Movies
The Lovers of the Arctic Circle
One of Julio Medem's earlier successes. The Lovers of the Arctic Circle is a hopelessly romantic film. The plot may be a succession of weird coincidences and farfetched twists, and the amount of factual drama is quite high, but the soothing soundtrack, the lovely performances and the tragic romance kept me glued to the screen. It's a film that has lost little (if any) of its original shine, it's also a great reminder that I should give Medem's other films a fair shot sooner rather than later.
A solid Medem, but not quite as lovely as I remembered it to be. I was somewhat hopeful after a positive revisit of The Lovers of the Arctic Circle, but Sex and Lucia has a stronger focus on narrative, and that's not really what I'm looking for. That's not to say Medem didn't pay any attention to the styling, it's just not quite as gripping. Lucia falls in love with Lorenzo, the writer of her favorite novel. In a bold move, she convinces him that they should live together. Their romance is passionate, but Lorenzo has a hidden past and when that past resurfaces in his latest novel, he has a tough time keeping that part of him hidden from Lucia. The performances are strong and the setup of the story is pretty interesting, but it's not enough to fill the 127-minute runtime. It somewhat lost me in the middle part and while the finale was good, it wasn't so good it could make me forget the small lull before. A fine film for sure, but it lacks that little extra.Read all
I used to be a big Medem fan, but somehow I lost track of his work. The Tree of Blood carries Medem's signature, but it's not without fault and only occasionally matches the genius of his earlier work. The story is a little too overwrought and the narrative frame is somewhat of a nuisance. This is not a bad film, just too focused on the narrative.