Caribe

Story wasn't super innovative but overall provided an easygoing plot. There were a few character reactions that seemed inconsistent but not overtly so. From a Costa Rican perspective it succeeded in showing a lot of aspects of culture and societal issues of the Caribbean coast BUT having the lead characters be foreigners drew away from it. The end was a bit loose but didn't bring down the merit of the rest of the story.

Esteban Ramírez is the only movie maker from Costa Rica that has achieved some heavy international recognition for his work, being "Caribe" his cornerstone. The movie is based on a short tale that Ramírez and co writer Ana Istarú achieved to transform in a contemporary story with two main axis: a story of love and betrayal on one hand and a subplot that involves the resistance of some groups to explore and exploit oil fields in Costa Rica shores. The first story goes quite OK. The second, nowadays, with the fuel prices as high as they are I really don't care if foreign companies, or national ones, exploit oil or uranium if the Costa Rican people can save some money. But it was a good stroke because by doing so, to criticize the oil exploitation, the movie got the spontaneous backup from many environmentalist and Anti U.S. leftist groups. Not a masterwork it speaks very well of the producer-director Ramírez who achieved a good work for his curriculum. As far as I'm concerned he has a "10" in Costa Rica and expect to see more of his.

This movie was produced by the biggest producer in Costa Rica. Although their authors brag about it as a the biggest movie in Costa Rica ever made and their actors even dare to say that they didn't get an Oscar Nomination due to it's political relevance with oil (-he he, right) ...Well, this is all a lie. This movie was supposedly based on a book written by Carlos Salazar Herrera about a love triangle (super cliché soap opera-like subject) and it secondary story is about an oil problem on the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica with an American oil company who wanted to explore oil deposits on the region, but at the end it never was approved by the government. Now, it may have some nice footage about the beaches, but that's it; nothing bigger than that... it is all in the camera. Most of the actors are lousy, except for two or three. The rest lack of sense of what acting means: they overact most of the time. The story is completely common and cliché, worthy of a cheap Mexican soap opera as I said.. because the crew advertised it as a protest movie about oil, but 80% of the movie is based on a stupid love triangle. The script is nothing impressing, it is very simple and the dialogs are not very thought. It has also got some editing problem on a couple of scene changes... but besides that is pretty decent. The director did an alright job, I mean, he is not like an Oliver Stone,but he did his job with the resources he had handy. I would like to question him why instead of using Costarican actor he spent most of the money on foreign ones.. I mean after all they bragged about being an 100% Costarican Production... that's what you at least expect. Final the end is is not well done, there are flaws and details that don't match or are useless. Besides being the most elaborated movie in all Costarican history, I think it's mediocre. You can make way more interesting and better pictures with less cash. Never heard of "Pi"? Anyway, if you are curious about Costa Rican or Central American movies, this one will do, but you are definitively not missing anything.

"Caribe" is not a masterpiece in any of its storytelling aspects. However, it delivers a perfectly enjoyable story, along with a magnificent cinematography. The narrative structure is set around two narrative axes, one of them embedding the other, each one having elements that relate and co-exist in excellent harmony. The story never loses the right pacing, and it shows a very good blending of the human figure with its natural environment (which is a character in itself). The acting is great, and for that we owe credit to the emerging director, Esteban Ramírez. Furthermore, the characters are very well written and masterfully complex; so, once you become familiarized with them, you can perceive their feelings without them even saying anything. I can't say I liked this picture because of all the hype it generated(in Costa Rica), but rather because of the way it really achieves in showing an interesting portrait of what happens when you interfere with the equilibrium of people's lives. Hopefully, Caribe will establish a reference for future projects in Costa Rica, as it is a very good example of nice movie making.

I saw this film at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and it's director Esteban Ramirez introduced the film and took Q&A after. The four lead actors in the roles of Vicente, Abigail, Irene and Jackson are all good but only Cuca Escribano as Abigail stands out as the best of the four. The character of Jackson doesn't have much to do in the movie and I wondered why it was even in the film. The rest of the acting by the other characters in this movie is nothing special and the characters are all kind of cartoonish. The film has a good look to it though despite being shot in a brief five weeks. It had some elements of a good story but wasn't enough to be a film. A made-for-TV movie maybe but not a theatrical release. The final scene was a little far fetched concerning everything that went on in the film. I did think it was a good movie on the low end of good but I wouldn't see it twice. I would rate it a 6.0 out of a possible 10.