Año Perdido - Lost Year - A film made in Argentina

jasonthewho said:
Wow, very solid film. I hope more people watch it and comment, because you deserve that.

All the actors are brilliant. Maybe they seem better because this film is in a foreign language for me, but I thought they were all brilliant.
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It certainly isn't the language barrier. Bad acting bleeds through language like a wet, white t-shirt in a monsoon.

This film just exhibited so much natural control over the scenes, both from the director's POV and the actors'. It really was an excellent film.
 
Wow! to me this is the best of fest! Beautiful film, I grew up in south american so I know this world, and people actually die because of this.

Technically this movie was perfect, love the B&W, good production value, great acting....

I hope you win.

me encanto tu pelicula, tengo primos en argentina y se como la cosa funciona por alla. Tenes mucho talento y creo que este corto deberia ser expandido en un largo, contando la vida de estas familias en el ultimo dia del anho hasta la noche...
 
I'm surprised people have been knocking on this film for arbitrary reasons that they did. The choice of black and white and subtitles...

Personally, I find it laughable when a person cannot watch a film simply because it contains subtitles. There are so many wonderful and cogent films in the world that come to America subtitled, and I really wish more people would take the time to examine them WITHOUT English dubbing, which ruins the whole experience in my opinion. You lose half of the performance, disrupting the texture and timbre of their vocal work, while at the same time denigrating those who made the film.

I'm just saying this because I really think this film is a terrific short and I hope that the subtitles don't cause this film to lose points. That would even hurt me. :(

Regardless, compared to a plenty of the films in the festival (including my own, of course), this film truly stands out.

Me encanta tu pelicula mucho, tambien.
 
This... to me...is easily THE best film of the fest! If you haven't watched it yet..do so...now.

You nailed the theme, acting, cinematography, lighting, audio...REALLY great work!
We could all learn a great deal from this film. Take notes.
 
ZazaCast said:
This... to me...is easily THE best film of the fest! If you haven't watched it yet..do so...now.

You nailed the theme, acting, cinematography, lighting, audio...REALLY great work!
We could all learn a great deal from this film. Take notes.
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Totally with you here, ZaZa. It really is a fantastic work.
 
I just have to chime in and say that I've watched all the films in the fest, and I think this is definitely the strongest all-around film out of all of them. I really hope this ends up in the finals :)
 
You really got me with this one. I'm excited to see a film in this fest that is so natural that I feel like I'm breathing the air in Argentina. Paralleling the two celebrations and the twist in the end is brilliant and felt real. The moment I sat down with these families I felt like a voyeur watching real people experiencing a New Year celebration. The actors are that good. Really good. Thanks for providing this viewing pleasure and hope you make it into the finals. You deserve to win.
 
Well everyone seemed to like the black and white. And really liked your film. Shows how much I know. Or rather how weird my opinion is. Lawsuit boy in fact dubbed my "knocking" of the b&w arbitrary. Well I just was throwing my opinion of that decision out there since it was a big one. I hope it didn't come off as trying to knock anyone or anyone's work down. Actually I hated how shindler's list was in b&w also so I guess i'm just weird.

Skribbleman said:
I'm curious if you would have thought the public service announcement feeling would not have been there if the ending text wasn't there?
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If the text weren't there I wouldn't have had any clue in the world why the dude dropped. The ending is kind of reliant on that text.

Haha at this point I kind of regret leaving my review of this film.
 
orchidsofwrath said:
Well everyone seemed to like the black and white. And really liked your film. Shows how much I know. Or rather how weird my opinion is. Lawsuit boy in fact dubbed my "knocking" of the b&w arbitrary. Well I just was throwing my opinion of that decision out there since it was a big one. I hope it didn't come off as trying to knock anyone or anyone's work down. Actually I hated how shindler's list was in b&w also so I guess i'm just weird.



If the text weren't there I wouldn't have had any clue in the world why the dude dropped. The ending is kind of reliant on that text.

