Trade - Marco Kreuzpaintner

un film che non è piaciuto quasi niente alla critica, una (la) storia di tratta di ragazze e bambini, e la corsa contro il tempo di che vuole salvare Adriana.
c'è un grande Kevin Kline e una bravissima Alicja Bachleda.
a me è piaciuto molto, ci sono ritmo e colpi di scena, magari troppo facili, ma l'ultimo colpisce molto - Ismaele

A brutal, shattering story of child trafficking that is intended to deliver a sobering punch about the global human trafficking trade, Marco Kreutzpaintner's powerful drama is in fact based on investigative reports in the New York Times. That fact further deepens the impact of the film, a story that is depressingly familiar to thousands, (a million according to the cards at the film's end), around the world.
Kevin Kline creates a melancholy and understated character as the ranger whose personal demons contribute to his determination to help Jorge (Cesar Ramos) find the 13 year old Adriana, beautifully played by Paulina Gaitan. The bad guys are ruthless and credible, the music helps with the shifts in mood, but the overall tone is well measured, lightened occasionally by the banter between Kline's Ray and the young Jorge, as they take to the road across the US, heading for New Jersey, where the auction is held for some of the girls captured in this round.
The journey of the kidnappers and the pursuing duo is managed with intercutting and the sense of danger drives every frame. The online auction, albeit a small part of the story, is well staged, ratcheting up the tension as we near the climax - which takes place in an ordinary suburban house, just like the one next door ...
Quite apart from its role as a warning and an alert to complacency, the film has genuine merit as a gripping entertainment.

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…What is fascinating, in a scary way, are the details of the Internet auction business, how it works and the money made in it. When I watch those TV shows where pedophiles are pounced on by cops, I think "entrapment," but you know what? Some people are asking to be entrapped. How about that Florida federal prosecutor just the other day who flew to Michigan hoping to meet a 5-year-old girl? Your rights to do what you want in your sex life run into a dead end, I believe, when they involve someone else doing what they don't want.

All obvious, although not to some deranged creeps. But what is the purpose of this movie? Does it manipulate its subject matter a little too much in its quest to be "entertaining"? Why should this material be entertaining? Anything that holds our interest can be entertaining, in a way, but the movie seems to have an unwholesome determination to show us the victims being terrified and threatened. When I left the screening, I just didn't feel right.

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…The filmmakers, director Marco Kreuzpaintner and writers Jose Rivera and Peter Landesman, tell the story of Adriana, a girl from Mexico City who has just celebrated her 13th birthday when she is abducted and funneled into a sex trafficking operation. When her older brother Jorge, no more than a teen-ager himself—finds out what has happened to her, he sets off on a mission—one that takes him across the border to the United States—to keep her from disappearing forever into the land of those simply classified as “missing.” 
The frenetic prologue of “Trade” is a dizzying montage of images from Mexico City—(will someone please explain the lines of naked women and the lines of men with their pants pulled down?) It then slows down to a family pace, when we meet Adriana (Paulina Gaitan), Jorge (Cesar Ramos) and their mother. The texture of the first half of the movie remains the same, though, as if the viewer is watching the action in the family’s neighborhood, either up-close or at a distance, with a handheld camera.

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…Trade isn’t perfect, isn’t without problems, but that doesn’t make it any less astonishing. Rivera and Kreuzpaintner have crafted one of the more thought provoking and emotionally charged dramas I’ve had the pleasure to see this year. Simply put, the film is very, very good, and for that fact alone I can’t help people venture out of their comfort zone and take a chance. Lord knows the movie is worth it.

