Redemoinho

I was rather excited to watch this film, and the first hour or so did not disappoint. It reminded me a lot of Kieslowski's Blue, and also a little bit of Red, in the character interaction, the cinematography, the use of colors, and just the overall mood. However, I thought that the last half went downhill. It suddenly switched from a journey into depression and internal conflicts to a cliched, improbable love story, almost as if the ending had been tacked on. The emotions of the main characters in the end shift too dramatically, and it seems as though no healing or reconciliation takes place (although apparently some does). The very ending, with the last words of the fish were too out of context, and I swear that they were borrowed directly from some other source. Perhaps my least favorite part of the entire movie comes at the ending on the boat, only because the song being played does not fit the mood at all, and changed my outlook entirely. All in all though, a feature worth watching, if only for the first half alone.

Maelstrom is a unique blend of happenstance, a touch of magical realism and a cautionary tale wrapped in the stunning cinematography Andre Turpin. Unfortunately when one reads a synopsis of the film the reviewers focus on a brief yet impactive scene that happens at the beginning of the film. The irony is this scene is handled deftly and tastefully by Director Denis Villeneuve. But due to the skewed American sensibilities surrounding sex and violence, a masterful portrayal of daily reality is maligned as shocking and graphic. Frankly I'm more disturbed by images I see on the nightly news and on reality TV. So if you can ignore the synopsis a brilliantly poetic piece of cinema awaits you. This is a well crafted film whose visual elements carry the tale, (a lesson M. Night Shamalyan could have used before engulfing his audience in the endless exposition of Lady In the Water) that is ultimately uplifting.

A creepy fish being chopped up by a bloody butcher tells the story of 25 year old Bibiane Champagne (Marie-Josée Croze). She owns clothing boutiques and just got an abortion. She is struggling in her life and then kills fishmonger Annstein Karson in a hit and run accident. Reporter Marie-Jeanne Sirois interviews her about being a daughter of celebrity Flo Fabert. Suffering from the guilt, she drives her car off the pier. She encounters Annstein's son Evian at the funeral home and pretends to be Annstein's neighbor.

On the good side, the surrealism is memorable. The crumbling of Bibiane is palpable. Croze is terrific. On the other hand, the movie is a bit confused. The flow of the story is a bit disjointed. Nevertherless, there is an edginess and originality in Denis Villeneuve's vision.

I went to see the movie because it got excellent reviews from the local newspapers and websites here in Vancouver. I'd seen "Possible Worlds" a few weekends before, and it was truly an excellent movie, no cliches... silence used to build up angst and suspense....

Maelstrom was nothing like it. It was a cross between a bad French comedy and a pretentious artsy movie. Trying to rid the plot from cliches and predictability, it was filled with the most absurd of situations. True, it was sometimes funny, and sometimes powerful - but it just seemed like a bunch of references scattered on screen, with music, imagery and pause used not to built the story, but to shock through being "unexpected" and "French artsy".

But it was worth seeing. French-Canadian movies have a feeling of Nordic melancholy that can turn to the good or the bad. Mostly they turn to the good. and some turn nowhere. Like Maelstrom.

I left the theater with a true smile "hooked" on my face. Here is a tale as grave and dark, and yet as lovely, as Grimm's original plots used to be, with however, a very personal imagery and contemporary twist. Fishes being cut in pieces by a fisherman tell this story about a young upper class women's life going from bad to worse. An neutral, almost "silent" camera shows very clean and beautiful takes of desperation and emptiness. Then, as the story turns, with odds only reality itself could invent, witty dialogs and situations light up the tale into a true bliss. The ageless fishes presents it all in a very solemn manner, conterbalancing wonderfully with the superficial and aimless modern world in which the characters live. The whole movie is thoughtful, questioning to the viewer and articulate in its very own way.