Frankenstein Reworked: A Modern Gothic Tale of Puzzlement

Szelíd teremtés – A Frankenstein-terv (Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project, English Title)

Hungary – 105 Minutes -- Drama – Hungarian – 2010

Directed by Kornél Mundruczó

Screenplay Written by Kornél Mundruczó

Based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Cast: Rudolf Frecska (Rudy- 2^nd film in 10 years), Kitty Csikos (Magda- 1^st credited role), Lili Monori (mother), Kornél Mundruczó (Viktor), Miklós Székely B. (step-father)

On a bleak, rainy day, in a dark, heavy country, a young, quiet man stops by a flowerstand in front of a cemetary. He buys a bundle of white flowers the seller claims are “flowers for mourning” before passing graves on the way to his destination. (Note: A gothic tale will soon begin. Expect heavy-handed symbolism, melodramatic deaths, unexplained details, and possible confusion for those not familiar with the tale's original source.)

Tender Son- The Frankenstein Project unfolds as a modern reinterpretation of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. In this film adaptation, Frankenstein's “creature” takes the form of Rudi (Rudolf Frecska), the rejected son of an aging landlady (Lili Monori ) and a young film director, Viktor, (writer and diretor Kornél Mundruczó) who is searching for inspiration.

Rudi, exiled to an orphanage for his childhood, has now been released and comes in search of his family which loosely consists of the landlady; Viktor; the step-father (Miklós Székely B.); Magda, the beautiful orphan living with the landlady and the step-father (Kitty Csikos in her film debut); and Tunde, the young blonde that Rudi strangles in a fatal audition.

When he locates his parents, he is rejected on all counts and heartlessly denied the love that he seeks (this probably has something to do with the fact that he just murdered his could-have-been sister). Unaccepted by his family, Rudi ends up killing them instead (Normally, I would call this a spoiler. However, since the film is based on the novel, and Rudy is based on the “creature”, these eventual killings are really no surprise.)

The action primarily takes place in an antiquated building that rises several stories high and houses a central, open courtyard. With stone facades, winding staircases, dark raftered rooms, and plenty of places to hide, the building becomes a powerful tool in conveying the gothic tone of the film. Not only is it the home of the landlady and her piecemeal family, it is also the location of a honeymoon, a casting call, several untimely deaths, and an unwelcome reunion between long-lost family members. In this sense, the film does a good job at creating an insular space that, by the end of the film, has transformed from a home to a tomb.

Moments of humor creep into the script in both expected and unexpected ways. In the beginning scenes, Viktor goes through a series of auditions with hopeful actors. He reminds them each that actors have to often cry or laugh on screen and commands that they cry immediately. In keeping with the film's stoic mask, the actors all try to cry without success (with the exception of a woman whom the director hounds about her recently deceased husband until she is wading in tears) and these attempts are sure to elicit chuckles from the audience.

However, at of the world premieres of the film at Cannes, audiences also laughed collectively at a few gruesome deaths. Whether this was the intention of the director, or simply a miscalculated reaction of an uncomfortable audience, I can't say. Although the utter abruptness of both of these incidents left me surprised and temporarily stunned, I found nothing humorous about blood spattering on a brightly papered wall or someone falling to their death from a four-story ledge.

Rudi, played by virtually untried actor Rudolf Frecska (this is his second film appearance in ten years), can only be described as stoic as stone. Whether he is pleading to know the identity of his father, asking his mother to take Magda as his wife, or killing someone for getting too close to him, his expression never changes. This does nothing to assist the audience in interpreting his motives, but does dehumanize him to make him more of a “creature” in the eyes of the audience.

In one of his most vocal moments, Rudi corners Magda in the family kitchen and utters the caveman-like phrase “You are very beautiful. I like you. You should wear some make-up.” He then proceeds to smear red lipstick on her mouth as she stands stiffly in a strange mixture of excitement and fear as he marks her as his territory.

The landlady feels the toxicity of Rudi's very presence, and agrees to give Magda to Rudi as a bride/bribe/chattel as long as he promises to leave immediately and never return. In one of the most perverse images of the film, the mother stands in an empty living room wearing an old wedding veil while ironing a dusty white gown. As she labors over the ironing board, she creates the bride of the “creature” (often misnomered as “The Bride of Frankenstein” in popular culture) by offering Magda as a sacrifice to Rudy in exchange for peace. Magda returns home, finds her bedroom emptied into a lone suitcase, and the landlady rejects her from her home, just as she created and rejected Rudi 18 years before.

