Released: August 27th, 2010
Rated: Unrated
Studio: Strand Releasing
Starring: Dario Yazbek Bernal, Marimar Vega, José
María Torre
Directed by: Michel Franco
Written by: Michel Franco
Personal Bias Alert: can handle difficult scenes, likes filmmaking with a purpose
8 of 10
First-time
writer/director Michel Franco didn’t pick an easy subject to start with. Watching Daniel
& Ana, I was astounded by how confidently he navigated the material,
and I inferred that this might be due to his belief that the story he was
telling needed to be told. You see, the
title cards claim that what follows is a true story, and the ending claims that
it wasn’t an isolated incident. If the
truth claim is true, which I see no reason to doubt, then this is certainly a
serious issue that I’ve never seen raised before.
The
titular Daniel and Ana are siblings who, by the end of the first half hour of
the film, have been kidnapped and forced to have sex together on camera. Incest is a deeply taboo subject in many
cultures, which makes this film and its graphic sex scenes all the more
difficult to watch. But if you get
through it, you’ll find that the story really centers on Daniel and Ana’s
reaction to the event: the secrecy, the
depression, the shame. Both react in
different ways, and although you won’t always agree with their actions, the
film does manage to make you understand the reasoning behind them.
That’s
not to say that the film is clinical. It
doesn’t explain in medical terms the stages they’re going through, but it takes
it’s time in showing you their progression and the events that move them
forward. In fact, the film has a rather
austere style post-attack, consciously avoiding melodrama and intentionally
keeping viewers a step removed from the events.
That’s a gift, because pushing the audience any further than the film
already does would just be cruel.
The
actors, however, can’t be spared from the emotions they have to portray, and
stars Dario Yazbek Bernal (Daniel) and Marimar Vega (Ana) go all in. Vega gets the more emotive role, and hence,
the more flashy, while Bernal is saddled with conveying a large amount of inner
turmoil. That makes Bernal’s performance
a little hard to get a read on, but I trust that my ultimate understanding of
his character means he did his job well.
Vega gets a more clear arc, and her ability to modulate her character’s more
emotional moments to fit the film’s reserved nature is the high point of her
great performance.
This
reserved nature comes from the tight control exerted by Franco and his editor,
Óscar Figueroa. Close observation
reveals some clear strategy, from the presence and absence of music to the
pacing of the shots. Pre-attack, the
scenes move along naturally, jumping from conversations and events in an
unrushed but fluid way. During and
post-attack, the scenes linger, effectively getting across the emotional states
of Daniel and Ana without the need for melodramatic flourishes. It’s impossible for me to know how much of
this nuanced technique was due to Franco and how much to Figueroa, but glancing
through Figueroa’s impressive IMDB page leads me to believe that he was a
crucial element in making this film work.
There
is a bit of a misstep at the end, not enough to derail the whole thing, but
enough to knock the film down a notch. Other
mistakes were minor and understandable given the visual storytelling style the
filmmakers were employing. Considering
how much they did right, and the delicacy with which they were able to convey
some complex emotions, this film becomes much more than a sum of its sometimes flawed
parts.
I
mentioned in passing that this film contains some very graphic scenes, but I
feel that I must reiterate that point.
This is an excellent film, and I believe that it is boldly telling a
story that has wrongly been swept under the rug. However, this isn’t a film for everyone, and
casual viewers will likely be begging for it to be turned off rather quickly.
Other Notes:
Ø Seriously,
look up Figueroa. I’m not familiar with his
work, but IMDB gives him 94 editing credits and notes that he’s a 3-time winner
of the Ariel Award, Mexico’s equivalent of the Oscars. I think it’s safe to say that he’s a proven
talent, and his work here is impecible.
Ø Vega
and Franco are the great finds of this film.
Ø Despite
being so removed and austere, I really did get behind these two people. Going through the ups and downs of their
attempts at recovery isn’t exactly powerful, but I had strong reactions to the
moments when they were able to take steps forward.
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