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68 out of 86 people found the following review useful: Refreshing (and realistic) proposal for Mexican directors, 10 October 2005 Author: Katia Muñoz from Queretaro, Mexico
As a Mexican, it is very exciting for me to find new proposals for Mexican modern films. Unfortunately, must of the current Mexican movies are taking the same Hollywood recipe: beautiful actors, violence, soundtracks of well known Latin groups... Batalla en el Cielo does not follow this. The director, Carlos Reygadas, is a person that really wants to show what he has in mind, and does not care about considering distracting elements for having a greater impact in the audience.I am against the use of sex for attracting audience to a film. However, I really think that some (not all) of the sex scenes of this movie were really part of the story. Also, showing sex as it is (not always as idealistic and esthetic as Hollywood has taught us) is an interesting proposal!I consider that one of the main achievements of this movies is to show many cultural traits of my country: -The view of the Catholic religion as a resource to erase the mistakes one has made: "you can do whatever you want, don't worry about the effects because God will always help you" -The notorious gap between rich and poor people: when Ana refers to Jaime's servant as "la gata" in such a despective -but common- way.-The double morale managed by Mexican: how can a prostitute, as Ana, can be a moral leader over Marcos's acts? -The informal commerce (Marcos and his wife sold merchandise in the subway). -The love for soccer (what can I say about that, if I love it?) -Cheating on your partner -The lifestyle in Mexico City, with its traffic jams, way people behave in the subway, neurotic people, kidnaps.All the issues above are part of the Mexican life.Personally, I consider the following opportunity areas: -Not all the music that was used was OK. Sometimes it was too "belic" for me , but at least it is according to the scenes and most of it does not follow the marketing intentions to make you buy a soundtrack -The audio quality should have been improved (it was not easy to understand, even for people used to the way people from Mexico City speak!) -Some (very few!) parts were too slow... but considering Reygadas's style, I might think that it is part of his professional charm.I like to see a different proposal. I would recommend this film to people that, at the time that they leave the theater, really want to think about human nature, rather than thinking if it was an erotic or violent film.I hope my comment has been useful...
39 out of 55 people found the following review useful: the most beautiful and resonant pre-title sequence in the past decade, 25 August 2005 Author: cgibson14 from United Kingdom
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Much has been made of the gratuitous opening sequence in Reygadas latest picture. Allow me to dispel any fears, this is the most beautiful and resonant pre-title sequence in the past decade. We see the nude Carlos' head and chest and sense it's the prurient cliché of the study of a man's naked soul. Reygadas lulls us into this feeling and then slowly pans down to dissolve our preconceptions. The beautiful music beats giving a real sense of emotional turmoil and we pans down to see the almost child-like (in terms of size beside Marcos) Ana administering fellatio. What could have simply been dismissed as shock tactics is undermined by the unsexiness of the sequence and the music which reaches crescendo as the bored Marcos attains orgasm. The black screened title sequence comes at the peak of the music, we are hooked entirely and excited by the emotional resonance produced by the two protagonists about whom we know nothing about. The film is littered with moments wherein the music reaches such a pitch that we cannot but feel for these ostensibly detached and remote characters, and therein lies Reygadas skill. The film works on a number of levels, parallels are drawn between the rife kidnapping problems in Mexico City and Jesus experiences spent in Hell in the 3 days following his Crucifixion. In Edinburgh Reygadas and his actress Anapola Mushkadiz talked and it was interesting to find how autobiographical his film is. The characters retain their own names and the lead Carlos actually was Reygadas father's chauffeur for many years (and an untrained actor). Anapola Mushkadiz, who is a quiet little phenomenon, has never previously acted and showed little ambition to do so again, attributed her performance entirely to Reygadas. Clearly one of the best current directors with influences of Antonioni and Tarkovsky, he curiously reflected that his next film would be happier, curious his sure touch for the darker reaches in everyday life. Rarely does so subtle and out-right thought-provoking a film get made.
