Hola, CineLocos. Que patza?

Father Geek here with another Tuesday Morning edition of the Latin-AICN Column. Acclaimed Mexican Director Guillermo del Toro took his "little, personal Spanish Film" EL ESPINAZO DEL DIABLO (The Devil's Backbone) to the Edinburgh Film Fest this past week where both he, and it were an overwhelming hit. Our good friends at the Entfirst site sent the following review of the film to Father Geek's desk por otra contribucion pobre de mi parte, sooooooooo...

For all the Latest News from The 55th Edinburgh International Film Festival go to The Entfirst Site...

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

The following review is of a very spooky mystery thriller(chiller)... You MAY NOT want to know all these details... Soooo BEWARE!!!

The Devil's Backbone

Starring: Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi, Fernando Tielve

Directed By: Guillermo del Toro

Released: 2001

Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War The Devil's Backbone is a chance for Guillermo Del Toro to finally film a project he has nurtured for over a decade. The resultant labour of love is a gothic ghost story full of psychological horror and interpersonal tension. Taking inspiration from films such as The Haunting, The Shining and even The Sixth Sense Del Toro carefully builds a complex drama. As Del Toro comments 'I've always been intrigued by the mixing of genres, the forced but happy marriage of horror and dark comedy. The Devil's Backbone is a collection of moments charged with suspense, drama and humour'.

The story follows a young boy named Carlos (Fernando Tielve) and his early days at an orphanage. The school is run by Carmen (Marisa Paredes) and Professor Casares (Federico Luppi) with the younger Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega) and Conchita (Irene Visedo) also helping out. The orphanage has little food and little money. Carlos is forced into confrontation with the most powerful boy Jaime (Inigo Garces) and the mystery surrounding an unexploded bomb, a dead boy and gold ingots begins to reveal itself. Carlos must run a gauntlet of fear as 'the one who sighs' walks the corridors of the school and he has taken a keen interest in Carlos.

The traditional elements of gothic fiction are present in The Devil's Backbone. Thus the orphanage is the sinister place, a horrible crime has been committed, a newcomer (Carlos) arrives, a ghost is present and there is revenge from beyond the grave. The eerie tone the film takes is captured in the architecture and sets. The decaying walls and imposing Roman arches mix with the rusty beds and murky pond to build a pallete of terrifying darkness and shadow. The unexploded bomb that lies embedded in the courtyard is just another layer to the psychology of the film. Jaime notes 'Even though it has been defused you can still hear it ticking'. This sense of things about to happen makes for much of the tension in the film. Del Toro leads the audience in gently and there is little of the gore and excess he played with in Mimic. Instead there are fleeting glimpses, a whispered breath or a crying wind. One truly terrifying scene brings to mind the cupboard sequence in The Sixth Sense except Del Toro reverses things and puts the camera with the haunted child inside the cupboard while the ghost knocks on the door outside. As the tension builds the fragile personal relationships that held the orphanage together begin to crumble and the real evil of the film is revealed.

The Devil's Backbone is a well thought out and cleverly executed fantasy horror film. Like in The Sixth Sense and The Shining the use of children as a focal point works well. The kids don't know everything that is going on but they know the important stuff. Their world is the orphanage and war, politics and Franco are not their immediate concerns. The group of kids are all believable and earnest. Carlos is resourceful and intelligent without being smug and obnoxious. The older characters bear the brunt of the film's political leanings. Carmen has lost a leg and a husband in another conflict while Professor Casares has become a surrogate father for all the boys because he is impotent. He is also unable to follow through on his romantic feelings for Carmen. Jacinto is the former orphan who has ended up back at the orphanage. He is bitter and full of hatred. He woos Conchita while rekindling his affair with Carmen.

The film builds slowly with Del Toro using darkness and sound to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. The moments of tension are expertly done with the release inevitably being the next morning in the yard or at the breakfast table when the 'adult' problems begin to surface. The film is thoughtful rather than downright terrifying although 'the one who sighs' is a fairly creepy creation. The Devil's Backbone serves to highlight a director in control of his material and a cast of terrific child actors bouncing off and interacting with more experienced character actors. The tense opening and closing of the film are elegiac with a voice over from Professor Casares adding to the authority and poetry of the images. The Devil's Backbone exposes fear for the destructive force it can be while keeping the audience guessing about what will happen next. Be thankful 'the one who sighs' is only to be found in The Devil's Backbone. - Greig Cameron

Muy SABERRRRRRRRR!!! Father Geek back... Now on to our ever soooooo strange Brazilian editor Coffin Joe, Jr...

You! Yes, you sitting on your nice leather chair, typing on your fancy computer, you shall obey me and bring me your mate, or I, Coffin Joe Jr., shall turn your fingers into maggots! Your eyes will melt, your hair will be consumed by the fires of hell and your tongue will turn into a poisonous snake!

Just kidding folks, Coffin Joe Jr. is here for another week of fun from your fiends here at Latin-AICN. Go ahead dig in my spooky little readers.

US

-Here´s a new project I stumbled upon while searching for some stuff on the IMDB, called "Dead in the Water". It´s a thriller, written, directed and produced by Gustavo Lipsztein ("The Colonel´s Last Flight"), and it tells the story of three Americans on a boat trip by the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Details are still a bit sketchy right now (I could´t find much more about the project anywhere else on the net), but the IMDB lists this movie as completed since July 5th (the last update on the project). There´s still no release date set in stone. The cast includes Henry Thomas as Jeff, Dominique Swain ("Lolita") as Gloria, Scott Bairstow as Danny, Sebastian DeVicente as Marcos, veteran actor José Wilker as Gloria´s dad (Coffin Joe Jr. note: Wilker is one creepy S.O.B.), Renata Fronzi as Angelina and Lavínia Vlasik as the character simply titled Brazilian beauty.

