No (2013)
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 112
Fresh: 104 | Rotten: 8
No uses its history-driven storyline to offer a bit of smart, darkly funny perspective on modern democracy and human nature.
Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 32
Fresh: 30 | Rotten: 2
No uses its history-driven storyline to offer a bit of smart, darkly funny perspective on modern democracy and human nature.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 10,625
Movie Info
In 1988, Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet, due to international pressure, is forced to call a plebiscite on his presidency. The country will vote YES or NO to Pinochet extending his rule for another eight years. Opposition leaders for the NO persuade a brash young advertising executive, Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal), to spearhead their campaign. Against all odds, with scant resources and under scrutiny by the despot's minions, Saavedra and his team devise an audacious plan to win
Cast
-
Gael García Bernal
René Saavedra -
Alfredo Castro
Lucho Guzmán -
Antonia Zegers
Verónica Caravajal -
Luis Gnecco
Urrutia -
Marcial Tagle
Costa -
Nestor Cantillana
Arancibia -
Jaime Vadell
Minister -
Pascal Montero
Simon -
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All Critics (112) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (104) | Rotten (8) | DVD (1)
"No" is a picture that perches precariously on the cusp of a paradox.
Top Critic"No" is filmmaking of the first order.
A cunning and richly enjoyable combination of high-stakes drama and media satire from Chilean director Pablo Larrain.
A mesmerizing, realistic and often hilarious look at the politics of power and the power of ideas ...
A political drama, a personal drama, a sharp-eyed study of how the media manipulate us from all sides, No reels and ricochets with emotional force.
It's a funny look at the way the media warp public opinion, and a curiously hopeful one.
An incredible and prescient real life story of how a savvy ad campaign brought about real political change.
[Director Pablo] Larrain has substituted the icy-veined harshness of his earlier films and replaced it with a celebratory, robust, truly cinematic sensibility.
Writer-director Pablo Larraín includes much authentic footage from the 'No' and 'Yes' campaign ads, and adopts a complementary 1980s TV-video design.
This is probably the best fact-based account of 1980s Chilean political advertising that I've seen this year.
It features an enormously appealing lead performance by Gael Garcia Bernal, an impressively even-handed approach, and a dynamic visual gimmick.
No reminds us that wherever "freedom" must be sold to the public, a history of complacency, violence, and terror has to be overcome.
Despite a lack of in-depth special features, No is still easy to recommend for its fascinating story that tells of a country getting the unique opportunity to decide its own future.
For all its flaws, 'No' succeeds because the marketers sell the audience, too.
... like Mad Men, it's a period piece set in the world of advertising and it pays a distracting (and sometimes humorous) amount of attention to period details.
It works as drama. And strangely, considering we know the outcome, it generates considerable suspense.
Despite the light-heartedness, there's a hard, tense edge to the film.
Shooting the entire film on video equipment of the era gives No some visual snap but it is very much a pedestrian, by-the-numbers docu-drama tale, with the emphasis on the former rather than the latter.
NO is an important film - especially for people too young or too far removed from Pinochet's "Dirty War" to remember how horrifying the situation was in Argentina during the '70s and '80s. Bernal's screen presence goes a long way in making the movie work
A bitingly funny, fascinating and moving portrait of Pinochet's fall that's smartly shot and superbly performed.
"NO" is an inspirational political drama in which the people are roused by the visual to overcome the vicious.
... features a fine performance by Gael García Bernal as young ad exec René Saavedra, who didn't, at first, quite realise what he was in for when he decided to assist in the bringing down of military dictator Augusto Pinochet.
No is a great historical document as to how one very important revolution started with a commercial.
The understated performance by Bernal was inspiring, as was the pic.
It's not easy material but it's truly fascinating, and expertly done.
An extremely perceptive and intriguing examination of the effect that media hype and spin have on the political process.
Audience Reviews for No
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Foreign Titles
- No (UK)
- No (CA)
