UnowPriceless
hyped garbage
FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
antidonnie
The Holy Girl, is about a 16 year old girl named Amalia (María Alche) who lives with her divorced mother Helena (Mercedes Morán) and her uncle Freddy (Alejandro Urdapilleta). Joined with a religious crazy girls's only group, who apparently live in a run-down hotel, which Amalia's family owns, and have been all their lives. The breaking point of the movie starts of with Amalia and her friend Josefina, (Julieta Zylberberg) joining a crowd surrounding a man who plays this very weird instrument. Amalia, first meets the new doctor in town, Dr. Jano (Carlos Belloso) in a aberrant manner. Through discreet sexual interaction, Dr. Jano introduces himself to Amalia, unaware that she was the daughter of the owner of the Hotel Termas. He and his family were temporarily staying at the hotel.Age 16 is a time of self discovery, particularly of one's sexuality. Amalia finds Dr. Jano's encounter...interesting...I suppose. Everything changes, for Dr. Jano, when Amalia discovers that the man was staying at her hotel. She is somehow drawn to the middle-aged man, and continues following him for several days, making him feel very uncomfortable. He does not know who she is, at first. It wasn't until he encounters Amalia again in the same crowd, that Amalia reveals.It continues on with her intentions of trying to save this man from sin, at least that's what the director says she was doing. Honestly, I really don't think so. I was only under the impression that she was exploring her sexuality only, even if she was religious to the bone. Along with Josefina, who has been secretly having a relationship with a boy. Amalia could be thought up as a girl with little words, kinda, who loves her mother, uncle, her best friend, and loves God. She was interesting enough for me to be intrigued with this films distinct vision.All that changes with the sudden and vague ending. A conclusion leaving us with no feeling, no joy, no self imagination, and certainly with no satisfaction. With that said, I can't recommend this film, it had too much potential to end with a bang. I was disappointed, because I was really looking forward to seeing this movie.**/**** starsThe Holy Girl (2004): Rated R for some sexual content and brief nudity
writerasfilmcritic
A number of reviewers seemed to be blown away by this movie. I didn't find it particularly "brilliant," nor for that matter, very engaging. A middle-aged physician at a medical conference (away from his wife and family) begins a painfully halting flirtation with an attractive divorcée. Yet later, in a crowd scene, he grinds up against a nubile adolescent who turns out to be her daughter. This peculiar set of circumstances can't go anywhere good and sure enough, it doesn't. That in itself seems to provoke interest for some, but the pace is so slow that you get tired of waiting for things to gel and something significant to occur. As a result, most of the film felt unconnected and vaguely irrelevant. In fact, entire scenes could have been cut without affecting the story very much. In the last half hour, matters finally begin to coalesce, but other than an ironic set of tension-producing coincidences at the conclusion, there is really nothing new or unexpected here. In fact, it becomes disappointingly predictable, as if torn from the news. The biggest problem with having pretty Maria Alche' in the lead role is that she looks much older than the script indicates (she was 21 when the film was released) and is obviously not an innocent. It diminishes the sense of immorality(and probable illegality) surrounding the sexual advance made upon her by the physician when that sense is central to the premise and the concluding events.
peteduhon
Beer is not needed for this movie but rather awareness. Awareness for the sublime and an understanding of subtle expressions of art. The director, Lucrecia Martel, captures the plight of a young girl's unfortunate lost of innocence elegantly. La Nina Santa, also involves two best friends and their dealings with the opposite sex and religion. One of the girls deals with someone of her own age and the other girl deals with someone old enough to be her father. Interestingly, the older gentlemen(smile) who is must come to terms with dealing with a younger girl also must face the fact that the girl's mother takes a liking to him. There is a minimalist and mystic approach to this film, in other words, do not expect easy answers or easy solutions but rather you are looking out of a window and gazing at a situation that involves people and their belief systems.
vmarthirial
The first time I started to watch this movie was after drinking two beers pretending they would be enough to send my stressful day at work into the past and help me indulge in the simple pleasures of idleness.I couldn't understand anything of the first 20 minutes and falling sleep won the match. I didn't take this loosely the next day, first of all I speak Spanish and the language was not an issue, secondly, if two beers are making me so incompetent, AA in my area will be my next google search.So I decided to give the movie (and me) a new chance the next night. This time, though, no beer, volume all the way up and the intention of conquering a task with the eagerness that can come only from being defeated at it beforehand.Nope, still no good. This time I say the whole thing and I must say, this is the Iraq war of movies: A complete mess without justification.On purpose I will leave aside the cinematic details so I don't sound like a wannabe connoisseur (MS Word corrected this word, BTW) or a reviewer with some clout, I am just a disgruntle customer exposed to this almost comic levels of ineptness portrayed as a Drama film.Well, the single merit of this thing is that it has more scenes of people lying on beds than a porn movie (but in this case, they are not doing anything, just there… and still there…. There….forever). Secondly, actors don't do anything (again); they are just Argentinean mannequins whispering some absurd words in an environment that makes no sense with a plot that seems to have been written on the back of the check that founded this idea of a film.The trite recipe of inserting some shocking scenes on the film so they carry the chore of making the rest of the movie worth something, again, fails. The director shows almost a sadistic delight on keeping the camera 6 inches away from the unanimated character, thinking that this is enough to portray a study of human something (sickness, emotions, whatever because we never know at the end) and give a social commentary of something even more groped by intellectualoids: Religion and Sex. The time goes by and nothing happens, nothing is concluded. This idleness is way better than the one I was expecting from my two beers the day before, but this is not fun, this is a waste.Blockbuster now remembers me as "the crazy dude that wanted a refund for a bad movie he rented". Well, yes, I returned this movie, made a scene and got my $4.86 back. Is not possible that rubbish like this gets distributed and God forbids, other project got rejected or delayed. I know is not a fair world, but this is testing the limits.I will always support foreign movies, especially from Latin America, but something I can't support is to perpetuate mediocrity by implying that because the movie was produced in Argentina or that the director is a woman, or that the theme is so controversial, it can get away by overlooking quality, coherence or merit.The good news is that my drinking is not a health issue (yet). This movie is awful, drunk or sober.
