Yesterday I went to the cinema. Julio Médem is probably my favourite Spanish director, and I had been waiting to see his latest movie, Caótica Ana, for a long time. The only thing I knew about it is that part of it had been shot in NYC and that it was in some way a homage to his sister Ana, who had recently died in a car crash.
This is what the director had said about his film:
Chaotic Ana is the story-journey of Ana over four years of her life, from 18 to 22. A countdown from 10 to 0, as in hypnosis, through which Ana comes to see that she doesn’t alone. Her existence seems to be the continuation of the lives of other young women who died tragically, all of them at 22, and who live in the abyss of her unconscious memory. That is her chaos. In words of the director and scriptwriter of the movie: Ana is the princess and the monster of this fable feminist against the tyranny of the white man.
OMFG. The film, though beautifully shot and well-acted, was a real mess: a very loosely-knit story about the suffering of women through the ages, in which hypnosis, an artists' commune, people living in a cave, the plight of the Sahrawi people and even a Donald Rumsfeld lookalike all play an important part.
All of these issues are interesting, well worth being filmed and publicised. A fiction film - and a Medem one the least of all- is not the place to raise awareness. That role is reserved to documentaries.
I miss Julio Médem. He's gone through a terrible time after the release of La Pelota Vasca and his sister's death, and I hope he gets its act together and starts making brilliant movies again. Unfortunately this is not one of them.