Thus, two unwanted children are sent off with not much more than the clothes on their backs to make a new life together. At this point, the film attempts to becomes hopeful. Magda and Rudi share a tender moment on their “honeymoon”. As Magda nervously stalls the inevitable consummation, they share a dinner of canned peaches and she shyly turns her face each time he tries to kiss her. However, this hope is short-lived as ill-timed carnage ensues, and the one chance that Rudi has for redemption never materializes.

The film itself is undeniably beautiful. Intense close-ups and saturated colors create colorful portraits in an otherwise bleak territory, and do more to capture the characters and their emotions than any of the scripted lines. Swooping crane shots and creative pans create an almost dizzying effect at times and work to emphasize the height and magnitude of the central space as well as communicate that the characters are on the ledge of danger, the precipice of demise.

However, well-composed images cannot make-up for gaping holes in a narrative where numerous strange relationships are never quite explained. For example, why does Magda live with the landlady and step-father, and if they are not related, why does she call them mother and step-father? What drove the director to procreate with a woman who looks old enough to be his own mother? Furthermore, why does the landlady allow the father of her banished son to rent out her creepy house to hold auditions for a film that never materializes?

Combine those unheard queries with heavy-handed symbolism, and the film can only fully be understood as a direct allegory of the original text of Mary Shelley. Without these literary roots, Rudi has no apparently urgent motivation to kill, whereas Frankenstein's “creature” verbalizes the fact that he goes on a killing spree because he has been rejected by his maker and denied any chance at human love and compassion.

The film is best viewed as an exercise in literary translation, a personal adaptation of the original Frankenstein text. Those familiar with Shelley's novel may “get it” and even enjoy postulating character identifications, gothic symbolism, and the merit of wholly modern interpretations. If viewed without this mindset, too many holes are left in the story, too many questions left unanswered, and the characters themselves lack clear goals, obstacles, and motivations.

By Brittany Hannah

"Life, Above All" is Second to Nothing

Life, Above All (2009)

Germany, South Africa – Drama – English, Other

Directed by Oliver Schmitz

Screenplay Written by Dennis Foon

Based on the Novel “Chanda's Secrets” by Allan Stratton

Casting by Moonyeen Lee

Cinematography by Bernhard Jasper

Cast: Khomotso Manyaka (Chanda), Lerato Mvelase (Lilian), Harriet Manamela (Mrs. Tafta), Audrey Poolo (Jonah), Keaobaka Makanyane (Ester), Mapaseka Mathebe (Iris), Thato Kgaladi (Soly)

With breath-taking pictures, superior linear narrative, and heart-touching performances, Life, Above All, which saw it's world premiere as an Official Selection of the 63^rd Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, has now found its way onto my personal list of films that possess Un Certain Regard.

Life, Above All is directed by Oliver Schmidtz, the South African director of the famed Paris, J'taime which spawned the Cities of Love franchise which produced New York, I Love You a plans for similar films for Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Jerusalem, Venice, and Timbuktu. The film is based on the novel “Chanda's Secrets” by Allan Stratton and and received standing ovations and tears at its recent world premiere in Cannes.

In a living testament to the industry move towards international collaborations, the film is produced as a collaboration between Germany and South Africa and the actors deliver lines in both English and a native South African language.

Though the tile of the film is “Life, Above All”, the story ironically begins with death and a funeral. Chanda, a bright young girl on the cusp of adolescence, lives with her steadfast mother, Lilian (Lerato Mvelase); low-life stepfather, Jonah (Audrey Poolo), and younger siblings Iris (Mapaseka Mathebe), Soly (Thato Kgaladi), and Sarah. In the opening scenes, Sarah, Chanda's baby sister, dies and suspicions begin to mount on all sides of the family. Jonah, in his drunken grief, claims that Lilian poisoned Sarah with her breast milk, and abandons the family with no money or provider. A prominent villager, Mrs. Tafta (Harriet Manamela) advises the family to pretend like nothing is wrong so that other people don't “think you have problems”.

After months of absence, Jonah is brought back to Lilian's doorstep and dumped out of a wheelbarrow by his own sister. Thin, sickly, and too weak to stand, he is surrounded by the suspicious neighbors and publicly disowned. The family's “problems” can not longer be denied: they have been touched by the taboo of AIDS.