The D.P. in this movie is one of my favorite Brazilian cinematographers, Marcelo Durst, who worked on "Embrace of the Vampire" and "Turbulence".

MEXICO

-Actor Gael Garcia Bernal ("Amores Perros") is one busy fella. He´s in the current Mexican box office hit "Y tu Mamá También", he´ll be Ernest "Che" Guevara in the Showtime TV movie "Fidel", he´s in the upcoming "Dreaming of Julia", with Harvey Keitel and Iben Hjejle ("High Fidelity"), about a boy who lives in Holguín, Cuba during the fifties, and he has a part in the Spanish movie "Sin Noticias de Dios" with Victoria Abril and Penelope Cruz, about two angels, one from the heaven (Victoria Abril) and one from the hell (Penélope Cruz), who are sent to Earth to save the soul of a boxer.

Bernal is also attached to a new project called "Lily and the Secret Planting ", about a young claustrophobic woman (to be played by Winona Ryder), who falls in love with the owner of a bird house (to be played by Bernal), after they meet while she´s secretly planting a garden in a town square. Hettie MacDonald is the director on this indie project, and Lucinda Coxon is the writer. Actress Linda Bassett ("Traffik", the British TV show, not the movie) is also part of the cast as Ryder´s mom.

BRAZIL

-The movie "Bicho de Sete Cabeças" was the ruuner-up for the Youth Jury Award and nominated for a Golden Leopard Award at the 54th Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, which ended last Sunday (August 12th). "Biche de Sete Cabeças" stars Rodrigo Santoro who´s also in Walter Salles´s upcoming "Abril Despedaçado".

-Hugh Jackman ("X-Men") was here in São Paulo last week to talk about the action flick "Swordfish". Warner Bros. Brazil held a press conference with the Australian actor at the Meliá Hotel. Jackman talked about the Halle Berry nude scene and he mentioned the fact that in Brazil or Australia this may seem natural, but in the U.S. it caused quite a reaction. He also talked about a scene in the beginning of the movie that was deleted which had him naked (Coffin Joe Jr. note: Thanks to Dominic Sena for taking that out of the flick. No need for that. Good call on Berry´s scenes though.). Guess wether or not the press asked him about "X-Men 2"? Yup, they all did. He spilled some beans. Jackman said that he knew more than he should about the upcoming sequel, because he talked to one of the producers at a party, and the fella was, let´s say, you know, more or less, in a way, drunk. Regarding the plot, Wolverine will be searching for clues about his past. That´s all he would give away, and that the script wasn´t ready yet. Production is set to begin in March 2002, aiming for a Christmas release. When asked if he knew anything about comic books before the movie he said he didn´t, and that he did´nt know about the X-Men, but he thought it was weird, because the name was familiar to him, being the name of an Australian band that plays on local clubs.

Thanks to Flying Pig for the scoop.

COFFIN JOE JR. MOVIE REVIEWS

"Memórias Póstumas (de Brás Cubas)" (2001) Director: André Klotzel

Director André Klotzel had a big task ahead of him when he decided to adapt one of most famous works in Brazilian literature. He pulled it off in some aspects, but his movie lacks in some areas.

This movie has some of the basic problems that plague most Brazilian features. What are those problems? Visually it blows. It looks like they didn´t even shoot on film. That is very disappointing, considering that the production design and the costumes are beautiful, very nice work there. The only part of the movie that excels in terms of the photography and the design are the surreal sequences. Some of them are very inspired, looking a lot like they came right out of one of Terry Gilliam´s films. Cool weird stuff. Loved that rhino.

The script, adapted from the classic book, is solid, but it lacks a final punch. The climax just doesn´t exist, but a movie that is basically a collection of memories and quirky episodes, narrated by the fella who lived that existence and is now dead (the narrator is a deceased individual folks.), can be excused for that flaw. The dialogue is really sharp and funny. Cubas is one interesting character, a real bastard with some amusing opinions, and if you haven´t read the book, I won´t spoil anything for you.

The cast does their job. Reginaldo Faria as the older Cubas and Petrônia Gontijo as the younger version are very convincing, playing it a bit over the top, but clearly having some fun with the material. The supporting cast is equally good, and there´s even a cameo by the sexy Sônia Braga.

Recommended by Coffin Joe Jr. for fans of black humor, satire and costume dramas with a bit of the surreal thrown into the mix. I don´t know if this description makes any sense whatsoever, but that´s what the movie is about. Really. Certainly not for everyone, but those who like their comedy with wit and sharp commentary will have a blast.

I´m done for this week.

Coffin Joe Jr. says: bye.

P.S.:Didn´t I tell you guys in that Sepultura article that Roadrunner Records is just fucking evil? Didn´t I? Well more dirty stuff showed up last week to prove my point. It seems another one of great acts they´ve had in their roster for years, the industrial/metal legend known as Fear Fctory, is leaving the Roadrunner ship in the next months. Why? Well, basically Roadrunner threatened them, saying they will be dropped from the label if the next Fear Fctory single doesn´t boost their sales to a level that makes Roadrunner happy. You think this is bullshit? Wait a bit, and see if I´m right or wrong. Fear Factory will be leaving Roadrunner pretty soon, just like Sepultura did. Don´t say I didn´t warn you.