Customer Reviews

In Therapy

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4 star:		(1)
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I got this movie as a rental from Netflix and really enjoyed it. I don't know why this guy is front and center of the poster. The stars of the movie are really the women behind him and their relationship with each other. It was refreshing to see women who seemed able to handle themselves. No one fell and twisted their ankle, no stupid damsel in distress. This movie seemed to try to send the message that these women were in control of their sexuality. I would have given it a higher rating but I don't agree that empowerment includes turning tricks. Also be warned that this movie contains scenes of domestic violence.

In Almodovar's "Atame! Atame!," a woman realizes that she knows Antonio Banderas' character for an odd and X-rated reason. This film too starts off with an odd sexual premise, but it didn't take that idea down new and interesting paths like I expected.

The description on the back of the DVD made it sound soooo feminist and I was excited. But I wouldn't put this up there with "Thelma and Louise" or "The Color Purple" at all. bell hooks described the film "Waiting to Exhale" as "vaguely feminist" and that descriptor works for this film. It does have women working as a group. It does have men making sexist comments like "A woman wouldn't shoot a gun" and using the B-word. Still, this didn't seem that empowering. This was no different than watching oranges and apples fighting with each other. The video store I used put a "Must Be Over 18 to Rent" sticker on the cover. I think this is due to the many Bartles & James given near the start of the film. This is one of those heteropatriarchal films where women are seen nude, but never men.

I don't see what all the hype is about Diego Luna. Why he gets to be in all the cool Latino movies is beyond me. However, he plays the role that reveals that not all men are dogs. That was a complaint regarding Spielberg's "The Color Purple." Along the lines that "not all men are bad and not all women are good," the men in this film are always just a step away from seeing through the women's trickery. The men are not like the bumbling Harpo of "The Color Purple." That was a useful tactic that the screenwriters maintained.

This film jumps from Spain to Mexico. I'm sure the countries have much in common, but they are not identical twins. Like many Latin American media productions, this highlighted those of European phenotype and erased or placed visible people of color to the margins. You barely see people clearly of indigenous ancestry until far later in the film, and off the top of my head, none of the women were indigenous. This blanching is problematic, but far from unique in that regional media market. It's terribly tragic, of course.

If you get married for a stupid reason, don't be surprised about bad consequences. The villification of the men came out of nowhere and the passivity of the women also seemed quite underdeveloped. The women spend a lot of time digging holes in the ground and through walls that they don't really use all that often.

I can't give this work anything better than a C grade, although it had potential.