As he reaches out for pity from Dudu, his former party-pal and lover, but she screams, “I don't know you. You're a dead man. A skeleton.” Livid fear glints in her eyes as she denies the existence of her former affair in an attempt to deny the possibility that she, too, is infected.

The narrative continues to unfold as Lilian also grows weaker by day and Chanda must face the derision of her neighbors to care for her family. In the process, she has to sacrifice her schooling and childhood to face the grim realities of AIDS and the violent superstitions that accompany it in her small South African village.

Worth noting in this film is the work of Casting Director Moonyeen Lee. With a script that calls for a dynamic female lead under the age of 13, as well as other strong supporting child characters, Lee's task for finding actors capable of delivering a message about AIDS, orphanage, child prostitution, ostracisment, and death was not an easy one.

Actress Mapaseka Mathebe as Iris plays her role as a rebellious and taunting younger sister with ease, which sets up the desperation Chanda feels when she is left alone to care for her siblings, but has no control over vindictive Iris. When the villagers panic thinking that Iris has fallen into a well, Chanda finds Iris hiding in the shadows. In a poignant moment between sisters, Iris apologizes for her disobedience, and with a hug, accepts Chanda's role as her new authority figure in lieu of a mother or father.

Novice Keaobaka Makanyane plays Ester, Chanda's best friend who has been orphaned by AIDS and is shunned by the village. The girls are opposites: Chanda a serious student and Ester a carefree school-skipper. However, it is their strong bond survives as one of the most hopeful things at the end of the film. Midway through the film, Esther succumbs to the tragedy of child prostitution, forced to sell herself to truckers to survive. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes of the entire film, Esther returns to Chanda's house having been bloodied and beaten by three men. Despite having to cover subjects even too heavy for many adults to breach, Makanyane delivers a believable performance that had the power to move me to tears.

Khomotso Manyaka's performance as the lead Chanda is no less remarkable. She encounters the issues of death, abandonment, and loss with the resolve of someone twice her age and communicates an undying loyalty to her mother, traveling miles across dusty country alone in search of Lilian when she disappears from the family. Bottom line: Manyaka is an absolute revelation in the film, and brings a truth and honesty to the screen that I haven't seen from such a young actor since the performance by then 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider.

As the quiet campaign again Chanda and her family gains momentum, the film exposes the village as culture steeped in religious-fueled superstition. Mrs. Tafta, who is a leader in the village church, even reverts to mystical suspicions as Lilian's sickness progresses. She hires a witch doctor who comes to cleanse the house and ends up “pulling” a snake out of Lilian's torso and claiming she is infested with an evil spirit.

Later, when Chanda goes searching for Lilian at her grandmother's house, the old woman claims that Lilian has always brought shame upon her family and that her present sickness is a sign of “divine punishment” for her erring ways (i.e. marrying a man, Chanda's father and her first husband, of whom the family did not approve). The film is a testament to the misunderstandings are still ingrained ins South African culture in regards to AIDS. Like leprosy in the Middle Ages when villages would perform symbolic funerals for those who contracted the disease before eternally banishing them from society, AIDS in South Africa is seen as an “untouchable” disease, something which can tarnish an entire family in its path of destruction.

Amidst the tale of tragedy, the film is still Chanda's, a document of her unusual coming-of-age and a picture or her extraordinary soul. In a poignant moment between mother and daughter, Lilian and Chanda gaze in a mirror together as Lilian marvels at her child and breathes, “You amaze me.” I'll give that a resounding, “Agreed.”

The Myth of the American Sleepover

The Myth of the American Sleepover
USA-English-2009
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Written by David Robert Mitchell
Directed by David Robert Mitchell
Cast: Claire Sloma (Maggie), Marlon Morton (Rob), Amanda Bauer (Claudia), Brett Jacobsen (Scott), Amy Seimetz (Julie), Nikitia Ramsey (Ady Abbey), Jade Ramsey (Anna Abbey)

You can kiss two boys in one night, go to a dark warehouse where random people meet for love, dance the Charleston on a dock to win a handle of liquor, and even walk from house to house stalking a girl you saw in the produce aisle of the grocery store. It's all a part of The Myth of the American Sleepover, and as it's title implies, not much of what it portrays seems true or likely of actual American teenagers.

