Hey folks, Harry here with one of the top anticipated films, for me, being released at this year's SUNDANCE FILM FEST! Memento Man has been covering Sundance forever it seems, and again comes through with this review of Walter Salles' film adapation of Che Guevera's THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES! A fantastic novel and an amazing basis for a motion picture. Filmed all over South America, this flick sounds great! Here's Memento Man...
Hi Harry!
MEMENTO MAN, here! Your fearless spy who's been covering Sundance for three or four years now.
Last night I went to the world premiere of THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES by Walter Salles, the director who brought us the marvelous CENTRAL STATION a few years ago. MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is in that same league.
The film is about the mythic journey that Ernesto "Che" Guevera and his buddy Alberto Granado take by motorcycle (until their final crash which renders the vehicle scrap metal), foot, and boat from Argentina through much of South America to Venezuela with almost no money. What we really watch, though, is the transformation of youthful, exuberant Ernesto into the powerful revolutionary leader, Che, as he witnesses scenes of the oppression of the poor, the sick, and those seen as "outsiders."
Gael Garcia Bernal as Ernesto delivers a smoldering performance that ranks right up there with his work in Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, AMORES PERROS, THE CRIME OF FATHER AMARRO, and a film from Sundance that I loved last year, DOT THE I. He was in attendance at the screening last night and talked a bit during the Q&A afterward about how he went on his own mythic journey as he was making this film.
Roderigo de la Serna was great as Alberto. The real Alberto, now in his 80s, was supposed to be at this world premiere screening, but was denied a visa by the U.S. government and thus was unable to come from his home in Cuba. (News of this illicited boos and hisses from the audience!) The film as a whole, though, received applause all the way through the closing credits (even as the real-life Alberto is telling some of his feelings about taking this journey) and Walter Salles, the director, received a standing ovation as he took to the stage after the film.
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (* * * 1/2) (out of four)
More reports coming soon!
MEMENTO MAN
