Customer Reviews

Lucia Lucia [VHS]

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

 

 

Director Antonio Serrano obviously holds his contemporary Pedro Almodovar in high esteem: he has found the same sharp edge between reality and fiction, uses some of the same actors, and most important, satisfies his audience with a first rate product.

LUCIA, LUCIA is a tour de force for the brilliant actress Cecilia Roth. Cast as the wife of a man she barely knows after many year of marriage, a man who mysteriously disappears on the eve of their Latin American holiday vacation, Roth moves from dowdy plain-Jane to sensuous beauty in the course of the story. Roth (Lucia) is a writer of children's books - silly stories about chickens and ducks illustrated by a young artist (Adrian) who is not only intelligent but also very handsome and passionate (Kuno Becker, in a career-making role - he simply has it all.) From the outset of the film Lucia talks with us, her audience, admitting that she has just related fantasies rather than truths, versions of her life that are far more intriguing than her boring existence. When she discovers that her husband has been 'kidnapped' she gathers the forces of Adrian and of Felix, an elderly gentleman who lives in her apartment (the always fine Carlos Alvarez-Novoa). This unlikely trio starts on a caper that is at once funny and tender because it is through the absurdities they encounter that each finds himself and acknowledges their mutual love. Lucia manages to show us various scenes of the same incident, each colored by her imagination and her desire to be more than she is: she has a passionate affair with Adrian who is young enough to be her son, she manages to compensate Felix for this intelligence and guidance and his obvious love for her though he is old enough to be her father! In the end (and the end comes only after a well calculated intrigue that involves government corruption, hostage settings, etc) Lucia has found herself - 'discovering new places is viewing the world with new eyes' - and lives happily alone, writing serious novels.

The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles, is beautifully photographed and well directed and edited. But it is the powerful presence of Cecilia Roth that makes this movie sing. Add to that the magnetic gifts of the handsome and talented Kuno Becker and the grace and experience of Carlos Alvarez-Novoa and the result is a very gratifying - strangely bizarre - movie.

I didn't know what to expect from this movie. It was overall very suspensful, with lots of twists and turns. I haven't seen anything like this movie. Nothing too typical or predictable. A few scenes do not connect well together, and the movie can drag on a bit. I don't know if i could sit through it again, but it was suspensful and captivating 2 hrs of entertainment from some talented actors (and a cute Adrian)

Most films claim certain amount of credibility to tell its story. `Lucia Lucia' doesn't. The film rather goes in for the unreality, or constant twisting of the conventions of all the film genre (except that of comedy, which I think is the right description of `the film). Consequently what Lucia does first with the voiceover is to apologize to us for having said a lie. And that's only the beginning of the film.

But the film is all about Lucia, and that part is true. On December 27th, at the airport, husband of Lucia (Cecilia Ross) goes to the bathroom, and never comes back. Then someone calls her, and his disappearance turns out a kidnapping case. But as I said, Lucia immediately corrects the date (it was in fact 30th), and the detective is awfully sloppy. But again, we are not supposed to believe in everything, or to take it too seriously.

While waiting for a chance to do something on her own, she enlists help from the two people living in the same building: Félix, old political refugee from Cuba, and Adrián, young handsome guy. As they delve into the mystery of Lucia's husband's disappearance, Lucia starts to be attracted to Félix romantically.

[ALL ABOUT LUCIA] As you can expect from the new wave Mexican films, the narratives are unique, cinematography is crisp, and acting (of the three principals) is superb. What divides the opinions among the viewers would be the first one, though: narrative, or storytelling. Not that it is hard to follow. It is only that the film mixes several genres - thriller, road movie, romance, etc. - and it refuses to be pigeonholed into one. The only proper way I can think of to describe the characteristics of `Lucia Lucia' is - `All About Lucia.'

Now let's talk about Lucia, or Cecilia Ross. Without the great acting from Ross, who knows how to make the entire film moderately comical but not too jokey, `Lucia Lucia' would have been an unendurable mess. Ross heightens the pleasant and fantastic feeling of experiencing something extraordinary, without losing the reality of the character.

