I liketky some Tilda Swinton
Added 11/3/2009
I wanted to watch this movie for solely Tilda Swinton's nude T&A scenes and she did not disappoint. However her character although played out pretty well as usual, wasn't really convining to me. If she were a druggie/crack whore, so highly strung out, I could understand her going to extremes not to mention a white toothpick woman like Tilda would stick out worse than a sore thumb in TJ, Mexico. I don't believe a simple alcoholic would stoop so low, so quickly, and so hard. And if you're reading this review Tilda, my tongue is all yours. I love you baby.
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Would have given it five stars, but...
Added 11/1/2009
Tilda: brilliant. Sol Rubinek: brilliant. The kid: believable, touching. Cautionary portrait of a low-bottom drunk: brilliant. Minus one star? It went on way too long. I'm almost afraid to go to sleep tonight after watching this endless nightmare. Talk about nasty, skanky, insane. Yep, it's a groaner. Still, the acting is tour de force and you don't want to miss it. Just beware: you WILL be appalled. Remember "Deep Crimson"? It was beyond vile, but you couldn't look away. (Actually, this one isn't QUITE that bad, but it's up there.)
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Child Endangerment
Added 10/26/2009
In its opening scenes, "Julia" establishes itself as the tale of a drunk teetering between damnation and redemption.
As such, it carries some of the same tension and dread that 1983's "The Verdict" did. In that movie, the task facing Paul Newman's drunken lawyer was to prove himself competent at winning a trial. The task for Tilda Swinton, in her titular role as Julia, is to prove that her character can competently pull off a kidnapping, and protect a child.
I won't give a synopsis of the plot in this review, as others have already done that. I think it suffices to say that Tilda Swinton "acts her buns off" in this movie, and once again proves herself one of the best and most daring actresses of her time. I can't think of another actress who could pull this kind of role off with so much panache, except perhaps for Susan Sarandon.
Swinton acts the role of the "female desperado" as effortlessly as Sarandon did in "Thelma and Louise." Supporting roles are stellar, too. Saul Rubinek, as Julia's friend and her sole moral influence, is particularly good, as is the flaky, but affecting mother of the kidnapped child, Elena, as portrayed by Kate Del Castillo.
Director Eric Zonca creates a loose slice-of-life drama with a lot of hand-held, up close and intimate camera work. Many of the scenes have a semi-improvised feel to them, and Zonca shows a great eye for the telling detail, such as long, cigarette burns on Julia's bathtub, or a child in a bus depot distractedly combing her hair. The scenes in Mexico also are brutally honest in the depiction of a society where trouble will easily find the non-vigilant.
Because the movie is rather loose-knit (we are never informed as to what becomes of Elena, for example), and because Julia's behavior with an innocent child is so unhinged and erratic, most viewers will find this movie uncomfortable to watch. Because it is overly long, I can't give the movie 5 stars...but ultimately this struggle between a corrosive, burnt-out drunk and her hidden maternal instincts will reward those who stick with it.
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El Fin de Semana Perdito
Added 10/24/2009
That's "The Lost Weekend" to gringos, and what a weekend (give or take) it is! Tilda Swinton is a force of nature in this 'Cassavetes-inspired' gritty road drama about an incorrigible alcoholic who kidnaps an acquaintance's child and goes on the lam to Mexico, intending to extort a huge ransom out of the boy's wealthy industrialist grandfather. Swinton is uncomfortably brilliant as Julia, an out-of-control addict who will lie, cheat, steal and sleep with anyone she has to to get a fix or get cash, since her addiction has left her too erratic to hold on to a job. Swinton is by turns shocking, repulsive, heartbreaking and winsome in her portrayal of a lost woman whose life came unravelled at the seams years ago, and all she's capable of truly caring about now is where she's going to score her next drink. Swinton has a face that is fluidly changeable before the camera, so that she can appear as a wrecked angel one moment and a raging demon the next. Here she's so good at playing a trashy, low-class addict, one marvels that this is the same actress who gave us the icily regal Winter Witch in "Chronicles of Narnia" or the polished high-octane career women of "Adaptation" or "Michael Clayton". Like Cate Blanchett, Swinton possesses striking, unconventional looks and coloring that she harnesses to create a breathtaking range of characters. My admiration for her is boundless. I can't, however, rate the movie she's in as highly as I do her performance--this is a meandering mess of a movie that reflects the meandering mess that is Julia's life and psyche, but it would have benefitted greatly from a tighter script and more self-disciplined editing decisions. 2-and-half hours is self-indulgently long on the part of director Erik Zonca; turns out that it's just too long to watch a little boy get traumatized at the hands of an unstable, self-serving drunk and a bunch of Mexican mercenaries. I understand what drew actor's actor Swinton to this character, but the story does not engage the viewer as much as it did those who made it, evidently. I muscled all the way to the end, hoping for some glimmers of recognizable humanity or redemption in our antiheroine, and they were not forthcoming. Honestly one of the more interminable film viewing experiences of my life that seemed as if it would never end. In my experience, good movies fly by quickly and leave the viewer wanting more. This bloated, low-budget descent into madness with a loco lady in the driver's seat left me completely dispossesed. Tilda Swinton is a fantastic actress; unfortunately this project is too low-rent to garner her the acting accolades she deserves for it. She's top-drawer, but I can only muster a lukewarm rating for a project that in the end feels exploitative of both its actors and its audience. Worth a rental if you are a Swinton fan; if you are looking to purchase a DVD showcasing her range, however, check out her earlier work in "Orlando", "The Beach" or "The Deep End", all which this reviewer can heartily recommend.
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The piano has been drinking...
Added 10/9/2009
Anybody else remember this Tom Waits song? It should have been on the jukebox in one of the bar scenes in this film...pure accurate poetry.
Like the other reviewers I agree that Tilda nails her role as an out of control, pitiable-but-despicable, raving alchy who gets into some deep doo. But I wonder if the film teaches us anything more than that? Are there humanitarian issues? Are we left up lifted or down trodden?
Its a horrible nightmare for the boy to say the least. The story is best in the early scenes before the criminality sets in; after which it takes some unbelievable directions. It could have been shorter and tighter and still retain the same impact.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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