Days of the Whale

'Los días de la ballena' is one of those films that aim to provide a motivational message and help change the World, and on the way they forget to tell a good story. Or maybe the author never knew how to tell a good story and then decided to devote herself to motivational messages. The film is full of quite artificial situations and, shortly after starting, becomes monotonous. The script forces the events to mount an implausible conflict between Art and Drug Trafficking. It should be noted that the topic of narco violence is the most effective shortcut for Colombian filmmakers who want to get some attention at international festivals. The aesthetic aspects are not very attractive either. There is an attempt to conceptually exploit the whale through a crude and simplistic visual metaphor (totally disconnected from the film), typical of a nerdy pupil in an art course. The camera is constantly shaken in an irritating way and without any expressive justification. And the graffiti, which are supposedly a central element in the film, are not even taken advantage of in a beautiful or interesting way. The best of the film: the performance of Christian Tappan, and Colombian popular music (traditional and modern).

Well first of all this a urban portrait of a Colombian city call Medellin. When you saw the point of view of the characters there are substance-subtext and the adventure behind the graffiti scene in the capital of Antioquía. The female character bring to the audience a nice touch of rebel and grown up. Nice and clean feature film and we will see how Mrs. Arroyave will keep this cinema career as a filmmaker in a country where is so important to represent society through the looking glass of art.