¿Quién diablos es Yuliet?

An appropriate festival film that tackled the senses with its incorporated style of documentary, feature film and music clip. The story of a sixteen year old Cuban girl is told through some stunning photography, flashy editing and a MTV style of camera work, (really, Godard was doing this with BREATHLESS in 1959). The life of Juliette, (or is it Yuliette?), crosses paths with a model. They star in a video clip together and the story spreads from there as they both dwell on their lives and the whereabouts of their fathers. I realised midway through that I was grinning at the cheekiness the director, Carlos Marcovich, was up to with a story well told but possibly too long. And from where I was sitting there was a fair few people heading for the exit. They didn't seem to have the patience for the cheeky Juliette, or for that matter, the style of the direction.

A magnificent look at Cuba from an unique point of view. The photography is superb, the direction as well. Plus, this woman's beauty is as powerful as her story. A must for all movie lovers interested in refreshing their senses.

This history is singular. About a Cuban model and her context. A kind of crazy movie. A person who has seen it can think that it´s very creative and unusual; but those people who have seen "Crumb!" (1994), know that Marcovich´s idea was not as creative as it seems. "Quién diablos es Juliette?" it´s fine, but not unique in its gender. "A quién diablos quiso plagiar?".

For anyone who has even a passing interest in comely young Latin women, check this movie out. This doc features two of them, both reasonably intelligent and interesting, discussing their lives and doing an admirable job of appearing natural in front of the camera. Fabiola is shown to be a successful model from Michoacan, while Juliette is a wild young street urchin in Havana, partying and trying to stay sane despite what appears to be a very difficult life. Oh, and if you had any doubts, this movie will settle the issue for you: All guys are pigs, evidently.

This is a wonderful, highly original documentary, or is it? I'm not sure whats real or if some parts have been staged, but they depict the lives, dreams and problems of a beautiful Mexican model who is in Cuba shooting a music video and a young local girl who is cast as her sister. The film then shifts focus on the girl and what a girl she is! She's about 13 and can be very innocent and girlish in some scenes, and intelligent beyond her years in other as she speaks her mind in the wonderful Cuban-style gift of gab. Through her eyes we see the poverty that most Cubans endure and learn of the exploitation of children by idiotic foreigners who treat Cuban vacations like a sexual free for all. The girl is one of most powerful protaganist I've seen in a film and one can only hope that she achieves her dreams like those people in films like Hoop Dreams.

What's interesting about the film is the almost surreal tone to the film, using visual gags and free association of images which I found original and funny. Also, the filmmakers made a choice which is one that very few documentary filmmakers make, and that is that they decided to tear down one of the walls, and actually participate in this girls life and try to help her. This if very different from the other films which at times feels like we're being voyeurs on other peoples misery.