I had a chance to catch this much over-hyped film at the Arizona International Film Festival and I have to say it really left me wanting, that is wanting less.
On the positive side, the performances are fantastic. Pena delivers a great performance, America is a real force and the grandmother stole the show.
On the negative side, the the languid pacing became too much and makes the film way too long at over two hours. I found myself checking my watch way too many times. The cinematographer must have had little direction as some of cinematography was very nice, but most of it felt as though he really wanted people to take notice of his work. I took notice, many times when I shouldn't. Many times the characters occupied the edge of the screen, even cut off the edge. This cinematographer really wanted to say something and what it said to me was "I make home movies". Many people seem to blame the editor for the length whereas I point to the Director. She is supposed to have the vision and she's ultimately responsible for the editing. Overly-long, silent sex scenes, dialog so stiff that even the actors couldn't make it work and a good half-hour of excess peripheral story really make this film drag.
The sad thing is this movie could be a really nice film with above average performances and some genuinely funny moments, but poor decisions made by the filmmaker drag this film down into the muck of overly self-important art-house schlock.
On the positive side, the performances are fantastic. Pena delivers a great performance, America is a real force and the grandmother stole the show.
On the negative side, the the languid pacing became too much and makes the film way too long at over two hours. I found myself checking my watch way too many times. The cinematographer must have had little direction as some of cinematography was very nice, but most of it felt as though he really wanted people to take notice of his work. I took notice, many times when I shouldn't. Many times the characters occupied the edge of the screen, even cut off the edge. This cinematographer really wanted to say something and what it said to me was "I make home movies". Many people seem to blame the editor for the length whereas I point to the Director. She is supposed to have the vision and she's ultimately responsible for the editing. Overly-long, silent sex scenes, dialog so stiff that even the actors couldn't make it work and a good half-hour of excess peripheral story really make this film drag.
The sad thing is this movie could be a really nice film with above average performances and some genuinely funny moments, but poor decisions made by the filmmaker drag this film down into the muck of overly self-important art-house schlock.