As Luck Would Have It (2011)

  
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1808240/

There has been much hype surrounding director Álex de la Iglesia’s previous film The Last Circus (2010), the film winning three awards at the Venice Film Festival and receiving some great reviews from doing the rounds at other festivals. So I was very intrigued by the director’s latest La Chispa De La Vida (Spanish title), which, incidentally, takes a look at hype and the sensation hungry media. Roberto (Jose Mota) is an unemployed advertising executive who is reaching a state of extreme desperation. He was once at the top of his game, coming up with the Coca-Cola slogan ‘Life’s Little Spark’, but after two years of no work and unable to pay his mortgage, Roberto resorts to practically begging for work from an old friend. After being turned down yet again, he goes in search of an old happy memory and ends up having a terrible and absurd accident in a very public place. Soon the media have got wind of the situation and are trying to get that all important exclusive. Shockingly Roberto begins to exploit his situation and himself to the media in order to attempt to get what he wants in life and secure a future for his wife (Salma Hayek) and his two children.
With a tendency to focus on the dark humour in life, this film has Almodovarian elements but unfortunately is not as astutely realised or as visually perceptive as the auteur. The story is rather straight forward and far more conventional than I was anticipating. However, the tension steadily built up surrounding the accident is palpable and I really was on the edge of my seat at some moments. There is plenty of humour, often at the expense of Roberto, and Jose Mota, a comedian, is brilliant as the desperate do-gooder, adding light relief to what could have been an extremely dark film. Hayek is not entirely convincing as Roberto’s housewife who has to wait helplessly by his side as doctors try to decide what to do and media moguls put a price on her husband’s life.
The tone of this film is a little confusing. It is clearly attempting to be a humorous satire but it has an extremely poignant tale at the heart of it, the two never quite fusing together well enough, the humour not funny enough and the poignancy not moving enough. There are an abundance of references to the circus with ‘it’s show time’ mentioned too. This overt parallel between the media and the circus is both unnecessary and slightly patronising to audiences.
For all the criticisms this is still a rather enjoyable film but could have, frustratingly, been a lot better. The physical humour is well executed and the central performance is full of depth. The children unfortunately are mere stereotypes. While it is acceptable for the media characters to be such, as that is the point of the story, the children should have a sense of authenticity to them and that is really lacking.
This is a sensational and ludicrous story that needs a little more reality embedded into it to make it emotionally engaging. Considering it was commenting on a real issue it felt extremely removed from reality. However, depending on how squeamish you are, this is an easy to watch film with a lot to enjoy and it does successfully get its message across, albeit in a rather heavy handed way. A playful drama that could benefit from a second viewing.

Americano (2011)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742023/

Martin (Mathieu Demy) is a thirty-something living in Paris and is in a slowly deteriorating relationship with Claire (Chiara Mastroianni). He receives the news of his mother’s death and his reaction is surprisingly unemotional, almost uncaring. He deals with the news in a matter of fact way and makes the decision to go to Los Angeles, where his mother Emilie lived, to sell the house that she lived in. Upon his arrival in LA Martin is met by his mother’s friend and carer Linda (Geraldine Chaplin) who is rather irritating and seems deeply affected by having to care for Emilie in her final days. Martin returns to his childhood home and slowly memories return and he begins to deal with the death of his mother. In an almost clinical manner he empties his mother’s house and prepares to deal with the legalities but finds out that his mother had another friend Lola, a young Mexican girl who Martin grew up with who his mother became fond of. It transpires that Emilie wanted Lola to have something when she died. So with only an old photograph and small snippets of information Martin steals Linda’s car and goes on a journey to Tijuana to find the grown up Lola (Salma Hayek) and ensure his mother’s dying wishes are granted.
The film is very much about Martin trying to find out who his mother really was and if she loved him, as Martin moved back to France with his father when he was young due to his mother’s supposed depression. We see a man struggling to come to terms with the death of a person who he should have been incredibly close to and yet he hardly knew and dealing with memories that he thought he had lost forever. Martin is a character who spends the film looking for answers from anybody he can get them from. The significant part of his journey, both physically and emotionally, occurs in the seedy underbelly of Tijuana, where Martin finds Lola working in a strip club called Americano.
I had high expectations for this film as Mathieu Demy who wrote, directed and stars in the film is the son of renowned filmmakers Jacques Demy and Agnes Varda. Also Varda was a producer on the film and sections from her film Documenteur (1981), in which Demy appears as the same character Martin, are included in the film as the flashbacks to childhood and Martin’s memories.  Due to these high expectations I felt the film was quite disappointing, however as Demy’s first feature film it is a promising start and I feel that the film is perhaps a victim of anticipation.
Americano can be interpreted as an homage to the filmmaker’s parents and perhaps deliberately features other children of famous people with the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and daughter of Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve both starring in the film. It is certainly reminiscent of the filmmaking of his parents and this may be enough for people to enjoy the film but for me it wasn’t. I found the character of Martin uneasy to identify with and felt he wasn’t particularly likeable, his actions often extremely selfish, although he does redeem himself towards the end of the film. Salma Hayek’s character was also not hugely likeable and this for me was a problem. Her striptease was also rather unerotic compared to the one in From Dusk til Dawn (1996) and perhaps that was the point but if a striptease by Hayek is boring then something is wrong.
This is clearly a personal film for Demy and perhaps that is the problem, like with Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere (2010) it looks great but there is just not enough to identify with and care about. Demy is a suitably handsome lead and his ability to portray grief in such a subtle and realistic manner is commendable. The story has depth but not enough, with no real revelations from the memories he recalls and not enough of a conclusion. The twist is predictable and whereas this may also have been deliberate it felt rather anti climatic.
However, although this film is not perfect there are some interesting aspects and it does manage to hold its own for the duration. It is enjoyable enough but unfortunately not overly distinct or memorable. There is strong acting throughout and the film is aesthetically pleasing but none of this makes up for the fact that the characters are not easy to identify with.