Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Miss Bala (2012)

     Posted about this film a while back, check it out here. However, I finally saw it. It is quite something. Please go watch if you can.

     It's beautifully photographed and the acting is surprisingly wonderful too. Even filmed on location, this film has the echoes of the neorealist traditions and it aids it so well. This is director Gerardo Naranjo hanging dirty laundry out to dry for sure. The emotional space is tense and with all the long takes the audience is presented with a world where no one helps each other and you cannot look away, literally. I originally posted saying "Blow, Boobs and Blood, Oh My!" however you almost never see all three of those things and it's wonderful.  It draws the viewer in without ever showing the main protagonist of the film, drugs.

     However first and foremost this is a piece about a victim and the film takes it to heart and so did I as an audience member. The film is riddled with long takes and P.O.V shots. Each frame is composed for the protagonist and keeps the audience in the same mind frame as her, in the dark. It's wonderful what is and isn't' show in the film, both in story and in the cinematography. But you don't need to see much, you can tell what is happening. There is very little dialogue yet you're kept on point throughout the whole film, entranced almost in a way.

      This is a film that doesn't treat it's audience like a child. It doesn't need to say much, but it shows all. I can only applaud filmmaking like this and continue to hope that more films are made just like it. Again go watch it if you can.

Happy moviegoing folks!

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