NYFF52 REVIEW: WHIPLASH

BY MATEO MORENO

Meet Andrew Neyman. He's 19 years old. A truly gifted drummer, he's currently attending one of the top music convervatories on the East Coast. He has a supportive father and is striving to be "one of the greats." One of the sure ways to help get him there is to get noticed by the drill instructor of a teacher Terrence Fletcher. He has the ability to launch musicians into stardom, or squash them like a bug. So comes Andrew, the soft spoken boy with big dreams, ready to pounce them. Unbeknownst to him, those dreams are about to pounce him. This is WHIPLASH.

Writer/Director Damien Chazelle had originally shot a few of the scenes from his feature screenplay and made it into a short. It won top honors at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and he then was able to shoot the entire thing. And thank the Sundance Gods for that. Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now, Divergent) plays Andrew Neyman with a simmering intensity that is sure to schedule his breakout moment this year. Side by side with an exploding energy is J.K. Simmons as the fire breathing conductor Terrence Fletcher that Neyman is so eager to please. Neyman wants to be one of the greats and Fletcher sees the talent and possible drive that lays in him. So he plucks him into his studio jazz band and thus begins a twisted set of intense mind games alternating with support for the boy, pushing him down much more than he's pulling him up, verbally abusive, and at one point even physically abusive. Why doesn't anyone say anything? Stand up to him? Because he's considered a legend, a true starmaker, and everyone wants their moment to shine. So when Fletcher hurls a chair at Andrew's head? He ducks and plays harder, until his fingers literally bleed. Bringing some light into his life is the young girl of his affection, Glee's Melissa Benoist. She works at the local theatre where Andrew and his father (a quietly moving Paul Reiser) frequent and may be his one token of happiness in the most intense year of his life. But everything must crash down before you can build it back up. That is, if you can build it back up.

Never have I seen a film set in the world of music with this much intensity. Chazelle brilliantly plays it more like a psychological thriller set in the intense world of climbing the music ladder. Teller is bristling with emotion and his performance drives this powerful piece from start to finish. J.K. Simmons is nothing short of a revelation. His performance is intense, grueling, and everyone can agree award worthy. As he throws derogatory and homophobic comments at his students he also drives them. But where's the line? Does the line matter as long as you make it past it? "There are no two words more harmful than 'good job,'" states the masochistic coach, furthering his own opinion that there is no good, only great. Luckily for us, this gifted writer/director has graced us not with a "good, but a great, great film." Buckle in, and prepare to be Whiplashed.

VERDICT: A MUST SEE

Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle  Starring Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser, Austin Stowell. CONTENT ADVISORY: Adult Language, Mild Violence

BOTTOM LINE: Not to beat around the bush, WHIPLASH is fucking great. 

NYFF52 REVIEW: JAUJA

BY MATEO MORENO

To fully explain JAUJA, the new uber-experimental film by Argentinian filmmaker Lisandro Alonso it would take a man who was...well... Lisandro Alonso. Made up of increasingly beautiful landscapes, scant traces of dialogue, and visions of an earth who's terrain is so mountainous and ongoing, it almost feels like another world. It's the first time Alonso has worked with a co-screenwriter (poet Fabian Casas) and he sets his entire film on the shoulders of Viggo Mortensen and the round bordered 4:3 frame every sequence is set against. It's an unnamed period in time, late 1800's so it seems, and starts off introducing Mortensen's Captain Dinesen and his 15 year old daughter Ingeborg (Viilbjork Agger Malling). He's joined up with a Spanish troupe ready to make this part of the world "civilized land." One night, Inga takes off into the darkness with her soldier boyfriend, Dinesen sets off on his own to find her and bring her back home. Though where home is may be a question all on its own, as they are mainly drifters, heading from one place to the next. From here on, little dialogue is spoken (save for a few mumbles and yells here and there) as we follow Mortensen from landscape to landscape on his quest to find his young daughter.

I'll admit that there is much of JAUJA that I didn't quite get, or even like. For the most part, the entire middle section of the film truly tried my patience. But just as I was ready to give up along comes a strange and unhinged third act that pulled me back in and even brought shades of "David Lynch" to mind. Director Lisandro Alonso is not making a movie for the masses here, and he doesn't care to. Instead he's crafted a film that's beautiful, confusing, pretentious, and beautiful. To say that it all makes sense after one viewing would be a lie. But should you reward the film with your patience, and I'm on the fence if you should, you will be treated to a subtle, wonderful performance by Mortensen and a dizzying of an ending. Just make sure you've had eight hours of sleep before you sit down in a darkened theatre to experience it.

VERDICT: ON THE FENCE

Written by Lisandro Alonso & Fabian Casas Directed by Lisandro Alonso Starring Viggo Mortensen, Viilbjork Agger Malling. CONTENT ADVISORY: Adult Situations, Adult Language, Brief Nudity

BOTTOM LINE: JAUJA is original, for better or for worse. Head in with an open mind, or don't head in at all.

NYFF52 REVIEW: THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE

BY MATEO MORENO

If you have ever wondered what a 70 minute Spanish language lighting fast interpretation of a radio play version and shades of the plot of Love’s Labor Lost spilling into everyday life feels like, well you are in for a treat! For Director Matías Piñeiro has centered his latest piece, THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE, on the Bard’s classic romantic comedy. Set around a theatre troupe’s desire to prepare a radio version of Love, we follow several different characters: Víctor (Julián Larquier Tellarini), his girlfriend Paula (Agustina Muñoz), lover Ana (María Villar), an actress Natalia (Romina Paula), and several other not quite notable characters. Everyone seems to want Víctor and the time on screen is split up between rapid fire sequences with them, recordings of the plays, and a very dull futball game that ends abruptly. Because why not?

The fact that The Princess of France want to pull off so much in such a short amount of time is admirable, but it fails miserably at each turn. The film’s dialogue is rapid fire, too rapid fire, and even for someone who’s accustomed to seeing Spanish films with subtitles (which I am), it was often impossible to distinguish exactly what was going on. You also should have a VERY clear idea of the exact plot of Love’s Labor Lost, because it’s as if the film has dropped you into Act 4 without seeing Acts 1-3. Perhaps other will enjoy the absurdity of this experiment, but I sadly did not. Where farcical comedy could have reigned supreme (as it does in all of the Bard’s comedies), here only frustration grows. And grows. And grows. Save yourself and simply read the classic comedy. It’s a wonderful read, and though it will take you more than 70 minutes to do so, you will have much more to account for at the end. Guaranteed.

VERDICT: SKIP IT

Written and Directed by Matías Piñeiro Starring Julián Larquier Tellarini, Agustina Muñoz, María Villar Romina Paula. CONTENT ADVISORY: Adult Situations, Adult Langage, Brief Nudity

BOTTOM LINE: I can't recommend THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE on any level. Sadly, an all around disappointment, unless you're looking for a nice 70 minute nap.