In his debut feature length film, writer and director David Robert Mitchell explores the facets of coming-of-age in middle America and the teenage rituals that go along with it. The Myth of the America Sleepover had its world premiere as an Official Selection of the International Critics' Week section of the 63th Cannes Film Festival. Previously, the film won a Special Jury Award for “Best Ensemble Cast” at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival and Conference and has received decent exposure for a low-budget debut here at Cannes.


The story follows four teenagers navigating their way through the last night of a small-town Michigan summer. Maggie (Claire Sloma), the pierced blonde pixie entering her freshman year, feels she has really done anything all summer, and sets her sights on love, vodka, and cigarettes for the night, her visible dorky friend Beth in tow. She faces some complications however when she has to choose between the reflective pool boy she has admired all summer and the rough n' tough guy she follows to a party.

Claudia (Amanda Bauer) is new in town, but is already dating a popular senior at school. When she is invited to a sleepover at the popular girl's house, she learns a secret about her boyfriend, and goes on a plan to hook up with the host girl's boy.

Rob (Marlon Morton), another rising freshman who has lied to all of his friends about sleeping with a girl from North Carolina that summer, falls in lust with a beautiful girl at the supermarket, and sets out on a journey that night to find her, no matter what.

On the other side of adolesnce, Scott (Brett Jacobsen) has returned from his junior year of college heart-broken and lost from his break-up with his high school sweetheart. When his sister tells him that one of the attractive Abbey twins (Nikita and Jade Ramsey) had a crush on him in high school, he sets embarks on a late-night drive to the college where the twins are attending a college orientation sleepover.

For those who have experience the “real” American sleepover, the film serves as a trip down memory lane. Boys and girls file host homes with their overnight bags and pillows and parents are seemingly absent as the teenage rituals begin. For the girls, this means giggling, eating candy, and talking about when their hair turned curly. For the boys, it means watching soft core porn, shoveling slices of pizza into their mouths, and hounding the kid that takes a private trip to the closet with a Playboy Magazine.

At the freshman boys' sleepover, things get interestingly awkward when Rob has a bathroom encounter with his host's older, sexy sister. Distracted by his obsession to find the ethereal blonde “supermarket” girl he fell for earlier that day, Rob wanders upstairs in search of Julie (Amy Seimetz) who also happens to be an alluring blonde. The sounds of dripping water come from the bathroom at the end of the hall where Julie is bathing. In a cruel invitation to Rob, who she caught staring at her earlier in the evening, she leaves the door open and invites him in for a chat. She indulges in a short game of cat and mouse, asking him if he has ever seen a naked girl before, and finally sending him away with a threat to scream when he asks for a kiss.

A grittier side of teenaged recreation also flaunts itself in the film. At another girls sleepover on the other side of town, older juniors and seniors get friendly with booze and roll a few joints. They also break out a Ouija board, the quintessential sleepover game to consult with a ghostly spirit in the house.

At times, the film manages to provoke a visceral reaction through well versed questions that encapsulate the emotions of adolescence. In an “awwwww” scene between Maggie and the pool boy, the pool boy asks “Is it alright if I hold your hand?”. The popular girl who extends an invitation to Claudia for the night illustrates the pressures that go along with growing up with her query “You're dating a senior and you don't even know if you're a beer or liquor girl?”.

However, these poignant moments don't make up for the otherwise bland hour and a half. Visually, the film is unremarkable. A few interesting shots, like a closeup of Claudia's eye as a shooting star flashes by, makes the rest of the pictures seem disappointing and flavorless.

Also, while the story skeleton is full of engaging, albeit unlikely, action, the dialogue comes off as stilted, slow, and contrived. For teenagers, the majority of the main characters are too pensive and seem comfortable with silences that any normal teenager would fill with a laugh, smart remark, or muttered swear.

Kudos to the casting department for bringing some sense of reality to the characters by securing actors who actually looked like kids, rather than slating 26-year-old models for the roles of awkward adolescents. However, simply casting actors who "look the part" can't make up for what the characters lack in delivery and depth. With the overlapping stories and intersecting searches for a final night of summer love and fun, the film narratively plays out like a B-version of Dazed and Confused or a number of other formulaic teen genre films.

In a panel discussion on the making of his film, director David Robert Mitchell stated he set out to “anchor” the film with a “gentle” tone. Unfortunately, The Myth of the American Sleepover simply retraces charted teen scene territory to miss the mark of “gentle” and winds up feeling flabby.

