Nadie te oye. Perfume de violetas

After watching PERFUME DE VIOLETAS one wonder's if Mexican Cinema can go beyond portraying the sour and depressing stories of urban life. This is not the first entry of the "true life" story gender. Not withstanding looking at the film the cinematic process stands-out beyond anything else. The actresses are great, if one considers that this was their film debut, the surprise is even bigger, great work by the director. The photography also adds to the realm of desperation and reality, a careful camera work with saturated images and colors, changing the lighting and atmosphere between the homes of the two girls. Probably the low point of the film is the music use. It's so directed to the marketing of the soundtrack that make's you wonder if there was other consideration in its use. When the image and the song show the same thing then one or the other is overstating and therefore a waste. Good work and an appalling ending. Its going for the Oscar but probably will be left before the nominees, but it's worth watching.

Almost a new generation Italian neo-realist film minus the political commitment, plus a sense that there is more to suffering than poverty alone: decades of social fragmentation and of "me" ideology have left us all as closed as Leibnitzian windowless monads: packed everywhere, but incapable of any elementary form of communication.

The Italian neo-realists, more or less close to various forms of socialism, had here and there glimpse of (naive, as it was to be seen) hope into the "new man." No such feeling is present here. The sky has closed upon us and is not going to open anytime soon.

All in all, a superb, if terribly dramatic film. The final scene is an absolute masterpiece, hinting at unspeakable horrors directed towards the already beaten, raped, and victimized protagonist, with the exquisite restrain not to show them at all.

A great film, which takes on important themes (sexual violence among teenagers, the dissolution of family and social bonds, the apathy of society towards "inconvenient" realities) without puritan restrain but without unnecessary gore. Highly recommended.

This is one of those Mexican movies that really deserve to be exposed all over the world. Today's Mexican Cinema is dedicated to show the the Mexican culture and its daily life and this movie just does that perfectly without falling within the Mexican movie clichè of unnecessary violence, sex and drug scenes.

The movie is crude, that's true, but at the same time its also very realistic and you commonly see all those same situations within the daily life of the urban poor circles back in Mexico City, although some of those practices are repressed and therefore not openly done.

This movie completely features the not-so-nice side of Mexican society and its practices and common life.

I used to live in Mexico and this was definitely the best movie I saw there, and by far the best movie ever made on the life of the poor people of La Ciudad de México. Although Mexico to me is a very distinct place from the one described by the movie, it was shocking to see that these people living in true agony passed by the same places where I'd been and took the same bus as I did. It gave me a totally new perspective on my ride when I sat on that bus again the next morning. Life to most people on this planet is extremely cruel, but sometimes we seem to forget it, even if it's right beneath your very own eyes. Perfume de violetas opened my eyes; I think it would be good to remember that there are over 20 million people living in Mexico City, with the number rising by nearly 3000 every day, and that most people aren't even as well-off as Yessica, and definitely not as lucky as Miriam. Viva Mexico, eh!?!

"Perfume de violetas" is, by far, one of the best and most underrated Mexican films in years. The story is shocking and touching, the direction by Sistatch is marvelous and the acting is superb (just watch the two girls, they're wonderful). No more words. Just see this film. Four stars out of four.