28 out of 42 people found the following review useful: Fantastic Film.., 17 November 2005 Author: David Moreno from Mérida México
This not an easy picture. It requires Patience and commitment. It's a poetic movie about the urban heaven. About real people. About love and about madness. Reygadas is truly an author. He turns a conventional history in to a great ride through emotions, feelings and in to the overwhelming city of Mexico. Either you love it or hate it, no one comes out of the theater without a comment or a reaction. The movie has the power to move you in a positive or in a negative way. And i guess that something to be thankful about. Mexican films, in recent years, are mostly easy going urban comedies. This totally different. A prove that we can make different stories that reflect the sometimes surreal life of our country. This is one of them. With no professional actors, the movie feels honest and. The cast it's in a very natural level. The Sex scenes are not as important as they seem. Sex is finally a part o who we are, and we are use to see great bodies making love on the screen. It's not easy to see real people doing it, because we may see ourselves in them. And when someone throws your reality at your face, you can hate it. But Batalla En el Cielo does that and even more: Takes that reality to another lever and turns it in to poetry. And that it's just fantastic.
30 out of 51 people found the following review useful: A wonderful movie, but very hard to watch, 25 May 2005 Author: Rob Cohen (Borco2000) from United States
I saw Battle in Heaven at this year's Cannes film festival, and though I had trouble sitting still and keeping my eyes on the screen, the end result was an incredibly interesting movie that experimented with new ideas, while most of the films at Cannes this year were just recycling the same ideas and techniques. The film begins and ends with a blow-job, which may be too much for many viewers to handle (one theory is that they'll delete the first and last scenes for an American debut). There is a lot of sex throughout the film; it usually involves overweight people (overweight is putting it nicely), and it's always very awkward. The music and the sound effects are very clever. I hope the film opens in the US... but go see it at your own risk. If you can make it through the first few minutes, you'll love the rest and you'll be amazed by what can be captured on film today.
13 out of 18 people found the following review useful: awesome cinematic tour of life in urban hell, 5 May 2006 Author: p-gonzo from Vancouver, BC
Battle in Heaven is an epic adventure in film in the urban world. It thrusts the viewer into many small worlds without fully explaining each world or how they are connected. You must be open and receive this film or you might be frustrated. The camera-work is radical in style yet actually slow and simple. It's just that nobody takes this truly panoramic approach. The use of music is also powerful and moving. Reygadas has really proved himself a force in cinema with this film. Thematically, the film touches on many views -- one example if the fact that almost everyone looks ugly in this film, yet not repulsive. There is also a sense of raw sexual abandonment despite the lack of eroticism. As well, the film deals with Mexican nationalism, and its Catholicism, and the army, in ways that will have relevance for Mexicans. There is beauty in this movie and the feeling of life's inherent tragedy. Decadence is present and evil casually introduced as an aside. You will also be awed by the bravery of the actors and moved by the raw and close-to-real sex acts.
23 out of 40 people found the following review useful: Redemption, 12 September 2005 Author: Jamester from Canada
There are many redeeming qualities about this movie, and I think it's better than most people are making it out to be. I really hope the idea of a struggle for redemption comes through. It did for me. If it does, then the film, in my view, succeeds in telling the story that it should. I should mention, the opening scene really pulled me in. How could it not, being graphic and striking? Some people might think it was gratuitous. I think it was integral to the story.Element after element, plot event after event set the tone for a story that is being told. I could really appreciate the commentary about the extremes some people may go to (kidnapping) in Mexico. It's not an ordinary topic, and it's treated very well. Very creative. Including the title which I thought was very suitable for the film.Give this a try. It's good if you're in the mood to get a slice of life of Mexico. I think it does just that in a creative and entertaining way!
