Film Movement DVD Review: Gigante (2009)

Now Available to Own



Photo Slideshow



Join the Movement

AKA Giant

Although his nephew Matias would much rather be going head-to-head with his thirty-five year old uncle Jara (Horacio Camandule) via Sony PlayStation, ever since his uncle first caught a glimpse of twenty-five year old Julia (Leonor Svarcas), Jara's sole preoccupation has been on discovering more about her from afar.

And despite his advantage in size as the gigantic fellow referenced in the title, Jara is a soft spoken, shy man who seems to barely exist, perhaps insecurely over-compensating for his size and the fact that he doesn't fit in naturally.

So instead of having the courage to confront the object of his affection directly, he's become a gentle giant-- a Hitchcockian voyeur -- who's more afraid of the woman he follows than the karate student, creature feature loving cleaning Julia would be of him.

Yet, we're only speculating about this point since to be even more powerful, she'd need a better sense of her surroundings as Jara even journeys to the same restaurant she goes to on a date with another man and she has no clue.

In America, this would provide the recipe for a Taxi Driver meets One Hour Photo scenario considering his lonely man monotony working the night shift occasionally as a bouncer but primarily as the security guard at a grocery store which is where he first sees her through grainy video footage.

However, in first time Uruguayan filmmaker Adrian Biniez's Berlin Film Festival triple award-winning work, it becomes a heartfelt character study about perception as we become voyeurs right along with Jara.

Additionally, this bright and infectious charmer is universal in its presentation of the off-balance nature and effect that the first inklings of new love can have on an otherwise average individual who then must evaluate how to process what they're feeling.

While obviously, it seems bizarre in our era of stranger danger to find what is essentially a stalker movie this appealing, that's all the more reason that Biniez's movie is such a treasure.

Highly recommended, Gigante defies expectation and has an innocence about it that is both reminiscent of boy meets girl movies of yesteryear as well as entirely refreshing for filmgoers who'd like to see the love story told through a different lens... even one that begins through a security camera.

Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com
Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

The Pope's Toilet

Click Here to Read the More In-Depth Film Movement DVD Review

Upon hearing rumors that 20,000 Brazillian tourists will be flooding their tiny Uruguayan village for the 1988 visit of “The Traveling Pope,” His Holiness John Paul II, the locals of Melo eagerly sell their land and take out enormous bank loans in preparation to erect nearly 400 food stands in the hopes that God will provide them with fortune.

While his neighbors opt for mouth watering recipes, long-time smuggler Beto—weary from the lengthy treks he makes along into Brazil to bring back goods to sell to businesses while dodging a crooked customs officer—decides to put on his notorious thinking cap, scheming that logically after one eats, the next requirement will find passersby looking for a suitable restroom.

Impulsively, he enlists the help of his devoted but frustrated wife and ambitious daughter who longs to escape her fate and become a journalist, by erecting an enclosed “pay toilet” fit for a Pope on his property. However, when the expenses begin mounting, Beto finds himself struggling to make ends meet, not only to provide for his family but also to create what he deems will be the moneymaking answer to all of their problems, which he—along with his neighbors—feel will no doubt be solved by, if not a Catholic miracle, then a visit from the Pope.

Alternately funny and melancholic, with an obvious homage towards classic Italian neorealist films such as The Bicycle Thief, this deceptively simple and quirky offering became Uruguay’s official entry to the Academy Awards. It also raises some vital questions about ethical and moral obligations and implications that arise when religious figures travel to poverty-stricken communities, leading to mixed results that are sure to have film festival attendees chatting away, especially while in line for the restroom.

Thematically Similar DVDs