Sem Amor

I've been wanting to watch this film for a long time now. I needed something to watch desperately this Friday evening and it got released on Prime.

I've randomly found Charlene's Xanga back in the day and was so instantly drawn into everything about her. She's very witty, honest, and original. She had this natural beauty inside and out and I've been a fan girl since.

I enjoyed everything about this film. They sure know how to make light of dark situations. I love the dark humor and the music in the film. I definitely believe in platonic friendships and how they can help save people. Throughly enjoyed John Hawkes and Melissa Leo, perfect castings and characters for the story. I'm just shocked I didn't start sobbing.

I hope Charlene continues acting. Such a raw exhilarating talent.

The movie was not 100% true to life but it did a great job of poking fun and being lighthearted about such a serious subject. The director realized we should all have a sense of humor about our troubles if we're going to manage them in a healthy way. This film was not meant to be an exacting portrayal of the subject matter nor a film that allowed for Academy Award performances. Drama with comedy is like that. I thought the actors and actresses did a stellar job with the roles they performed and it was a semiserious, funny/quirky, yet heart warming movie. There's good in all of us and it's easier to see if we're not consumed by our problems.

This was a surprise, a film with a real sidekick of na topic, namely addiction. not to food chalk or heavy drugs, its about addiction to love, get loved, make love, share love, and the lack of fulfillment of sexual cravings, put ahead by at times brilliantly acting by john hawkes and charlene deguzman.

frigidity, nymphomania and satyriasis,or sex addiction may sound weird as being called a problem, but actually its basically a well hidden mental disorder than you think , and gives usually severe problems to the person that has got it. its especially a social stigmata, especially for the girls/women that are easy beatches,hores or laybacks( wrongspelled i know) and all the other synonyms used to describe the behaviour. men are usually called rough and tough and cosidered cool being a womanizer. but when all you think of 24 /7 is sex, porn,love and satisfaction it is a terrible problem.

the production bears many signs of low budget and spontanious acting, but its well acted,written,edited and directed. also the musical elements are of high quality and well played by the actors.

do enter this film openheartedly, its not a porn flick, do acknowledge the problem ,because social loneliness and lack of love can be unbearable, in the age of internet , multimedia and virtual society, for young and for old. the grumpy old man recommends this flick .

This is a cute, funny, honest, heart-warming, relatable film, an enjoyable 1 hour and 20 minutes. The way mental health is dealt with in this film is refreshing and realistic.

Viewers should know first and foremost that this film gets right at the heart of some topics that many find uncomfortable to even think of, let alone watch played out on screen for 80 mins. It is a (pleasantly) surprisingly frank depiction of sex in general, with a focus on specific inclinations/complulsions/hangups/etc relative to the addictive aspects of sex.

And that enough so that there was no future of international release or promos on late-night US tv. No chance of great stardom or adulation. But they did it anyway, and did it honestly, such that it (according to a similarly-afflicted friend) really speaks to the heart of the issue and how actual humans deal with it.

But, due praise given, the narrative was somewhat disjointed in presentation and the final cut a resultant disappointment to me. Not in the least because I think they poorly utilized the brilliant John Hawkes (and, yes, apologies for elevating the male role in a film that's not about him). For that matter, I found the equally brilliant Melissa Leo underutilized as well (also, not about her, I know).

While I endlessly applaud Ms. deGuzman's honesty and sheer courage to bring such a personal role to the screen as she did, I must be honest and say it did not, ultimately, work out that well.

Honest assessment is a 6/10, but I think such boldness and effort demands an extra star.

With any luck, Ms. deGuzman will be back soon with another film more complementary of her talents, and of the talents of those around her.