Trash is a film with a conflict of identity. On one hand, as evidenced by the cinematography, lighting, and the casting of such prestigious actors such as Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara, it intends to be an artistic film. On the other hand, it is full of crass language, uninspired action sequences, and a bilingual dialogue, which means you are staring at the subtitles for half of the film. It is a film which doesn't know what it wants to be. A dramatic mystery akin to The DaVinci Code, or a fun action-adventure for kids, akin to Goonies.
The performances from the child actors are serviceable, but Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara don't feel like they're performing to the best of their ability. Every time Martin Sheen appears on the screen, you wish you were watching a better film, like Wall Street.
The direction is for the most part bland and unoriginal, and the only emotion it elicited apart from tedium was laughter-not even at the parts where they wanted you to laugh, but at how comically stupid all the characters were.
In the places the film deviates from the novel which it was based from it excels. The editing, especially during the scene in which the housekeeper tells the two children of how Jose Angelico (in the film named Jose Angelo for inexplicable reason) stole the money from Senator Carlos (changed from the book's Senator Zapanta).
At the end, the main antagonist of the story, a policeman, who had previously tortured Raphael in the trunk of his car, is held at gunpoint by Raphael. When I was watching it, everyone around me wanted Raphael to shoot the policeman, but he didn't. It was very strange to see them steal seed money and giving it to the people of Behala, but not shooting a police officer who all of them knew to be guilty.
The performances from the child actors are serviceable, but Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara don't feel like they're performing to the best of their ability. Every time Martin Sheen appears on the screen, you wish you were watching a better film, like Wall Street.
The direction is for the most part bland and unoriginal, and the only emotion it elicited apart from tedium was laughter-not even at the parts where they wanted you to laugh, but at how comically stupid all the characters were.
In the places the film deviates from the novel which it was based from it excels. The editing, especially during the scene in which the housekeeper tells the two children of how Jose Angelico (in the film named Jose Angelo for inexplicable reason) stole the money from Senator Carlos (changed from the book's Senator Zapanta).
At the end, the main antagonist of the story, a policeman, who had previously tortured Raphael in the trunk of his car, is held at gunpoint by Raphael. When I was watching it, everyone around me wanted Raphael to shoot the policeman, but he didn't. It was very strange to see them steal seed money and giving it to the people of Behala, but not shooting a police officer who all of them knew to be guilty.