Carmen

I did not know much about this film before I went but I hoped it may be like the Saura Carmen which was largely flamenco, paralleling the Carmen story and was terrific. As well as cinema, I enjoy flamenco, some modern dance and opera. Well, there was some good flamenco at the start by the mother but not much more. The dance was then sort of modern ballet like a young girl might do, waving their arms around, not particularly engaging or exciting. This is Carmen! I was more impressed by the choreography in Barbie (unexpected). Matter of taste maybe. I gather the story was modelled more on Carmen Jones than the opera. There were some symbolic moments; washing of feet - refugees- but even they were not very emotive. The whole thing should have excited more than it did. Mescal and Miss Barrera were ok, but not much to work with given the uninspiring dialogue. It may have been somewhat "stylized" and that does not always work for me. Paul is a talented actor but needs better scripts than he has recently received (this & Aftersun). I woke up at one stage thinking I was in an Almodovar as the redoubtable Rossy de Palma peered down from the screen, but even she could not save this. I agree, disappointing.

Predictable and quite basic storyline. Yet, the movie is beautifully done! If you are into action movies, or dramas - you will find yourself scratching your head a little.. but take it as a new type of presentation.. After all, aren't you already tired of the same gangster, mob stories with racing cars and heavy shootings? (I am! All of the action movies are the same: no real plot line just chasings and gory images.. ) For me, Carmen was like a realistic play that we watch on stages: dialogues are mingled with dance and music to express feelings more than mere images, at times alternating the past and the present, the cause and the effect, the reality and the imaginary.. It's 'almost' an art movie because the image was not spectacular.. Instead, the soundtrack was. Among others, Paul Mescal (I had no idea who he was) sang a song amazingly, reminding me I wanted to learn how to play the guitar..

IN A NUTSHELL: Congratulations to dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied in his directorial debut. He reimagines the famous French opera Carmen into a modern dreamscape with original songs and musical score. Writing credits go to Loic Barrere, Alexander Dinelaris, and Lisa Loomer. THINGS I LIKED: I'm such a fan of Melissa Barrera. As soon as I saw she was in this, I was all in. She gets better and better with each of her films. She can sing, dance, and act like a pro. Beyond that, she looks a lot like my son's girlfriend from Cuba! The haunting musical score by Nicholas Britell is excellent. When I lived in Spain, I went to Flamenco dance lessons! It was fun and interesting to see that element embedded into the story. The woman at the beginning of the movie was really great. The movie is supposed to take place around the Mexican/US border somewhere, but the movie was actually filmed in Oz, Australia. There's an interesting scene where one character washes another's feet and rubs them with oil, reminiscent of Jesus Christ anointing the feet of His disciples. The fight scene was cleverly done in dance form. All of the choreography is just beautiful to watch. Dancers will love that element of the movie. It's fun to watch how the story moves forward with what we learn in the dance sequences, as well as how things are "said" through dance. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: The first 11 minutes are in Spanish. We hear accents and voices from Mexico mostly, but also from Spain. Those who are unfamiliar with the French opera, Carmen, won't have a clue what's going on in the beginning or how it relates to the opera. It would have been nice to have some singing at the beginning of the film. We don't hear a song until 15 minutes into the movie. This is definitely an artsy-fartsy film that won't be everyone's cup of tea. I hated seeing Melissa Barrera smoke and go topless. (Yep, that's the protective mother in me.) TIPS FOR PARENTS: Kids will be extremely bored. We see a one-legged man in a wheelchair Racist names for Mexicans A lot of Spanish is spoken without subtitles We see an unmarried couple take off their clothes (pants on) To see my full review, check my YouTube channel called Movie Review Mom.

It uses the short story of Prosper Merimee, the opera by Georges Bizet as pretext for an impressive show. This is the first feeling seeing it and it is not just wrong; only not enough. It is a large puzzle the border immigration, the old myths, music and, especialy dance, the lights are used almost with volupty. Nice job of Melissa Barrera, fair work of Paul Mescal ( one of main motives, for me, to see the film ) and useful performance of Rossy de Palma. A provocative remind of essential pieces defining life, from tradition, love, freedom to sacrifice offering staight to each of them. The sin - the powerful feeling , to the second part of it, to be only an inconsistent improvisation, the dialogue using, too easy, pathetic cliches, the dance being the only matter thing, the sensation to see a puzzle with pieces from many others. In essence, for me, entire film can be reduced at the dance of Marina Tamayo, reminding more Garcia Lorca than Prosper Merimee or Georges Bizet. For this dance, indeed, Carmen deserves to be seen. So, a two hours ( almost ) film being just beautiful for only three minutes. And this is all.