By Brittany Hannah

"That Evening Sun" Shines Bright

That Evening Sun, 2009

USA-Drama-110 Minutes-English

Directed By Scott Teems

Written For The Screen by Scott Teems

Based On The Short Story “I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down” by William Gay

Cast: Hal Holbrook (Abner Meecham), Walton Goggins (Paul Meecham), Mia Wasikowska (Pamela Choate), Carrie Preston (Ludie Choate), Raymond McKinnon (Lonzo Choate), Barry Corbin (Thurl Chessor)

"I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down" is the lengthy title of William Gay's short story of family, aging, and loss. And just as the title suggests, I hate to see the sun go down on Scott Teem's screen adaptation.

"That Evening Sun", written for the screen and directed by Scott Teems, features a stand-out ensemble cast lead by screen vet Hal Holbrook as Mr. Abner Meecham. The story opens as Mr. Meecham quietly “escapes” his nursing home to return to his family home on foot. When he finally makes it, thanks to his stubborn will, he is horrified to find that he has been the victim of an unspeakable betrayal: his son (Walton Goggins) has leased his house, land, and belongings to the family of Lonzo Choate (Raymond McKinnon), a man he views as no-good trash.

Determined to regain possession of his home, Mr. Meecham takes up residence in the tentant shack next to the main house and refuses to leave until the land is rightly his again. Lonzo maintains that he is living there legally and intends to buy the property at the end of the lease. A war of the wills ensues as Lonzo and Mr. Meecham set out to drive one another away from the coveted homestead.

The story is simple. In fact, the official tagline of "I worked too hard. And too long. I aint goin' down without a fight” just about covers the basics of the plot. However, in the case of “That Evening Sun”, it is not so much a question of what happens but rather where it happens and who is involved.

At times, the plot borders on the violent and bizarre. When Lonzo literally beats his wife and daughter with a rubber hose, Mr. Meecham flies out of the shack weilding a revolver and shooting at Lonzo's feet. Later, Lonzo kills Mr. Meecham's yappy dog as a grotesque warning and Mr. Meecham stuffs the dog and keeps it by his side as a creepy/humorous pet. However, these elements do more to highlight Lonzo's capacity for violence and Mr. Meecham's tenacity of will than they do to add any earth-shattering twists to the plot.

What the film lacks in complexity of plot and action, it more than makes up for with strong performances and meaningful relationships between characters. The small ensemble cast gives the film the feel of a theatrical drama where lines matter and each interaction contains vital clues to the past, present, and future of each character.

Holbrook is the obvious star of the film and communicates the grief that comes with aging in a way that resonates with anyone who has witnessed the dwindling of a loved one's body, mind, or independent life. Just the juxtaposition of his weakened body to his resolute will speaks of the tragic ways in which we become vulnerable as we age, and children become the parents and parents become children.

Ludie Choate, played by actress Carrie Preston, plays a slightly smaller role in the film than Pamela (Mia Wasikowska, title character of Tim Burton's recent Alice in Wonderland and slated to star in a Focus Features adaptation of Jane Eyre) or Lonzo, but offers a memorable performance as a woman who is torn between the need to hope that her husband can change for the better and the need to protect her daughter from his violence. As a native of Appalachia whose family has roots in the most rural parts of West Virginia, I was highly impressed by her spot-on Appalachian accent and the quiet dignity she offers as a woman of little means and little education who struggles to maintain the peace in her family.

Of all the relationships in the film, the one between Mr. Meecham and Pamela is by far the most endearing. When Mr. Meecham settles into the tenant house, Pamela immediately befriends the old man, asking innocently prying questions and lingering in his doorway. Her desire for company in her rural surroundings is palpable. Unlike most 16-year-olds, she still possesses a child-like naivety that Mr. Meecham pities, but is not quite ready to indulge. In one scene, Pamela talks about her upcoming date and how her father tells her that the boys only want to take advantage of her. Devoid of any other confidants in her isolated life, Pamela chatters on to an old man she doesn't know. However, she trusts in him as a protector of sorts, a man whose presence can shield her and her mother from the violent outbursts of her father.

Performances aside, the film excels at capturing “place” and virtually transports its viewers to the foothills of Appalachia. The crisp, clean cinematography provides glorious long shots of the landscape in between individual scenes. Cutaways of bugs flocking to a light and miles of empty rural roads unveil the textures of life in the sticks. You can smell the baking grass, taste the dust of the roads, and feel the stickiness of skin in the humid Appalachian summer.