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…The film obviously works well know theme, by now we are all aware that sex trade, in women and children, is alive and growing. We are also aware that the former Eastern Europe, impoverished by new systems, supplies a large portion of the victims, mostly by promising them work abroad.
We would like to forget is that it is not just one bad man, or few men, but large networks of people, sex , nationality and age making no difference, who trade in humans, and that these people are not drug addicts but opportunists living next door and looking for fast money. They are aided and abetted by official indifference, laziness and corruption. 
Veronica is dismissed when she tells to an American guard that she was kidnapped. Jorge is dismissed by a Mexican official when he seeks help in finding his sister. The victims and their families are neither rich, nor powerful, the sex traders are both.
The film points out people's perception of others as inferior beings: for the Mexican rapists Veronica is just a communist whore, for the American patrol the captured Mexicans are just illegals, for Jorge Ray is just a stupid gringo. Our own sense of superiority prevents justice.
It is sadly absurd that the critics tout the film as an: "abduction of 13 years Mexican girl"and pass over Veronica's fate completely. Alicja Bachleda has a strong screen presence and I'd like to see her again. Cesar Ramos and Paulina Gaitan both come across as street smart but young people well aware of the ramifications of their birth circumstances. Kevin Kline is tired man, who often gave up before he had to and came to a conclusion that he does not want to do that again.
Unusually strong music score and sometimes astounding staging.

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Ondine - Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan fa solo film bellissimi e capolavori.
questo, mai passato in una sala italiana, è solo bellissimo.
bravissimi gli attori, Colin Farrell e Alicja Bachleda, e poteva mancare Stephen Rea, in un film di Neil Jordan?

non dico altro, vi basta? - Ismaele

Ps: le selkie vi dicono qualcosa?

…L’essere in bilico fra razionalità e irrazionalità è uno degli aspetti più affascinanti del lungometraggio, questa indefinibilità di fondo mantiene alta l’attenzione per tutta la durata della pellicola, in cui non mancano però le occasioni di perdersi nei magnifici paesaggi irlandesi che, insieme alla già citata colonna sonora, dà vita ad atmosfere magicamente contemplative. Peccato per il finale in cui Jordan sbroglia improvvisamente e troppo velocemente la matassa abbandonando lo stile trasognante che caratterizza Ondine, un film che vuole dimostrare come attraverso gli occhi ingenui dell’infanzia anche la realtà più dura possa diventare magica.

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Difficile non farsi sedurre dall'Irlanda e dai suoi angoli meravigliosi e ancora più difficile sfuggire al fascino di una fiaba irlandese scritta in punta di penna e trasposta con leggera eleganza da Neil Jordan. Il cui cinema torna sempre a brillare quando ritorna all'alma mater e quando le dimensioni produttive ritornano ad essere nettamente inferiori al magniloquente gigantismo tipico di Hollywood. Sarà un caso ma i film migliori dell'inafferrabile Mr Jordan sono sempre quelli girati al di qua dell'oceano…

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…Quella raccontata in Ondine è una storia programmaticamente piccola, che si presenta come una fiaba per adulti e fa della leggerezza la propria ragione d'essere. Una leggerezza che però, a conti fatti, rischia di scadere nell'inconsistenza: perché se da un lato il veterano Neil Jordan (responsabile sia della regia che della scrittura del film) è abile nel tenere viva l'attenzione dello spettatore per oltre un'ora, gestendo con scaltrezza la sospensione del racconto tra mito e realtà, ed alimentando un'atmosfera da sogno ad occhi aperti attraverso il ritmo controllato i dialoghi rassicuranti l'ironia gentile e una spruzzata di erotismo, dall'altro si incarta proprio sul più bello, quando l'evoluzione del racconto, mettendo a nudo varie smagliature nello script, impone una brusca sterzata che il regista non cerca neanche di ammorbidire…

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…El eje Realidad – Deseo – Realidad se entrelaza con el de Mito – Realidad – Mito cuando Annie le pregunta a Ondine “¿Puedes curarme?”. La realidad de Annie es su enfermedad cada vez más discapacitante, lo que la lleva al deseo de que Ondine la cure y, quizás, explicado por la “Sincronía” jungiana, el deseo pueda realizarse si Ondine verdaderamente lo desea de corazón y se da la coincidencia… pero no es lo que ocurre en ese momento del film. Aquí Annie somete a Ondine a un interrogatorio. La conclusión de Annie INTUYE y PREFIGURA AL FUTURO el deseo de Ondine de ser feliz “con un terrestre” y lo que ocurre con su “traje de foca”.

