greglouvel

When i finally got a DVD copy of I saw the devil i could not wait before watching it. Unfortunately it was far from being as good as reviewed/announced everywhere. It s gruesome, it s violent, etc. and it s OK. But in this movie it s just pointless, violence does not illustrate anything deeper. You feel no sympathy towards the actors and in the end the movie becomes boring. Min-sik Choi kills, rapes, kills again but honestly who cares? The trail of deaths in this movie is ridiculous. I saw the devil is just another stupid slasher.

I m not too sure what the director's intention is, and i'd be curious to hear what he has to say - but I suspect it is a big joke. When you compare I saw the devil to Park Chan Wook's work or to the Chaser there is no comparison possible. Sadly I saw the devil has no head (pun intended), it is only about mechanics (killing, severing limbs, raping) - a nice body (Min-sik Choi is amazing) with an empty brain.

Moebius, the movie, has been around for a while now, and has a very good reputation. But this movie is definitely overrated. Though the pitch is very good, it suffers from various flaws that spoil the quality of the movie. First, the plot is obscure and is sometimes hard to follow. Mosquera chose to deal with the desaparecidos issue. It is a very sensitive issue in Argentina and therefore it is courageous of him. But he had room for criticism and his approach of this subject is rather cold. He could have chosen to insist on the political aspect of his movie but instead he chose to develop the dry philosophical/Borges side of it. And this side is not enhanced by the rhythm of the movie which is particularly jerky between underground scenes and outdoors scenes. It would have deserved more fluidity and even spinning to deal with that moebius strip issue. On that point, that choice seems incoherent. Next point the characters, they are cartoons. They act most of the time on one single level whereas we could have expected more subtility. For example, the subway's director is an impulsive, grotesque, slow-thinking character. Would you really expect that from the director of the subway of Buenos Aires? The only character who keeps her mystery is the one of the young girl, the others are only stereotypes. Finally, it lacks poetry and sensibility. Los desaparecidos, the nostalgia floating around, the young girl could have induced more emotion and it is, to my mind, the main failure of that movie. You never feel concerned by the characters or the story. Nevertheless, some interesting points can be stressed. Regarding the budget and the crew this film is rather good and moreover the light used creates a very interesting claustrophobic atmosphere. Finally, the idea would have deserved a better treatment. It is a shame.