Fausto 5.0

I'm not generally a follower of this sort of "Art House"-ish cinema, but I found this film highly enjoyable. The combination of surreal imagery and gritty realism is pleasantly understated (unlike, for example, Trainspotting), and this serves to add to the subtle nature of the film.

Miguel Ángel Solá really brings Fausto to life... He can run a whole range of emotions without it feeling forced or hackneyed, and keeping everything suitably understated (which helps accentuate the rare occurrences where things go slightly strange all the more)

Forget Matrix Reloaded, trying to confuse you with philosophical babble; this is a film that will have you and your friends discussing what it was *actually* about all the way back from the cinema (and then some). Definitely worth at least two viewings: once to see it, once to *really* watch it.

The umpteenth version of a well-known story (check the title which is the hero's name).it begins well enough,but after an half-hour,it's run of the mill pact with the devil.The actor playing Rilla the "survivor" obviously tries to ape De Niro's style in "Angel Heart".But whereas Parker's work had a solid screenplay,this Spanish story falls apart in the second third and fails totally to convince in one of the most disappointing conclusions a horror movie has ever offered.The movie fills its quota of sex ,"surgery" and gore .Every Spanish director is not Amenabar,by a long shot.I must confess I have not understood the meaning of 5.0.....if it has one of course.

I had a fair idea of what i was looking for, coming to this film. This was a collaborative work, entangled between people coming from films, and people coming from live performances. La fura dels baus are, at the same time, a very interesting group, of people who try to extend and expand the notions of live performance and, more interesting, the notions of interaction with an audience. Basically, their trick is to increase the engagement of people, by bringing them closer to stage, actually, taking the stage to people sitting in front of it.

So i thought i was going to see something similar, regarding film. New ways to engage, a novel way to tell a story that includes the audience, while meaning something.

But film is a total different medium. Different tools, different tricks, different outcome.

The inventiveness and passion you get when watching a performance is here fully replaced by the commitment to build a world, over the real world, that could accommodate the story of the film.

So, we are given a city as if it was an artistic intervention, with all the implied stylization and artificiality. Wrapped Christo-like building, with its interior being actually that of a museum. Transformation of places in the city, by placing groups of people that just don't belong there. The catacombs of the hospital, a good use of space.

This is all great, but the problems of the film begin here. Although this world is perfectly presented, considering what you can do with a city to make it (more) suitable for the story you're telling, this isn't enough to pull us into the film with the same intensity that we are pulled into a show by La Fura. So, despite the effort, the film doesn't leverage the live performances, and i think that was intended.

But you get Barcelona, a fairly interesting one, and we get some great sequences, although disconnected. Of those, the one in the hospital catacombs (which is fundamental in the story) is the best.

My opinion: 3/5

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One of the best takes I have heard on this film goes like this: "It's like if Rob Zombie got religion and decided to take on Goethe and Marlow and delve the deeper meaning of God the Devil and the Soul while listening to lots of industrial goth techno dance music." This sums up the film nicely for those familiar with Zombie. It is a thinking man's (or woman's) horror. It give the selling your soul story and interesting twist.

Miguel Ángel Solá (The Whore and the Whale) is brilliant as the title character, an oncologist that doesn't seem to care about the patients he serves. Eduard Fernández (Che: Part 2, and the impossible to find, Alatriste) is fascinating as the devil.

It gets gory, and it it seems a mess at times, but I couldn't take my eyes away. It was a great story.

Different from everything you have seen, this movie's greatest achievement is transporting us into the real world, but being able to make it not so real. For this effect, the cinematography contributes a lot, and also the art direction. This movie is odd, it will gather enemies, but I think it had great moments and great visions. The oddity is an asset here. It has won the great prize on my country's Fantasporto.