24 out of 42 people found the following review useful: Battle to stay awake, 25 May 2006 Author: PaulLondon from United Kingdom
As the director probably hoped, the opening and closing blow job scenes gained this film a great deal of notoriety and attention that far exceeded the publicity such a turgid, self-consciously 'arty' film would normally receive. This unrelentingly ugly and frequently agonisingly boring film is about a couple of days in the life of a man who shags his bosses daughter and who, with his wife, has kidnapped a child (for no explained reason). At times this has the artless artiness of such trash auteurs as Doris Wishman, but give me Doris' 'Deadly Weapons' over this tedious trash any day! Pretentious and dull this is a pastiche of art house world cinema and does not warrant your time
8 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Wretched, 3 September 2006 Author: jobo999 from United States
Boring. A plot that doesn't move, but rather seems situational. Instants of good cinematography, but you see them all in the trailer. Acting that could be portrayed by dead people. Sex that you wish was done by dead people. I thought I was over 2 hours into the movie and checked the clock - just past an hour. Yeesh! Avoid, unless drinking with friends. (OH! I see IMDb wants more review than that - okay, **spoiler warning**) A physically gross guy getting a BJ from a cute thing. She sheds a tear - why? You won't find out. Offscreen, his wife and he had stolen and accidentally killed a baby - why? You won't find out. But she was tired of hearing the mother, her friend complain. Callous (and not so bright to boot) -- Why? You won't find out. Ultimately the guy seeks redemption through religion - and gets it! Why (even though murder is a "deadly sin" and cannot be redeemed)? You won't find out.Don't waste your time.
22 out of 39 people found the following review useful: Ridiculously over-praised experimental piece from the festival circuit, 28 October 2005 Author: jono-73 from United Kingdom
"Batalla en el cielo" is one of those inert, enervating art movies that comes along from time to time and has highbrow critics reaching for the superlatives. By using amateur actors it masquerades as naturalistic, but it is in fact as artificial as a piece of modern conceptual art.**Major spoilers ahead** Set in present day Mexico City, what little story there is revolves around a chubby middle-aged chauffeur named Marcos (Marcos Hernandez), who together with his even chubbier wife, seems to have kidnapped a baby who has subsequently died. All this drama happens off camera, as does just about everything else that might be of interest, except for the sex. Indeed, Marcos has quite a lot of sex, both with his wife and (separately) with a much younger woman named Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz), the daughter of his rich employer. Marcos, who may or may not be guilt-ridden about the infant's death (it's anybody's guess, since all the actors have clearly been directed to refrain from anything resembling emotional expression), tells Ana about the kidnapping and she encourages him to turn himself in to the police. Later on he stabs Ana to death and then joins a religious pilgrimage, dying on his knees in church. As has been well documented, the sex in "Batalla en el cielo" is very explicit indeed. Director Carlos Reygadas seems to be garnering praise for the mere fact that he has filmed overweight and not very attractive people naked and having sex. But really, so what? It's been interpreted as some kind of laudable corrective to the cosmetic eroticism that Hollywood and the porn industry peddles. It isn't, of course, for the simple reason that the movie overall isn't remotely good enough to mediate the intended visceral impact of lengthy depictions of actual sex. In the context of the story the extended and graphic nature of these scenes is simply as unwarranted as it would have been if the actors were beautiful and glamorous. Admittedly the sexual imagery does provide momentary glimpses of the raw and vulnerable humanity of these people, and had it featured in a more emotionally rounded and professionally told story it might have carried a much greater resonance. As it is, just about everything that happens feels meaningless and remote, because Reygadas evidently has no interest in supplying his audience with any interpretive hooks, and unsurprisingly none of the amateur actors is skilled enough to fully inhabit on screen the bodies that they have so boldly put on display.
27 out of 49 people found the following review useful: It was awful, 9 November 2005 Author: brmr_1980 from Mexico
This movie is a shameful example of the Mexican industry. We have so many great movies, I can't understand how this film has managed to be shown in the theaters at an international level. the beginning was well made, it caught my attention the unusual message it portrayed, but it went downhill from there. The story was terribly narrated, the sex was awful, it just failed to transmit the message I guess it has: how decadent life is. I know there are ways to show sex scenes in an artistic way, it was great to show normal looking people in their intimacy, but this was just horrible. It seemed as if the director thought: OK, here is an open scene of some roofs, why don't we add some sex here? Oh look! a bedroom, let's have the two fat actors have sex here! OK, the movie is ending, but we have extra film, I know, let's have her give him a blow-job in heaven and declare their mutual love after he stabbed her to death. The acting was so obviously forced that it is ridiculous. The director tried to show how common people are in Mexico, but this is just bad. Even the accent the actors used in their speech sounded false. The camera angles, the supposedly artistic scenes were so repetitive and badly done. All the movie seemed to have been done forcibly. It was terrible, but I guess it got a decent rating here because of the free sex and the shots of a man's erection and a girl's vagina.
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