Lucia, Lucia (2003)

From the acclaimed new wave of Mexican filmmaking comes this offbeat comedic thriller starring Cecilia Roth. A woman's search for her missing husband ignites a dangerous and unexpectedly romantic adventure. It's a wild ride through the mysterious territory of identity, as Lucia finds herself in a triangle of love and friendship - with a reawakened passion for life that's different from anything she ever imagined!

LUCIA LUCIA

As usual, a great Film with an outstanding actress, Celia Roth.

See her great performances in "EPITAFIOS" and "ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER".

June 14, 2007

Celia Celia

I started to review both Indie and Foreign films as I find the major American studio films are reviewed often and the small films get little attention. Celia Roth is a wonderful actress and you may know her from her work with Spanish director Almadovar. This is a good film not a great film, and a vehicle for Celia but unfortunately Antonio Serrano simply does not share the genius status with Almadovar. The film is adequately directed but as always the box liner notes would lead one to believe that this is an adventure/comedy. The film is simply a comedy, a farce, poking fun at greed. Rather than tell you the story, which is camp and at times a tad confusing, I will tell you about the acting. As always an outstanding performance by Celia Roth who is surrounded by others that are good, not great actors. Roth has the ability to take control of the screen and in her own right is a top quality actress and should sustain a wonderful career hopefully receiving the international attention that she deserves. I liked the lightness and humour of the script I found that some things worked well but there were some extraneous characters that were used more for effect than value. There is some wasting of time and this film could have been edited down to lets say 90 minutes rather than 108. The film has its funny moments and they are legitimately funny. The camera work is pretty good as well but I just couldn't give the film more than a C+. Its better than average and worth watching if for nothing more than seeing Celia strutt her stuff. SG December 22, 2006

Lucia Lucia Movie

This movie was in perfect condition and was delivered within a week! Thank you so much! November 10, 2006

A different movie that leaves you thinking...

Is it worth not pursuing your own dreams? Is it worth sacrificing your inner self? Is it worth letting your life rot as you mature? The answer to all these life questions is "no" if you ask Lucia Romero, the character brilliantly played by acting legend Cecilia Roth in "Lucia, Lucia", a Mexican movie based on the book "La Hija del Canibal" by Rosa Montero. And if you ask me, I agree with her.

When the man she has been married to for ten years mysteriously dissapears, she finds herself at a crux, as most of the assumptions she had been basing her whole life on, one by one, start to fall apart. In her search for new meaning, she is aided by two of her neighbors: a man almost twenty years older than her, and one almost twenty years younger.

As the movie unfolds, though there are numerous plot twists that may leave you scratching your head, overall, the movie works on several levels. It is a different movie that leaves you thinking and in the end it forces you to revisit some of the above questions about yourself. I recommend it and give it four stars. February 13, 2006

(3.5 STARS) All About Lucia, and Talent of Joyful Cecilia Ross: Another Good Mexican Film Delightfully Genre-Defying

Most films claim certain amount of credibility to tell its story. `Lucia Lucia' doesn't. The film rather goes in for the unreality, or constant twisting of the conventions of all the film genre (except that of comedy, which I think is the right description of `the film). Consequently what Lucia does first with the voiceover is to apologize to us for having said a lie. And that's only the beginning of the film.

But the film is all about Lucia, and that part is true. On December 27th, at the airport, husband of Lucia (Cecilia Ross) goes to the bathroom, and never comes back. Then someone calls her, and his disappearance turns out a kidnapping case. But as I said, Lucia immediately corrects the date (it was in fact 30th), and the detective is awfully sloppy. But again, we are not supposed to believe in everything, or to take it too seriously.

While waiting for a chance to do something on her own, she enlists help from the two people living in the same building: Félix, old political refugee from Cuba, and Adrián, young handsome guy. As they delve into the mystery of Lucia's husband's disappearance, Lucia starts to be attracted to Félix romantically.

[ALL ABOUT LUCIA] As you can expect from the new wave Mexican films, the narratives are unique, cinematography is crisp, and acting (of the three principals) is superb. What divides the opinions among the viewers would be the first one, though: narrative, or storytelling. Not that it is hard to follow. It is only that the film mixes several genres - thriller, road movie, romance, etc. - and it refuses to be pigeonholed into one. The only proper way I can think of to describe the characteristics of `Lucia Lucia' is - `All About Lucia.'

Now let's talk about Lucia, or Cecilia Ross. Without the great acting from Ross, who knows how to make the entire film moderately comical but not too jokey, `Lucia Lucia' would have been an unendurable mess. Ross heightens the pleasant and fantastic feeling of experiencing something extraordinary, without losing the reality of the character.

But again, I have to talk about its narrative. I am afraid that the film is trying to push the limit too much. You know, in films, you often wish that certain part of it would turn out the way you want, and `Lucia Lucia' has one such thing. In the lengthy coda, where everything should have been in the right place, `Lucia Lucia' still attempts to give us a twist. No thank you. I would rather not to have any more twist.

Probably `Lucia Lucia' is best appreciated as light-hearted romance about a middle-aged woman who suddenly learns how to see things differently. And we are also invited to see the film (or any film) with entirely new eyes. If not everything succeeds here, that is not because we don't want that changing, but that we don't want constant, non-stopping changing. But the talent of Cecilia Ross and the joy of watching her character are real, and to them go the four stars. January 14, 2006

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