Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

valadas The story is not bad at all though somewhat odd. A middle aged man and a transgender woman much younger than him fall in love with each other and even plan to live together. However during a night when they were in bed together he falls suddebly ill and ends up by dying in hospital. This pulls her down heavily and besides that she has to face the aggressive hostility of his family that tries to force her to keep away from everything related to him and even not to attend his funeral. This atmosphere creates a series of ugly incidentes some of them shown in a bit confused scenes some real some imaginary. A movie that can be seen although not too enthusiastically.

gradyharp 'Never was a shade of any plant dearer and more lovely, or more sweet' - the English translation of Handel's aria form his opera 'Serse' - Ombra mai fu di vegetabile, cara ed amabile, soave più plays a significant role in this Oscar and Golden Globe winning foreign film from Chile: it is heard throughout and closes the film with the main character Marina singing it to the audience. The music is exquisite as sung by Daniela Vega, a gifted mezzo-soprano and actress, who in life is indeed a Chilean transgender female.The theme of the film - the pain and ridicule transgender people face by society - is daring and well handled. Marina (Daniela Vega) is a young waitress and aspiring singer whose lover is Orlando (Francisco Reyes), 20 years her senior, who owns a printing company. They are in love and planning for the future. After celebrating Marina's birthday one evening, Orlando falls gravely ill and as Marina prepares to take him to the hospital Orlando falls down the stairs. Marina rushes him to the emergency room, but he passes away just after arriving at the hospital. Instead of being able to mourn her lover, suddenly Marina is treated with suspicion. The doctors and Orlando's family don't trust her. A woman detective investigates Marina to see if she was involved in his death because of the bruises and bleeding resulting from the fall down the stairs. Orlando's ex-wife forbids her from attending the funeral. Orlando's son threatens to throw Marina out of the flat she shared with Orlando. Marina is a trans woman and for most of Orlando s family, her sexual identity is an aberration, a perversion. So Marina struggles for the right to be herself. She battles the very same forces that she has spent a lifetime fighting just to become the woman she is now - complex, strong, forthright and fantastic. A strong cast, fine direction (Sebastián Lelio who wrote the screenplay with Gonzalo Maza), exceptional musical scoring (Nani García and Matthew Herbert) and cinematography (Benjamín Echazarreta) allow the impact of Daniela Vega's superlative performance to glow. The film is a bit slow moving, but that allows time for the interplay of Marina's strength and the family's prejudice to gain focus. A solid film. Grady Harp, July 18

jthamez I was excited to watch the Best Foreign Film Oscar winner of this year. Being in the company of such transcendental movies in past winners, I was sure that "A Fantastic Woman" was going to be up to the challenge. What a disappointment it has been to watch this movie. This type of story has been told successfully in so many other movies in the past, that I don´t really understand why this particular one was even nominated for an Oscar; what a rip off for the other nominees. Other than the character being a transgender woman, this movie does not portray anything new that a lover who is rejected by her partner's family has experienced in so many past stories. The only thing clear in the movie is that Chile is a country living in the 12th century. The pace of the storytelling is slow, the script is at times completely unbelievable, and the story keeps trying to surprise us but at the end nothing important happens; every reaction is completely predictable. The last scene is the best the movie has to offer, where the main character shows that there is life after death. I want my time back. I do not recommend this movie unless you belong to the transgender community.

Paul Allaer "A Fantastic Woman" (2017 release from Chile; 106 min.) brings the story of Marina, a transgender woman living in Santiago. As the movie opens, we get to know Marina and her partner Orlando. They are celebrating Marina's birthday and we later learn that Marina has just moved in with Orlando. Later that night, Orlando wakes up not feeling well. In the rush to get to the hospital, Orlando also falls down the stairs. Not long after arriving at the hospital, Orlando dies from an aneurysm. At this point we're less than 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you';; just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: the is the latest movie from Chilean writer-director Sebastian Lelio, whose previous film, 2013's "Gloria" was an equally outstanding film. Here he examines the fallout of the unexpected passing of a guy who is in a relationship with a transgender woman, in particular the reactions from the guy's family, but also the hospital and the police who are looking at this as a possible suspect death. Beware: there are a number of scenes that are bound to unsettle you (I know they were unsettling to me). Of course, Lelio is trying to make a bigger point here (namely, everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity). Not enough praise can be given to Daniela Vega (in the role of Marina), appearing in virtual every frame of the movie. Last weekend, "A Fantastic Woman" won the Best Foreign Language Movie Oscar. Is it really 2017's best foreign movie? Certainly Sweden's "The Square" could've made a good argument but in the end it doesn't matter. When watching a movie like this, it's at times hard to separate the intrinsic artistic merit of the movie and the social issues it portrays. All I can say is that this movie had my attention from the get-go, and that it all flashed by in no time, always a good sign."A Fantastic Woman" opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The early Saturday evening screening where I saw this at was attended sparingly (about 10-12 people), somewhat to my surprise, given the critical buzz this movie has garnered sine it premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival. If you are in the mood for a top-notch quality foreign film, or interested to see how a transgender woman's life unfolds after the unexpected death of her partner, I encourage you to see out "A Fantastic Woman", be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "A Fantastic Woman" is a WINNER.