SANGRE DE MI SANGRE (Blood Of My Blood)
Directed & Written by: Christopher Zalla
Running time: 111 minutes
Release date: May 16, 2008
Genre: Drama (Spanish & English with subtitles)
Distributor: IFC Films
MPAA Rating: Not rated
This is a suspenseful drama about stolen identity, family relationships and the ambiguous nature of morality. The heart of the film lies the visceral labyrinth of deceptions and frustrated hopes that is New York City. A place where most people are outsiders and family becomes defined by relationships not based on blood, but on shared experience and the need for connection.
Pedro (Jorge Adrian Espindola) and Juan (Armando Hernandez) meet in the back of a tractor trailer filled with undocumented Mexican immigrants headed for New York City. Pedro, a mild manner and friendly 16 year left Mexico after the death of his mother. He has little knowledge of survival techniques. Pedro shows Juan (a crafty street hustler) a sealed letter that his mother gave him as an introduction to the father he never knew. Pedro brags to his new friend that his father Diego (Jesus Ochoa) is a wealthy restaurant owner in Brooklyn. Juan father left him when he was a baby and his life was hard on the streets in Mexico. It was so bad that he was on the illegal transport because streetgangs threatened to kill him if given the chance. His only outlet was to get out of the country.
When the truck arrives in Brooklyn, Pedro wakes up to find all of his belongings gone, including the introduction letter with his father's address printed on the envelope. Alone and unable to speak English, he is lost on the city streets.
Juan, who stole Pedro's identity shows up at Diego's door with the letter claiming to be Diego's long lost son from Mexico. Diego is not the owner of a restaurant, but a dishwasher who saves the majority of his money. Diego rejects Juan (pretending to be Pedro). Street-wise Juan decides to win Diego over by presenting an image of being a hard working loving son. But rather than working during the day when Diego is working, he is search Diego's home for the hidden money he's been saving.
Meanwhile, Pedro learns the streets of New York and meets a Spanish speaking street hustling prostitute named Magda (Paola Mendoza) who takes advantage of him, but eventually helps him in his search for his father. It is said that you can run into people in New York City when you're not looking for them. This is what happens in this movie with these four major character--and what a calamity. I won't be a spoiler, but the finals scenes are gripping and shocking.
This film will get you to abandon the good/evil paradigm that we are so accustomed to applying to movies, and instead engage the characters for what the are, which is simply human.
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REPRISE
Directed by: Joachim Trier
Running time: 105 minutes
Release date: May 16, 2008
Genre: Drama (Swedish & French with English subtitles)
Distributor: Miramax Films
MPAA Rating: R
This is a sexy, playful, poignant coming of age story of two 20's something friends entering the adult world.
Phillip (Anders Danielson Lie) and Erik (Espen Klouman-Hoiner) are aspiring writers with dreams of becoming great. They both have manuscripts of their novels sent off to publishers. Each is hoping to become a "cult author" with visions of a new life of intensity, romance and nightclubbing. Phillip's novel garnered instant acclaim and turned him into a celebrity. This went to head head literally, because it landed him into a psychiatric hospital. Erik never sold his novel, but never gave up and finally succeeds.
Reprise explores not just what happens to Phillip and Erik as they pick up the pieces in their life, but gives a dazzling mix of flashbacks, rapid-fire editing, philosophical voiceovers and forwards in time. The film traces how Erik and Phillip arrived at this point as exuberant youths into the harsh real life adulthood with all its pitfalls.
Their life is shared with Kari (Viktoria Winge), Phillip's girlfriend and muse, with whom he tries to recreate the source of his inspiration. Erik's on and off again girlfriend finds out that he gets his inspiration from seclusion. But the two young men have their hang-out buddies of Morten (Odd-Magnus Williamson), Geir (Pal Stokka) to rely on over the years.
This film unfolds in Oslo and Paris with a provocative mix of music, romance, career ambitions, boyish banter and inner demons. This is a great debut feature for Joachim Trier which won Norway's Amanda Award (Academy Award equivalent) for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.
FOR MORE FILM REVIEWS by Gerald Wright got to [url=http://www.HDFest.com/Gerald/allreviews_gerald.html]www.HDFest.com/Gerald/allreviews_gerald.html