But again, I have to talk about its narrative. I am afraid that the film is trying to push the limit too much. You know, in films, you often wish that certain part of it would turn out the way you want, and `Lucia Lucia' has one such thing. In the lengthy coda, where everything should have been in the right place, `Lucia Lucia' still attempts to give us a twist. No thank you. I would rather not to have any more twist.

Probably `Lucia Lucia' is best appreciated as light-hearted romance about a middle-aged woman who suddenly learns how to see things differently. And we are also invited to see the film (or any film) with entirely new eyes. If not everything succeeds here, that is not because we don't want that changing, but that we don't want constant, non-stopping changing. But the talent of Cecilia Ross and the joy of watching her character are real, and to them go the four stars.

This film is remarkable and Cecilia Roth is amazing as always. Her character is so strong at times and then so weak. What I really like about the story, without giving away a main part, she how it seems she is writing the story. The final scene is magnificent and leaves you with a smile.

Cecilia Roth presents a great performance in her role of Lucia, a woman trying to find her kidnapped husband. She meets two neighbors who offer her help, Adrian and Felix, and the three of them embark in dangerous adventures that are narrated by Lucia in a very peculiar way.

Since I am Spanish-speaking it was very interesting for me to see Cecilia Roth speaking with a Mexican accent; she achieves this almost perfectly and only in a couple of moments you can distinguish the easily discernible Argentinean accent. As to the performance she shows once more that a movie with her as the star can be bad, since she compensates for faults in the script, direction or even in other actors. Not that she needs to do so in this movie, since Carlos Alvarez-Novoa shines in his performance too, and the story is interesting and keeps you hooked all the time.

The only reason why I gave this movie four stars instead of five is because I did not like the ending and there is a blatant mistake in a motorcycle chase. Watch the movie paying attention and you will find the error easily ;-)

Is it worth not pursuing your own dreams? Is it worth sacrificing your inner self? Is it worth letting your life rot as you mature? The answer to all these life questions is "no" if you ask Lucia Romero, the character brilliantly played by acting legend Cecilia Roth in "Lucia, Lucia", a Mexican movie based on the book "La Hija del Canibal" by Rosa Montero. And if you ask me, I agree with her.

When the man she has been married to for ten years mysteriously dissapears, she finds herself at a crux, as most of the assumptions she had been basing her whole life on, one by one, start to fall apart. In her search for new meaning, she is aided by two of her neighbors: a man almost twenty years older than her, and one almost twenty years younger.

As the movie unfolds, though there are numerous plot twists that may leave you scratching your head, overall, the movie works on several levels. It is a different movie that leaves you thinking and in the end it forces you to revisit some of the above questions about yourself. I recommend it and give it four stars.

This is a different kind of movie. The protagonist writes books (children's books) and it is not clear whether or not the strange and disconnected events in the movie are her imaginings for a novel or if they actually occurred. In this, the movie was unsatisfying. What was a pleasure to see was Mexico City. Never having been there, I would not imagine the way it was shown. It was more like New York or Madrid than a third world metropolis. Things like call forwarding and cell phones and answering machines are no different than what we have here at home. But the plot of the movie, whatever that was, was not enough to save this film. Perhaps the plot was not important . . I really couldn't figure that out. See it and make up your own mind.

great Spanish film about a husband that disappears right in an airport bathroom
What's the truth?
You'll have to watch.

drama sex mystery camraderie

fine start to this movie: quirky, well-edited, hints of philosophy, mystery.
then it falls off a cliff into pornographic theatres, lesbian kissing, sex, and monotonous scenes about a venial may-to-october relationship. wow, haven't been that dissapointed in a 2nd half in a long-time, it's almost two movies smashed together, thumbs down!

As usual, a great Film with an outstanding actress, Celia Roth.

See her great performances in "EPITAFIOS" and "ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER".