Dependência Sexual

This movie is very good. A bunch of reasons make me say this. First of all, I am a person who has been around many countries in South America (i.e. Latin America) and I can very well relate everything that this movie showed. The movie is based on a reality that Bolivia, specially Santa Cruz (the city), lives day by day. This reality shows how people think, and how very small societies can play important and determinant roles in people's way of thinking, way of acting, and even sexuality (title of the movie.) The split screen is a very good effect. I have to admit that it is weird at the beginning, b/c first of all i have never watched a movie like that--with a split screen--and i am pretty sure many people haven't either. After 10 to 15 minutes you start to realize why the director did this, and you start to understand how he focus different things, at different times, for different purposes. Its just like real life; you just don't go around looking for one thing at a time, the effect of multi-focusing gives the movie a special taste, and most importantly, it gives the movie a very realistic taste. The movie ending is one of the best ones that i have seen in my entire life, totally unexpected, totally shocking, and makes you think about every single thing that you saw in the movie. I would strongly recommend it. Trust me, just see it, with an open mind, and you will like it. 10/10

With generosity and patience one could appreciate this movie. However, the director's choice of using split screens throughout is an overwhelming mistake that gets in the way of everything else he is trying to do. It becomes annoying, like receiving text totally underlined and in capital letters: not everything is equally important nor do the images on one side of the screen contribute continuously in any significant way to what happens on the other side nor enhance our grasp of the whole. So, we are regretfully left with a boring and pretentious conceit of the sort that should have been outgrown in film school. Rodrigo Bellott is nowhere near being a Peter Greenaway who can manipulate aspect ratios and split screens to profound dramatic effect, thereby creating effective, well-structured wholes (e.g. The Pillow Book, a film only done full justice on a theatre screen where the diverse aspect ratios which occur throughout the film can be shown.... DVD's can't do it).

Better luck next time.... and I truly hope there is a next time for Mr. Bellott. Forcing oneself to ignore his unfortunate aesthetic choice (and this is hard, for there is no avoiding it for the whole frigging movie) one realizes that Mr. Bellott may indeed have something worthwhile to say. I wish him to try again, preferably with a strong, experienced but sensitive producer at his side.

While a lot of the time, I am a mainstream guy - who likes to watch known films with a lot of buzz and famous celebs, one in a while I take myself more seriously, and venture out to explore on foreign terrain. This time, I decided to listen to my gut feeling, and rent Sexual Dependency. While usually, Spanish-language films annoy me - the premise behind Sexual Dependency sounded interesting, especially to me - a guy who enjoys movies with sexual themes.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie: when I started watching it, and the split screen appeared, with dramatic music in the background - I was a bit hesitant. I though "Well, there starts another tears-filled international drama". In edition, the split screen really confused me in the beginning, and I thought to myself "Where the hell should I look?". But after you get the deal with the filming, you learn to appreciate this work of art: the idea of different perspective to each scene is amazing! Whoever though of showing us this split world is a genius!

Another thing to like about this movie is the collection of people, whose stories interweave amongst each other. Even though some stories are more interesting and unique, and other are a bit more commercial and clichéd - the general picture is quite nice. The end of the movie is highly surprising, though weak, and a lot of ends don't create a tie - yet still, you feel fulfilled after you watch this film.

While it is not perfect, it falls quite closely - thanks to an interesting plot construction, amazing filming, and even a little bit of South American music can't hurt.

If you're into unique work of cinematic art - especially international film fans - you cannot afford to miss this creation.

There are some movies you start watching with "oh what now?!" and at the end you thank the Providence you did...

I avoid describing formal part - it's something you can discuss for long if you like after the movie and maybe it makes you watch it again "to fully understand". Whatever. Don't forget a wonderful selection of the music - at least for this reason the movie is something to see for those who are not interested for the other reasons.

The importance for me consists in a topic. Let's say it simply - the mentality of a straight-male world. "Oh, they are not all the same." Of course, we talk about those who are. About the chronical misunderstanding between genders - "marry me, let's make children, build a house,..." and the other gender, that learned that "I love you!" is a good way to say "I wanna f..k you" without offending the romantic ideals of the other one. I am not a frustrated woman whose feelings were hurt. I am a gay man - who just watches this never-ending game as a third part (with insight to both sides) and has "fun". Sometimes not so funny-kind-of-fun.

I'd relate it to a movie In The Company Of Men - that was told "to divide times" to Before and After. May it be so. Now perhaps again, from different continent(s) - and with more characters to watch (maybe in different times) - so the image we are served is to be much more "universal"-like. But - it's not Bolivia, it's not America - this is the slight touch to the general mentality what the masculine thinks about what their masculinity is. That men never grow up inside from the age of 15...? They are the hunters in the core? They are expected to be so? What you think? At least consider...

And now time for the point - the movie is a precise composition of the images that will be burnt in your head like a CD. And if not the scenes, not the dialogs, then for sure all the feelings and tunings and small internal shame you'll experience. One of the reasons to recommend this movie is the one mentioned in the title - for me it took days to digest it - even if my opinion was similar before. It HAS A TASTE - maybe bitter - but it's more then nowadays you can expect from the other politically correct and all-is-nice or all-will-be-OK films.

Enjoy it, first feel, then think, admit, then the change will come itself. Let's hope.

it is one of the best movies i've ever seen, first of all because i saw it in a movie theater in Cochabamba Boliva, i am from Bolivia and i lived in a everyday basis watching how everything is just as the movie portrays it, not only the split screen factor is a new thing in the style of the movie, but the way of mixing two places that differ so much from one another and still teenagers have the same problems, it doesn't matter who you are where you live you can always relate yourself to the movie, i saw it and i could only think of how much truth the director poured into the movie. Finally I would like to add that not only the plot but the way the story is told gives it more dramatism and realism, it is just incredible that something of that quality was produced in my country I feel really proud to see that the international market is ready to see what Bolivia has to offer in art material