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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Who am I?, January 21, 2001
This is a pretty good movie that evolves around a victims amnesia. Julio Medem directs this beauty about identities lost and reinvented. Menden's roots for "Tierra" are here and are displayed quite nicely. There is some very good editing that gives the movie a good pace and some out of the ordinary cuts that dazzle visually. The two main characters are Lisa, as played by the attractive "rubia" Emma Suarez, and Jota or Jay as played by Nancho Suarez. Their chance meeting begins while Jota is about to go suey and suddenly a moto/motorcycle goes crashing over the rail for a two story plunge on to the sand at the beach. Jota, a musician with a broken heart "helps" her out and lies to her and authorites and "helps" her recover from amnesia. The story takes place mostly at a campground, the Red Squirrel, hence the name of the movie. One of the interesting things about good movies made from outside the US is seeing a portrait of other cultures. It is very interesting to see the differences and this movie does a great job at illustrating that, although that was probably not the intent. The campground is an excellent place to show these differences as is evident in the way people treat each other at the campground, almost communal in nature. The Europeans are very touchy feely and the scene where Lisa meets a neighbor camper shows the cultural differences. They hug and kiss on each cheek as an introduction, a little different from a nod or a hand shake, if that, in the US. A friendly relationship develops, except for a reluctant Jota, between the two "families". From here the story takes off as the audience learns about Lisa. Many things are revealed in the movie about both main characters in the process. Overall I enjoyed this movie and felt it showed the sadness some people have after a heart break and the lenghts they will go to mend their hearts. The movie is not one bit sappy, even a little strange in parts. There is enough going on to keep you guessing throughout the movie, which keeps you wondering and constantly trying to figure out the why. This is a good movie from a very talented Spanish director who I'd like to see more of.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
not enough squirrels, June 16, 2001
Jay (Nancho Nova) takes Lisa (Emma Suarez) to hospital after witnessing her motorbike crash, and believing her to have amnesia, pretends to be her boyfriend. Spanish director Julio Medem wants to seduce us with a thriller, with the music of Albert Iglesias, and the film opens with the camera moving underwater. Though the initial exposition is stodgy, it soon starts to become mysterious and hypnotic. However the tension dissipates when we relocate to the Red Squirrel campsite, and other characters are introduced. It's hard to accept Jay as a romantic since Nova is such a creepy vampire, but Suarez more than compensates, showing some of the sensuality Sharon Stone released in Basic Instinct, even if Medem is as objectifying as Paul Verhoeven was. The solution to the amnesia is dismissed unsatisfactorily, and when Suarez's husband turns up and we cut to a large pair of scissors, we only have to wait for them to be used grossly. The film has a few stinkers - Medem shouldn't be encouraged to make a musical, some squirrel point of view shots, and a pair of hair-dyed lesbians in the campsite who smile knowingly.
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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alucinante!, April 18, 1999
By A Customer
Es una película básica, un clásico que todo amante del cine, verdadero, debe ver. De una manera surreal, entre el mundo real y grosero que nos rodea, Medem nos trae este cuento y nos lleva de viaje por las tierras oníricas que le constituyen, y nos enseña, una vez más, que parece que nos entra por un oído y nos sale por otro, que no todo lo que brilla es oro...vean Tierra y los Amantes del círculo polar...prepárense bien y buen viaje...if u know what i mean
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