ANNIE: ...los de tu especie pueden encontrar una felicidad inesperada... una felicidad inesperada con un terrestre.
Con base en el concepto de “Sincronía” de Jung, podría decirse que Annie percibe un conjunto de circunstancias que interpreta de acuerdo al Mito (es el conocimiento que Annie tiene en ese momento pero que puede cambiar). Su inconsciente –inmerso en el inconsciente colectivo- también capta que esas circunstancias tienen una alta probabilidad de continuar desarrollándose. El amor de una selkie con un terrestre es la explicación mítica que le permite a Annie prefigurar la relación de su padre Syracuse con Ondine, y que ella intuye desde que su padre le narra el “cuento”.

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…La plus grande force de ce beau film qu'est "Ondine", réside dans l'interprétation fiévreuse de Colin Farrell. Loin de l'univers anxiogène d'Hollywood, le comédien retrouve lui-aussi son île d'origine, et s'approprie avec intensité un personnage qui lui ressemble en de nombreux points : lui-même ancien alcoolique, Farrell a un enfant handicapé et est tombé sous le charme de la belle Alicja Bachleda. C'est dire si ce rôle lui était destiné. Bercée par la partition mélancolique de Kjartan Sceinsson (Sigur Ros), son histoire se teinte d'un onirisme envoutant, à la lisière du fantastique (le chant d'Ondine...), là où la relation touchante, liant Syracuse à sa fille, bénéficie d'un réalisme bienvenu. Ôde à l'Irlande, à ses paysages et à son peuple, ôde à la force du conte et de la légende, "Ondine" déroule donc son charme étrange et émouvant, jusqu'à un dernier tiers qui, s'il remet en cause le mystère entourant la Selkie, finit de faire de ce film une magnifique histoire d'amour. Iontach

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…The story might be bumpy and the dialogue uneven, but Jordan is immensely skilled in creating mood. Ondine is, simply, a beautiful film to look at…

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…Ondine rappresenta quindi il ritornare ad una dimensione più familiare ma anche, ci sembra, l’ingannare l’attesa di progetti più sentiti o inseguiti (l’adattamento di The Graveyard Bookdi Gaiman e finalmente The Borgias, resuscitato sotto forma di serie televisiva). Se infatti non si fa fatica a ritrovare molti dei temi cari al regista, molte delle costanti del suo cinema e anche volti noti (Stephen Rea, qui al nono film con Jordan, che interpreta il prete cattolico del piccolo villaggio della contea di Cork, zona nella quale il film è ambientato e girato), l’impressione generale è comunque quella di un film realizzato senza troppa ispirazione, ma non per questo poco interessante…

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…The film is plainly invested in myths, wishes, and stories: Syracuse tells them to Annie and regularly asks her if anything “strange or wonderful” has happened. Annie often talks about Alice in Wonderland as well as the legend of Selkies. Still, Ondine goes over like a gentle breeze. It encompasses darkness too, both literally, with scenes shot in ink-black night or gray Irish days, and figuratively, with Annie’s mum (Dervla Kirwan) still drinking and her boyfriend (Emil Hostina) a fight-loving clod.

Annie also suffers, from kidney failure. But even as she must rely on a wheelchair, she, even more than Ondine, brings considerable light to the film. A smart, curious kid who doesn’t feel sorry for herself, Annie spends weekends “practicing my wheels” and insists her classmates are jealous. In turn, the adults in Annie’s life don’t condescend, and Ondine in particular forms an easy friendship with the girl.

Such emotional complexities don’t preclude comedy, most evident in the dry repartee shared by Syracuse and his priest (Stephen Rea) in the confessional booth. Their exchanges underlineOndine‘s sly, joyful combination of convention and inventiveness.

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