Monday, April 13, 2009

Film - "Sin Nombre"


This was a hopping good movie. People told me it was depressing, but I don't get really feel that from movies. Yeah, it was depressing for the (fictive) characters - it sucked to be them, for sure, but when I watch a movie I guess I am following the craft of the thing and man, this movie was tight. The narrative is very linear and its a real chair-arm-grabber - lots of things go wrong for our crew of people heading North to New Jersey from Central America.


So, I don't know, it seems like the good movies now are tending to be made outside the US, outside the Hollywood system. Real stories are tending to be told with real actors in real situations. The same was true for the Italian gang film, "Gomorrah". I would rather watch this kind of stuff, with subtitles, than a Tom Cruise unbelievable action mess anyday. I'm going to continue seeking out so-called "foreign" films. They seem to be happening like they were in the 60's. Hollywood is spending a trillion bux a flick and the art is happening elsewhere.
Trouble is - you have to work to see films like this. They are not in general distribution, lets say. I see mine at the (little, funky) Montgomery Cinema in Montgomery, NJ (Rt 202, near Princeton). There are usually about 20 people in the audience - you know, "good film" nuts and its very comfortable. I don't even know too much how you find out about little, arty films. Scour the web, I guess, or just show up at the very few places who are dedicated to showing artistic films.

3 comments:

  1. i havent seen this yet but want too. I have an idea of what it is about, and it is scary, that shit is true, every once in a while i ask my guys about the trip over and all the different shit that happens, and it ain't no picnic for women sneaking over with the coyotes. there has to be a better way. i guess i should see the movie and comment accordingly and not to theory.

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  2. Oh, thank you, I always appreciate a film recommendation. We subscribe to one of those services that mails you a DVD and then you send it back. But we are also lucky enough to have an international film fest that shows one film per month through the year, then a whole whack of them during the official film fest weeks once a year. I will put this one on our TO SEE list.

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  3. Yeah, check out "Gomorrah" about the Italian crime gangs, too. Pretty good. I need to hunt down some festivals. I know they are around (duh, New York City is 50 miles away).

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