Audience Member
Full review on my blog max4movies: La Caza (international title: The Hunt) is a drama about three aging friends reuniting for hunting rabbits. The heat and talking about past mistakes make the men increasingly aggressive, until a catastrophe happens. The characters' backstories are told in an unconventional way and because of the wonderful cinematography the movie succeeds in presenting believable characters on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Although the hunt sequences overtly depict violence against animals and could have easily been toned down, the dramatic escalation is well-written, and the conflict between the men feels authentic.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Carlos Saura's third feature LA CAZA won him a BEST DIRECTOR Silver Berlin Bear that year at the age of 34 (a triumph he would duplicate in 1968 with his next project PEPPERMINT FRAPPE and a final Golden Berlin Bear winning in 1981 for FAST, FAST), which is quite a prescient gesture then, Saura has a comparatively prolific career, even today, this reverend octogenarian is still making his next project. LA CAZA is only my second Saura's entry, after the soul-pulverizing domestic tale RAISE RAVENS (1976, 9/10), this time he was 10 years younger, vigorously sets up a male-predominant set-to among three old chaps in a stark hunting party, an eleventh-hour outburst bookends a weathered generation's disaffection and angst, it is an unpolished bravura to pull the trigger in such a reckless manner, but no one would deny the sleight of hand of cinematography (the late DP Luis Cuadrado) and how Saura patiently paves the way for its drama layers and how he would detonate the time-bomb with eloquent narrative arc.
The film devices a plain story about 3 old friends (a fourth partaker is one friend's young brother-in-law) reunite for a rabbit-hunting expedition in the rural hillside, soon their friendship would be tested under the entanglement of money problem, peer contempt and chronic discontent, starts with a premonition of one of them cannot find a first aid kit for his wounded finger.
Before the open-space shooting, they converse from hunting rabbits to man-hunting, from natural law's priority to piranhas' metaphor for hoi polloi, one who is familiar with that particular period of Spanish history may find access to many allusions here. The actual shooting is all fly-on-the-wall, with a dozen of poor critters being mercilessly put under the camera then waits for a headshot (in the latter half, including a devoted ferret), animal activists will go berserk (not to mention skinning the carcass), the bestiality simmering underneath all the veneer and guises is appalling and guns does facilitate the trigger-happy group.
Voiceover and close-ups are two frequent instruments punctiliously deployed here, the alternatively intensive and exotic score is a obliging company with the film's well-controlled rhythm, the cast is fittingly in working order, and Gutierrez Caba's fresh handsomeness is the vestigial innocence left among adulthood, at least we can still have faith until it gets tainted by the consumption of the malignancy, envy, opportunism and discrimination, I hope Saura agrees with me this time.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Well, I'm ill, I've got headache and a fever (or however you call it) so today I didn't go to school. Yesterday, I was in class, and began to feel uneasy and exhausted. I asked for an aspirin, which I was given, and ontinued the classes. Then I showed my masochistic side by going home walking and by bus, and when I arrived I was like, 39º (centigrade, of course). Therefore, I'll be brief on my thoughts.
[img]http://www.sgci.mec.es/br/cv/cine/la%20caza.jpg[/img]
[b]La Caza[/b] (C. Saura, 1965)
I rewatched this, because I felt like so. The fact that it's not known outside of the country is just disappointing, as I believe this to be one of Spain's greatsest cinematic achievements. This is a simple story of four men who decide to go hunting. Four friends who organize a trip to the countryside, planning to hunt down some rabbits. It all begins very well, with successful hunting. However, tensions grow between them. The sun, the heat, the arid and deserted surroundings, their memories, their personal conflicts, their weaknesses... it all leads to a tragic conclusion. I must say, this movie was controversial when it was released (remember, during the Franco dictatorship), and while not being as shocking today, it's still pretty brutal.
This is a breathtaking, mesmerizing psychodrama, brilliantly written and structured by Saura. Nothing feels forced, everything flows naturally, none of the sequences feels artifical. The bleak cinematography reinforces the feeling of isolation and heat: the photography is indeed very detailed and masterfully excecuted by Saura; the editing is sharp and effective. The four men are well defined and, most importantly, well played by the actors, so that we cannot help but feel hatred or sympathy towards them. [i]La Caza[/i], while being a bit slow and unfocused at parts, is an excellent effort which should be experienced by every cinema fan.
[img]http://207.136.67.23/film/DVDReview/bungee/bungeetitle.jpg[/img]
[b]Bungee Jumping of their Own [/b](K. Dae-seung, 2001)
Aside of having the dumbest and most misleading translated title ever, this is a bizarre (even creepy) korean flick, a melodramatic romance film which efatures an original and fresh premise I wasn't expecting. It's about In-woo, a college student who falls for a woman who seems to be made for him. Their relationship develops, but then he's sent to the obligatory military service and loses contact with her. Seventeen years later, he's a professor, and while having married with another woman, he's still obsessed with his first crush. I won't go any longer, but the film, which began quite typically, introduces here a pretty eerie concept as well as an homosexual relationship, something which is quite surprising considering that this issue i generally a taboo in the korean society.
This is a very atmospheric film, which is interesting in the most part - I must admit I was underwhelmed by the third act and the conclusion, which features an intriguing concept finely crafted by director Kim Dae-seung. I really like the look and feel of the film, and the cinematography achieves moments of breathtaking beauty at times. The melancholic score also benefits the ambiance. The acting is generally effective, specially by Lee Byung-heon, who is charming and delightful at the start but ends up being obessive and dramatic at the end. It's a film which raises many questions, and which I recommend, but that was not as rewarding as I expected and which just felt a bit pie-in-the-sky.
[img]http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/attachment.php?attachmentid=52890&stc=1[/img]
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Unsettling film really makes you think.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Tragedy is breathed everywhere in this movie (which can be an allegory about many things, including civil war) that talks about friendship, changes with time, the way people choose to live their lives, and finally how the confrontations get into irreversible consequences. Told in that hard style reflected from some noir cinema movies in Spain in that time (a time for few dreams), it can show to the XXIth century spectator how were the relations men in that very particular time in Spain, in which men should always "do" in a certain way, and the strong classes diference.. An interesting point is to watch Emilio Gutierrez Caba (now, as senior, one of the most well known villains in different Spanish soap operas) as the young one who does not understand what is going on.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
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Audience Member
Not the easiest movie in the world to find. And I had to watch it without subtitles, which was okay for me, though I would have preferred some. Slow, and the violent climax was over-hyped by all the synopses I have read. Not a bad movie though.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
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