Inti Briones/Sundance Institute
MOVIE REVIEW
The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future (2022)
The natural world rebels under the negligent care of humans in Francisca Alegria's "The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future," a low-key magic realist drama of bereavement and renewal set around and eventually under the waters of Chile's Cruces River. Several anxieties mingle in the plot, although the tone is languid and contemplative and the soundtrack occupied by roughly as much silence as dialogue. But cows do sing and a corpse does walk, in a film whose air of mildly mystic evocation comes from artistic restraint, poetic intent, and perhaps Covid-19 inconvenience.
Continue reading “Herd Ingenuity” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Sleep Dealer (2008)
Maya Entertainment
Intellectually and technologically ambitious, "Sleep Dealer" falls short due to execution. With the theme of electronic connectivity coupled with artificial intelligence, the film draws inevitable comparisons to "The Matrix." But "Sleep Dealer" is easier to recognize and relate to, perhaps because entities like Facebook and Twitter have annexed our virtual lives. This film adds commerce to the equation, allowing the consumption of memories as well as military strikes portrayed on reality television. It’s too bad the film falls short.
Continue reading “Information Superhighway to the Danger Zone” »