camel-9

Everyday life in the west bank. No violence. The queues at the checkpoint, the lack of jobs, the occasional shouting with the spouse, the friendships. More like a reality TV show following the everyday life of a citizen crossing chasms between two cultures, religions, languages, and physical barriers. Also noted that the greatest percentage of votes in this website were in the lowest category available ("1"). I would argue that those voters were politically motivated, and did not consider the overall motion picture quality, which was decent and engaging and not boring. Because there are considerable outdoor scenes that involve military equipment, curious wether the Israelis provided some support for this production.

A neat little gem, this movie. Not the greatest, but yet, approaches with a careful plot, the relationships between several people. Shot in outdoor location of Castel Volturno, a grayish wintery concrete condominium on the coast between Rome and Naples, and using direct sound and not the usual studio-added dialogues, it gives an immediate feel and support for the main character, Peppino, who, feeling lonely, convinces a young man to follow him into his trade of taxidermy. Peppino is a virtuoso in establishing relationships, and like a magician, he moves his hands and talks big without really revealing much, and gets the young man's attention. It reminded me a bit of "L.I.E.". Would love to see the actor and Danny de Vito in a movie together.

was struck half-way into the film of how awkward the plot and acting was, considering that there are sophisticated "quality control" processes to ensure a multi-million dollar investment such as producing such a motion picture with such an established film director, and yet, half-way into the movie, I was beginning to laugh at how ridicolous certain assumptions were being made of the audience. Lets face it, motion picture is a product, and it has a carefully scripted marketability. Its plot, trailer, poster, ad, actor appeal, are often shaped and designed to please a certain demographics. In this case, the nude lesbian embracing in loving kisses and body tangles was appealing to middle aged men. Same for the strip and teasing scene. The actor Antonio Banderas would have had an appeal to the women audience, but it just wasn't his part. He's much better that was he was told to do. The assumptions made about how men see women reminded me an earlier movie filmed by the same director, "Obsession". The role of a venerating husband, the businessman then, and the ambassador now, is unequivokably the same. And this up-closeness of observing how women behave and what their true nature is, as in the scene of the nervous breakdown before attempting suicide, is so archaically silly [and btw: heavily emphasized in a musical score of violins]. The only redeeming features of this motion picture is the visual detail and stunning crafting and care of complex sets, as the camera rotates 180 in the outdoor Paris street scene, incling a visual on a church front with people waiting for the sun to come out to be photographed, two workers gluing a poster on a wall, delivery men, a truck, children chasing a ball, two women seated at a cafe, woman feet in slow-motion running followed by feet of two men, also in slow-motion. Great visuals, but stupid assumptions of what men think about women. Like "Obsession", the director must be obsessed with them. They are simply a facade to which we guys will fight our guts for. As in "Scarface", when Al Pacino talks to the blonde, which, btw, never acts, and is only a face, a FACADE, and he says to her, "I need you, a real tiger, so I can go right to the top".