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7 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :- Well crafted Gender with insight, 9 June 2006 Author: javier g s from Spain
I recently saw "Ausentes" in DVD and felt compelled to write about it. It is one of those gender movies that hides a sharp comment on modern society. I really enjoyed watching it, I must say that one of the things that stroke me was the photography and the camera work, I find both excellent. The photography by Josep Maria Civit creates an atmosphere that is at the same time realistic and dreamlike. Not to mention how well works the fact that the film plays almost entirely at day time, which for a suspense thriller picture is never the less unusual. Camera work felt great, the way the director uses the movements and the lenses really drives you all the way in to the suspense feeling he is after. But aside from the fact that I think the film es very well crafted, specially if we compare with other Spanish films, what really stroke me about "Ausentes" was the fact that there is a strong message within it. We are watching a gender film that follows the trend started with "Ther Six Sense", nothing too original nowadays, and "Ausentes" does work in its entertaining goals, but there is something else to it. We are actually watching a film about human loneliness, and the precise moment in which one (Ariadna Gil in this case) is faced with it. In "Ausentes" this happens when Julia, wonderfully played by Ariadna Gil, looses her job and moves to the suburbs with her upper middle class husband and two kids. She then falls into a depression in which her own family starts to create a void around her for not being the strong woman they expect her to be. It all plays as a suspense thriller in a very entertaining manner while at the same time Calparsoro is able to transmit without dialogs how thin is the line between clarity and madness. The film takes from "The Shining" and "Repulssion" without failing to be a copy and on the contrary finds a spot of its own that brings memory of those seventies movies in which content and context walk side by side. A must.
4 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :- i've been deceived, 21 September 2005 Author: strindbergman from spain
along the history of cinema, there's been a few films that deceived the viewer, such as hitchcock's "stage fright", alejandro amenábar's "abre los ojos", David fincher's "the game" and this one "ausentes" ("absent"). to begin with, i don't like this kind of films, i feel like somebody is trying to pull my leg.furthermore, after seeing this film one doesn't know what happened, is such a confusing film. kubrick's "the shining" may be a better or a worse movie, but definitely is more honest than this load of pretentious and dubious situations.technically is fine -nice photography, fair performance and so on, but the script is so poor i wonder what did the producers see to carry on and shoot this crap.and this film remarks the 3 guys that wrote the script (calparsoro, loriga and quiroga) are lost in cinema trying to make a masterpiece -or trying to do something to fulfill their stomachs, awaiting for more personal projects.
9 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :- Unintentionally Hilarious, 30 July 2005 Author: garanholcombe from Spain
'The Shining' has wit, visual flair and an iconic performance by Jack Nicholson. 'Ausentes,' however, has none of these things; although it does borrow from its classic forebear; to wit, a man hacking through a door and a woman running around shrieking while clutching a huge kitchen knife. Unlike Stanley Kubrick's great psychological horror film, 'Ausentes' is a work which resonates with a singular lack of genius. It is magnificently, comically awful; it makes the Spice Girls movie look like a work of vital art. 'Ausentes' is the tale of a family that moves to a gated community in the suburbs. All is to be well with the world. They will live in peace and tranquillity; they will calmly go about their business away from those mean old city streets. But no. Ariadna Gill's character Julia starts getting spooked by those things that insist on going bump in the night, by empty supermarkets and doors that close themselves; and her husband Samuel, played by Jordi Molla, switches in an instant from laid-back family man to wild-eyed permanently unshaven nutter, injecting Julia with a drug to keep her under his sudden cosh. Molla, much respected as an actor, is absolutely dreadful in this. Comic rather than menacing, he simply cannot pull off a threatening expression. He just come across as a barroom slime ball who's had one drink too many. So is there anything to redeem this film? No. The script is clunky, the plot non-existent and the cast without merit. Completely without tension and full of be scared now moments, 'Ausentes' is an exercise in how not to make a psychological thriller. It is ridiculous and overblown, but as one of the most unintentionally hilarious films of recent years it's well worth a watch.
2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- A Nutshell Review: The Absent, 17 September 2006 Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore
This is the latest in a slew of Euro movies to make it to our shores here, promoted as a mystery thriller because of the faux-pas sense of sophistication from everything European.To its credit, it does keep you guessing. As the premise goes, a serene family of four moves into the suburbs, only for Julia (Ariadna Gil) the mom experiencing things that go bump, even in the day. Loving husband Samuel (Jordi Molla) and kids Felix (Nacho Perez) and Luis (Omar Munoz) do not experience these strange phenomenon, and therefore this leads to tension within the family.What works is the atmosphere built up, that there are many scenes filled with plenty of emptiness Julia experiences in the neighbourhood, and the bewilderment she felt when she slowly discovers that there is no one else to turn to, not even her husband and children. Feeling extremely isolated, she begins to wonder what happened to have brought about the changes to her surroundings, as well as her family.On one hand, you want to sympathize with Julia and her increasing exasperation, and Ariadna Gil's performance enables you to do so. However, it's really a case of more than meets the eye, and you might be increasing as frustrated as the character when you attempt to figure out what is happening as well - is it a psycho babble mystery, or something involving the supernatural, or a conspiracy of sorts? You can warrant a guess, and you'll probably be right, but the way the film progresses and develops, doubts will be cast on your assumptions, right until the very last scenes.If compared to earlier fare like Lemming (happy family in suburbs) and Cache/Hidden (something remotely similar with its CCTV cameras and discovery that you can watch them on TV), The Absent probably is the weakest in terms of storyline, and the least entertaining of the lot. If you're thinking you're up for something quite cerebral, you might end up disappointed.
2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Ausentes is Absent, 17 September 2005 Author: splice1234-1 from Europe
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
When I first saw the trailer for this film, I really wanted to see it. I thought some of the director's other works were quite good, but I must say I was disappointed. The plot involves a young woman, who lives with a widowed father and two his two sons. They move into a well-guarded community, yet all is not as it seems; a sort of Twin Peaks. The woman begins to see, or not see, things an people. During the first reel, I had a hypothesis, and thought, "this can't be the whole reason?" Well, the ending lived up, or better DOWN, and gave us what I felt was a truly weak final act. The sound mixing and quality is excellent. Saw it in a THX Certified Theatre, and was impressed.. by the audio, and only the audio. The picture is missing substance.
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