Customer Reviews

Gigante

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this charming, funny film from Uruguay about a shy overweight guy who falls for a fellow employee on the night shift of the supermercado where he works in surveillance and she cleans floors. About all he can do is watch her on camera while she's at work and helplessly stalk her during the daylight hours. That she could possibly not notice his hulking presence wherever she goes requires some suspension of disbelief until you begin to realize that she knows he's there and is just waiting for him to work up the nerve to talk to her.

What makes the film work are the endless moments of dry humor and quirky surprises that keep you wondering how many different ways the writer-director can postpone their eventual meeting. A subtext of the movie is how the employees deal with the dreary boredom of their jobs and manage to show up day after day and get through their shifts. Gives new insight into what goes on at Wal-Mart after closing time. Couldn't be much different.

Gigante (2009) is an eccentric film about the period of time before meeting the one you have fallen for. Calling it a love story would not do it justice; I call it a "pre-love" story, with drama and some comedy put in the mix. It is simple yet extremely well acted and directed movie that could have easily been uninteresting given the subject matter. The cast and crew pulled it off by making a truly memorable film.

Jara is in his mid 30's and loves hardcore rock and enjoys playing video games with his nephew. Always wearing a Biohazard or Motörhead t-shirt, black cargo pants, and army boots he walks the streets of Montevideo following Julia while trying to balance his interest in her while not being aggressive. Great music along with the sites and sounds of the city fill the void when little talking takes place.

He first saw Julia through the security cameras at a large grocery store where he is a guard and she works in the janitorial department cleaning up the store overnight. Unaware of Jara or his infatuation for her she goes about her days. Through his walks and persistent watching he learns more about her and finds things he made need to do to better himself to have a chance and a few things they could have in common.

Jara's life and job become at risk when his determination to know more about Julia come to a head. While watching her one night at work he sees her go with another man she has laughed with at work into an area of the store without cameras; he can not take not knowing! This sometimes scary but possibly sweet simple man must decide his next move. He has followed her to her house, cinema, internet cafe, and even on a date with another man (he follows the guy also). Has he become a stalker or is he still the guy that anonymously left a flowering cactus for her in an isle at work?

This is the most realistic story of a relationship I have ever seen. The situations he gets into will certainly make you feel his uncomfortableness that we all have felt when trying to engage another person we like. A perfect time to introduce himself to her passes by when he hides behind a wall at a club he is a bouncer for when she tries to get in without having the cover charge.

8 out of 10 - Spanish with English subtitles - If you enjoy a good visual story with well developed characters and a look at real life this film is for you.

Dain Binder
Dain's Movie Reviews

(special thanks to Film Movement for providing me with a screener!)

You ever see a movie that you know is really good, but it just left you pretty unimpressed? That's the situation I'm in with "Gigante". It's a good film, but I was mostly bored with it.

The story centers around Jara (Horacio Camandule), a lonely, 35 year-old man who works as a graveyard shift security guard at a grocery store, moonlights as a bouncer, lives with his sister and nephew and likes heavy metal music. He doesn't seem to ask a lot out of life and gets exactly what he asks for.

One night while working he spies Julia (Leonor Svarcas), a beautiful, 25 year-old cleaning woman who works the night shift in the same store he does. He falls in love, or at least something close to love, as he watches her. One night he even sees her steal something, and doesn't bother to report it. He desperately wants to ask her out, but, well, she's young and pretty and he's just not. So instead he begins a rather odd, stalker-like existence, trailing her all over Montevideo, and even shadowing her on a date. Clearly he doesn't mean her any harm; he just likes being near her and isn't sure how to deal with his feelings.

There's nothing wrong with this movie, really. It's ably directed by Argentinian director Adrian Biniez and features some wonderful acting by the two leads, especially Camandule. There's some wonderful moments of light comedy that I really liked, such as a scene where a cab driver's horn is honking repeatedly for no immediately obvious reason. Plus it was fascinating to see life in Uruguay, a place most Americans have never even heard of.

But something about it just seemed off to me. Maybe it was the pacing. It did seem to drag an awful lot. I can only take so much of seeing a man stare at a woman in a video monitor before I start to look at the run time on my DVD. Maybe it's just that Jara is too passive of a character to be very interesting and carry an entire movie.

I wanted to like this movie, I really did. As it was, I didn't dislike it and I don't consider myself to have wasted time seeing it, I just wish it had been something more than it was.

== Short Subject ==

This month's short subject is a Danish movie called "Dennis". It's about a body-builder who is about to go out on a first date with a woman he knows only vaguely (his workout partner got her phone number from her friend. It's that kind of thing). Dennis is painfully shy and we get the sense even from the start that him going out on a date might not be like other people doing so, when we find that he lives at home with a domineering mother who isn't above guilting him to get him to stay at home and cook dinner and play cards with her.

But Dennis goes on the date and has a surprisingly good time. It's what happens after the date that ends up being less-than-happy for him and leads him into a place, mentally and physically, that's heartbreaking and not surprising.

This was a very strong movie, and I really enjoyed it! I liked it quite a bit more than "Gigante", a film it shares no small amount of similarity with. The actor playing Dennis does an excellent job of showing a man who is giant in every way except self-confidence. I'd really like to see him do more film and I'd love to see a longer version of this movie, which really just felt like act one of a bigger film. I doubt that'll happen, but if it does, I'll be there to see it.

I know that from the plot this sounds like a very weird film about a crazy obsessed stalker but - scout's honor - it's not! Well, kind of not. In any other circumstance, a metal-band-obsessed overweight big man following a woman he's never met around would seem like a crazy obsessed stalker, but Jara, played by Horacio Camandule, is more like a metal-band-obsessed overweight big guardian angel. He sweetly follows Julia (Leonor Svarcas) around because he wants to get to know her and make sure that she's alright no matter where she is, but he's too shy to actually introduce himself and talk to her. We see him follow her on a date and watch her flirt with other men, all the while still struggling to build the courage to talk. This story could not have been sweet were it not for wonderful acting, mostly on the part of Camandule, to be nervous and shy rather than malevolent and menacing. Realistic performances in an interesting story

"Gigante" is about expectations and limitations and whether one accepts the limitations of expectations or defies them in pursuit of a life beyond expectation - and whether that can succeed.