In a way, the land takes on a life of its own and becomes a powerful character in the scheme of the film. It is the immovable object of desire of both Mr. Meecham and Lonzo. For Mr. Meecham, it is what he has worked for his entire life and the only thing he has left, besides the memories of his late wife. For Lonzo, it is a distant glimmer of hope for the future and he believes that finally owning a piece of land will validate him as a man, husband, father, and human being. For both of them, the land symbolizes freedom.

At a festival like Cannes where the foreign films with multicultural themes abound, I felt a little guilty seeing a film that premiered in Athens, GA, was directed by an Atlanta native, and takes place in my home region of Appalachia. It seemed to close to home. I even doubted whether or not it would stand up to the caliber of other films screening at the festival. However, as the last frames lingered and the credits scrolled by, I wanted to feel “That Evening Sun” on my skin again soon.

Ahhh...The Love of Learning

This definitely struck the nerd cord in me and gave me the warm fuzzies thinking about books, plays, National Geographic, and Jeopardy.

"The golden age of movie critics"

Ebert wrote, "Find out all you can, and see what you can do with it." This was like a reassuring hug for anyone (ahem...me) feeling a little lost when facing the looming reality of graduation (really?) and finding "your path" in life.

Thanks for the pep talk. I needed it right about now.

Talk To Her Proves That "Nothing Is Simple"

Talk to Her

Hable Con Ella (Spanish Title)
Release 2002

Slowly, dramatically, a red stage curtain is drawn on the screen to reveal a stage where seemingly lost female dancers perform a wrenching and psychological dance on a cluttered stage as a frantic male dancer attempts to protect them from bodily harm. And so, Talk to Her, a film written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, begins.

Winner of the Academy Award for both Best Original Screenplay and Best Director in 2003, this film left me with tears in my eyes, and a smile on my face. In short, it managed to draw hopeful promises out of tragic circumstances.

The story, told in a combination of past memories and present occurrences, follows the most unusual love stories of two couples. I say unusual because, for the majority of the film, both Marco and Benigno's love interests, Lydia and Alicia respectively, are in comas. Both men practically live beside the bed of their comatose beloved, and form a conflicted bond of friendship as Benigno schools Marco on the challenges of loving a comatose woman with little truths like “A woman's brain is a mystery, and in this state even more so.”

Benigno, Alicia, Marco, and Lydia take in the scenery.

The film is by no means a realist's attempts to convey raw tragedy. On the contrary, it is surreal in nature, a combination of dreams, performances, and realities. Colors are saturated, music is emphasized, stories are retold. During a climactic moment, Lydia, a matador, performs a slow motion bull fight. We watch Alicia, a dancer, practice her craft daily. All of the characters also attend concerts and ballets, in which they themselves become “viewers” within the film itself.

Lydia performs her final feat as a matador.

However, though these events draw attention to the fact that we, as viewers, are watching a dramatic performance, a dance among the various characters, it doesn't make the story any less compelling. On the contrary, one of the strongest moments of the film was when Benigno finished retelling the plot of a seemingly silly silent movie, and our suspicions are confirmed that he possesses an unnatural obsession with the comatose Alicia, foreshadowing the events that follow.

Alicia is beautiful, even in her perpetual sleep.

Somehow, even in a film which touches on loneliness, guilt, obsession, death, and loss, Almodovar still succeeds in incorporating moments of laugh-out-loud humor in unobtrusive ways. I couldn't help but laugh at the framed photo of Benigno's mother's wedding day photo in which the groom had been unceremoniously cut out, the oversized Betty Boop t-shirt Benigno lounges in (probably a token from his deceased mother), and the recreated silent movie in which a man who has shrunk to just inches in height has a field day with the body of his sleeping, normal-sized lover.

Benigno, watching the outside world from inside his mother's home.

This film, with its vacillations between life and death, love and abuse, friendship and betrayal, bodies and souls, may leave you questioning what makes someone “alive” and what is “normal” in love. However, as Alicia's ballet teacher states as the film ends (with the characters watching a performance, of course), “Nothing is simple. I'm a ballet mistress, and nothing is simple.”

Benigno and Marco, with tears in his eyes, at the opening dance performance.