs thing that strikes is the dense atmosphere, the cinematography is amazing, I absolutely loved it. The characters are mostly well performed, but there are some weird inconsistencies (mainly in Prat, the main character) that took me a bit off the atmosphere I mentioned before. The story is quite interesting and original, and it has a lot of potential, but it felt rushed on it's ending, leaving me wanting more to happen and a better use of the main idea... Overall it's an enjoyable movie, not too long and beautifully filmed, big thumbs up for those students! I'll check out their other works, since I'm watching this movie 24 years after it's been done ':D

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.

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.