Indie Gems: Colonia

-
Put the camera away

In 1973 Chile, Daniel (Daniel Brühl) is a German man who is getting involved the resistance there. He's been drawing propaganda posters for the Chileans who want changes in their government. His girlfriend Lena (Emma Watson) is a Lufthansa flight attendant who comes to visit him. After a few days, Daniel is arrested and thrown into a torture chamber/cult commune by the secret police. This is run by Paul Schäfer, ( Michael Nyqvist) who his followers treat as a vessel of God. Lena decides to infiltrate the commune to help free Daniel.

Yes, I know. Another cult movie. Thankfully, Emma Watson has a better turn out in this one than she did in Regression. Don't get me wrong, she's still a wooden actress. But she's not asked to do much here other than keep a straight face, so it's bearable. Brühl and Nyqvist above others carrying the acting weight.

I didn't know about Paul Schäfer and the despicable things he did before watching this film. It made me want to research it immediately. Daniel is very savvy once he's in the commune, and Lena keeps her eyes open. The tension builds well, especially in the last 10-15 minutes of the film.

Despite the lead actress being less than impressive, everything else about this film was fascinating. It's well paced and gives us yet another look into the morbid reality that is religious cults. 

Grade: B

Watched on: Netflix DVD

Memorable quote: "Take off your shoes, you look like a slut." - Gisela (Richenda Carey)




Comments

  1. KhalidJuly 22, 2016 at 6:00 PM

    I saw this last year and was kinda surprised by how much of a poor reception. Its fine and engaging enough. I agree that it's pretty fascinating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJuly 23, 2016 at 11:05 AM

      Yeah, I saw that it made jack shit in the UK when it opened recently. It definitely isn't bad enough to warrant that reception. I enjoyed it.

      Delete
  2. KatyJuly 22, 2016 at 11:28 PM

    Nice review! Daniel is totally enough for me to check this out, though some of the Civil War memes makes it hard for me to watch him with a straight face. lol I have so many movies on my to-watch list, though. *some day*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJuly 23, 2016 at 11:04 AM

      I knew Daniel before Civil War so that wasn't an issue for me, I just want to see more of the guy. He's great.

      Delete
    2. KatyJuly 23, 2016 at 6:58 PM

      Oh yeah I was familiar with him too. I just haven't been able to get some of the Civil War memes out of my mind. :)

      Delete
  3. AnonymousJuly 25, 2016 at 8:25 PM

    I don't care for Miss Watson but I know that if YOU can forgive her, then I too can watch this movie. You're such a useful barometer! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJuly 27, 2016 at 6:49 AM

      lmao Thank you. I feel like I force myself to watch her movies sometimes because she was Hermione, and therefore I should like her even though I thought she gave one of the worst performances in the films.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing Bobby, and the
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But
Read more