Ali_Hooshiar

A woman under the influence is a great movie by one of, if not THE, founders of the US independent cinema. For those who are used to Hollywood movies, it's a completely uncharted territory. The experience you go through watching John Cassavetes' movies like a woman under the influence cannot be explained in words. It is so tense and so real as if you live the movie instead of watching it.

This is why the movie is not for everyone. If you watch movies to get entertained, you definitely do not want to watch movies like a woman under the influence. This is only for those who look for something else.

If you happen to like this movie, you owe it to yourself to watch the hourglass sanatorium.

I think there are enough reviews about Lunacy, but I am surprised that no one has mentioned the influences that the hourglass sanitorium must have had on the director (my guess).

Even after reading several reviews, I'm still struggling to figure out what the director at this caliber has tried to accomplish that had not been done before. Don't get me wrong, the film is beautifully done, the plot, performances, animation, ... are all great, but is there anything else that this movie offers that we haven't seen before? Even if it doesn't, it is still a good movie. For instance, anyone who watches the movie would be left with a strong image of Marquis de Sade, better than any performances seen before.

I looked for this movie all over a few years ago when I finally watched it. Another masterpiece by Luis Buñuel even though he had very little freedom, time and budget when making it. There are a few good reviews on this movie in English (unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish). This masterpiece touches on several crucial subjects: transition of the Mexican society to "modernity" from several angles, perhaps most important ones being separating the workforce from what they make (refer to alienation by Karl Marx), aleniating people from their past, their traditions and heritage, in one word their lives, criticizing the stupid bureaucracy in the modernization process (and the upcoming modern life), showing the real aspects of the ordinary people in a surrealist movie, and the list goes on. There scene where the slaughter house workers get on the train (Min 30:59 ) is perhaps the most famous and effective scene of this not so well known Buñuel's masterpiece.