Beautiful God of War!
The following is a capsule review of Buñuel's El Bruto which I posted on Netflix. Just in case anyone is interested, I thought I would throw it up here as well.
"A relatively conventional drama centered around a strong but slow-witted man who is hired by a landlord to bully a group of tenants who are resisting their eviction. There's enough going on plot-wise to keep things moving along for 83 minutes, but what's interesting about the film is that every character is shown in both a positive and negative way; even the kind, gentle Meche can be seen handing out rocks for the children to throw when the landlord arrives. Almost all the characters lie to each other without blinking—with conviction, even—and without judgment by the film itself.
"Unfortunately, the drama is undercut by the miscasting of the pivotal role of Pedro/Bruto. The character is supposed to be a person of very low mental faculty, but the actor who portrays him is too quick and too intelligent-looking; in fact, the other characters in the film have to keep reminding the audience that he is supposed to be stupid. His character is obviously meant to be tragic, a puppet who is constantly being manipulated by those around him, but the actor's performance makes the character seem much more self-aware and culpable, and thus much less sympathetic.
"Though the film is not terrible by any stretch, there is not a lot here to interest Buñuel fans. Certainly there is a great deal about the equivocal, two-faced nature of human beings—which is not merely to say that they are liars, but rather they are cut from cloth that is both light and dark—but the more pointed irony and perverse black humor of Buñuel's best films are but an undercurrent in The Brute. As far as surrealism goes, there is really only one scene at the end which would suggest that the filmmaker is the same man who co-created Un Chien Andalou.
"It's odd that only the more conventional of Buñuel's Mexican films are available on DVD—Susana, A Woman Without Love, and The Brute—while more interesting films like Los Olvidados, El and The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz have all but disappeared."
In the past months I've watched or rewatched all the Buñuel movies on Netflix that I don't already have a copy of, and at some point I would like to write up a little guide for those who want to explore his work. Netflix has quite a few of his films, but a good chunk of them are unremarkable commercial efforts made to please his Mexican producer. I wouldn't say that films like A Woman Without Love and Susana are bad, they're just not particularly noteworthy. Moreover, it's worth pointing out that the sexy and so fairly well-known Diary of a Chambermaid, Belle de Jour and That Obscure Object of Desire are not necessarily the cream of the crop.
If I never get around to writing the piece, I suppose it will suffice to say that the best Buñuel that Netflix has to offer is the classic Viridiana. Sadly, the other great films of that period—Nazarin, The Exterminating Angel, and Simon of the Desert—are unavailable on DVD. Of course, the next one to check out after Viridiana would be the Oscar-winning Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. For those who are allergic to subtitles, I would suggest The Young One. I also find Robinson Crusoe to be quite entertaining; it has the look of something you might have been forced to watch at school on a rainy day, and of course that makes the Buñuellian touches all the more devilishly delightful. "Aiyah! Friday beautiful god of war! Aiyah!"
"A relatively conventional drama centered around a strong but slow-witted man who is hired by a landlord to bully a group of tenants who are resisting their eviction. There's enough going on plot-wise to keep things moving along for 83 minutes, but what's interesting about the film is that every character is shown in both a positive and negative way; even the kind, gentle Meche can be seen handing out rocks for the children to throw when the landlord arrives. Almost all the characters lie to each other without blinking—with conviction, even—and without judgment by the film itself.
"Unfortunately, the drama is undercut by the miscasting of the pivotal role of Pedro/Bruto. The character is supposed to be a person of very low mental faculty, but the actor who portrays him is too quick and too intelligent-looking; in fact, the other characters in the film have to keep reminding the audience that he is supposed to be stupid. His character is obviously meant to be tragic, a puppet who is constantly being manipulated by those around him, but the actor's performance makes the character seem much more self-aware and culpable, and thus much less sympathetic.
"Though the film is not terrible by any stretch, there is not a lot here to interest Buñuel fans. Certainly there is a great deal about the equivocal, two-faced nature of human beings—which is not merely to say that they are liars, but rather they are cut from cloth that is both light and dark—but the more pointed irony and perverse black humor of Buñuel's best films are but an undercurrent in The Brute. As far as surrealism goes, there is really only one scene at the end which would suggest that the filmmaker is the same man who co-created Un Chien Andalou.
"It's odd that only the more conventional of Buñuel's Mexican films are available on DVD—Susana, A Woman Without Love, and The Brute—while more interesting films like Los Olvidados, El and The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz have all but disappeared."
In the past months I've watched or rewatched all the Buñuel movies on Netflix that I don't already have a copy of, and at some point I would like to write up a little guide for those who want to explore his work. Netflix has quite a few of his films, but a good chunk of them are unremarkable commercial efforts made to please his Mexican producer. I wouldn't say that films like A Woman Without Love and Susana are bad, they're just not particularly noteworthy. Moreover, it's worth pointing out that the sexy and so fairly well-known Diary of a Chambermaid, Belle de Jour and That Obscure Object of Desire are not necessarily the cream of the crop.
If I never get around to writing the piece, I suppose it will suffice to say that the best Buñuel that Netflix has to offer is the classic Viridiana. Sadly, the other great films of that period—Nazarin, The Exterminating Angel, and Simon of the Desert—are unavailable on DVD. Of course, the next one to check out after Viridiana would be the Oscar-winning Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. For those who are allergic to subtitles, I would suggest The Young One. I also find Robinson Crusoe to be quite entertaining; it has the look of something you might have been forced to watch at school on a rainy day, and of course that makes the Buñuellian touches all the more devilishly delightful. "Aiyah! Friday beautiful god of war! Aiyah!"
Labels: Movies
posted by Joe Gola at 8:14 AM
1 Comments:
Joe...speaking of Mexican films, Death in the Garden will be released next year. The DVD will include a 30-min interview with Michel Piccoli.
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