Haha at this point I kind of regret leaving my review of this film.
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Hey orchidsofwratch. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it seem like you were tearing the film apart for being in black and white. I just used "knocking" as a general slang term. I personally find that black and white, when done right, lends a different visual poetry and adjusts the type of story telling. It really is a matter of taste, but I thought they handled it very well.

Now, as far as the bullet...I personally thought it was VERY obvious that the bullet is what caused this as this is a known problem not just in Argentina, but other areas of the world. The fact that the film builds in tension from beginning until the gun fire, and the juxtaposition of the gun shot with the man stopping and falling dead, it seems a pretty obvious conclusion.

It just seems that there are a lot of things in the films of this festival that are obvious, but get overlooked. Perhaps it's because we all (or I, at least) watched over 60 films in the past few days and reviewed every one of them? It wears a person down, for sure, so I can understand missing things.
 
I was also seeing the film as using black and white to connect the two families. In color, the environments within the homes would feel very different from one another, obviously because they're from different class levels. Which would help prove their differences, sure, but I think through the production design and the great acting/directing, this is already prevalent. What the black and white does is blend the two and place them within the same world. These two families could come from different countries or just different cities within Argentina (like Alejandro Inarritu's films), but they're not. They're nearby. And I think the black and white helped solidify that without having to cut away to other pieces of information just to prove it.

That's ONE of my interpretations for the black and white.
 
Lawsuit_Boy said:
Hey orchidsofwratch. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it seem like you were tearing the film apart for being in black and white. I just used "knocking" as a general slang term.
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No worries, friend. Perhaps I was hasty to take it like that.

Lawsuit_Boy said:
I was also seeing the film as using black and white to connect the two families.
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Thats a pretty cool way to look at it. Alright. I'm convinced. :)
 
orchidsofwrath said:
No worries, friend. Perhaps I was hasty to take it like that.

Thats a pretty cool way to look at it. Alright. I'm convinced. :)
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Cool, cool. It's all fine and good here. I just really love reviewing/critiquing film and I just had to throw in a little more about the black and white and subtitling. I mean, it IS an Argentinian film, heh.

Glad you liked the interpretation.
 
I'm almost reluctant to say how much I loved this film strictly because it plays to all my soft spots. A foreign film, shot in B&W, what's not to like?

But this film really deserves all the praise I can give it and more. I felt like I was sitting with both of these families through out the whole film and I never once thought to wonder what connected them. Then, the shot was fired and the bullet fell...

It's a terrifying fact that I was totally unaware of, so bonus points for the message at the end.

Great job all around!
 
you've made a fine film. very authentic. i have a personal bias against films with a "lesson", but that was what you set out to make and you executed very well and so i won't hold that against you. you'll be neck and neck with my other favs.
 
Spear670 said:
I'm almost reluctant to say how much I loved this film strictly because it plays to all my soft spots. A foreign film, shot in B&W, what's not to like?
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seriously...awesome job. Photography was awesome. Font choice was awesome. Acting was AMAZING. Don't know what else to say. Good good job man.
 
very good acting! I didnt like the chapters and the dinner was just too long for the actual final message you wanted to bring across.

the final message was awesome! I heard about stray bullets and even killings of bullets shot into the air and killing by falling back down only by gravity, but I didnt know Argentina was afflicted by it.
 
Favorite thing about the film: It felt so real. From the way it was shot to the acting, everything seems like it actually happened.

What would have made me like the film more: The time between the gun fired and it hitting the man was a bit too fast for me.

Favorite shot: The last shot with the sparkler going out was nice.

Overall I thought this was a great film. I like the message at the end. One of my favorites so far.
 
What a great film.
Camera, lights, acting - all verry well placed.

This one has a certain "reality feel" to it - realy enjoyed it.

Frank
 
this is an incredible film! the look, feel, sound, pacing, and the acting, so life like. i felt as if i was out there on the patio with the disgruntled family and inside the home with the happy one. i loved this film.

congratulations!
 
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