Well, I finally did it. Since I am too tired to edit heavily, I'll just split my latest ramblings into two separate parts. So here goes:
(part 1/2)
First of all, I apologize for the general snarkiness of my previous post (and probably this one as well). It is as difficult for me to keep my innate sarcasm under wraps as it is for a zebra to hide its stripes. And sometimes, usually when I’m too sober, posts like the last one happen, which is why I try my utmost to avoid being in that state too often.
I have the impression that casual flirting is just part of his personality.
If he was so casual about his flirtatiousness, why would he go to such lengths about keeping his activities hidden from Angel?
"You left me. I ended up in a cinema." "- When you go out, do you meet people? - I told you, I went to the movies!" While flirting is innocent and in no way automatically leads to infidelity or even thoughts thereof, I believe Nene is aware of the fact that his behaviour is making Angel uncomfortable. Observe his body language at the beach, just before the truth of his infidelity is revealed. The woman standing at the bar is making goo goo eyes at Nene while Angel is watching him, and this makes Nene uncomfortable. Now all Angel at this point has done is to ask Nene whether he meets people during his nightly excursions, followed by expressing his worries over losing him to someone else. Angel has suspicions, and Nene is scared of being found out, but no incriminating evidence of any sort has been disclosed at this point. Nene is ashamed of himself, but if random flirtation is a character norm for Nene, a form of behaviour he naturally reverts to in any given situation, I don't see why he'd be so nervous and jittery because a woman rather innocently happens to be looking suggestively in his direction. Since Angel must have witnessed exchanges like that many times, right? So while Nene may be a flirt, I don't see him being overt about it in Angel's presence. At the fairground I don't think he's aware that he's been caught flirting. Maybe he really did have that drink of "pure alcohol" he alluded to (never mind the additional match Angel asked for. He's such a
dear boy, isn't he? Likes to play with explosives and see things blow up. Aw, the reckless abandon of youth), and it burnt away his perceptive and cognitive skills along with most of his larynx (maybe that's why he leans so close to the woman's ear;
"Mi cuerda vocal se fue.” ).
But seriously, I don't think he's aware of the fact that Angel can see him. I guess he's convinced himself that Angel would be so engrossed with demonstrating his skills at the shooting range (I half expected him to win a teddy bear. Somehow I can envision Angel walking away carrying a fluffy stuffed animal. He's a big baby in some ways. A baby with a gun), and therefore Nene assumed he’d be off his radar. Or he simply had a brainfart moment. Hey, we all have them. I'm sticking with my "forgot his invisibility cloak" explanation. He seems to really crave for it in the bitemark scene too.
[I tend to go off on a tangent quite often. Tell you what; whenever I feel an off-topic rant coming on, for your convenience I’ll just wrap the text inside the appropriate tags [][/]. That way you’ll easily see which parts to skip, if you so desire. How’s that sound?]
His feelings, emotions, and confusion about Angel have been bottled up inside for a long time. Sometimes a person has to talk about what’s bothering them – even if it’s to a stranger. He opens up to Giselle in the way people often open up to a priest, psychologist or bartender. He doesn’t have a relationship/friendship with her; she has the role of confessor.
Quite right. As if I’d have said it myself. In fact, I think I did. I guess we're coming full circle here. Does mean we should terminate the debate, or change the subject? Anyways, I misunderstood you. From the phrasing you used, I thought you were trying to make a point about his confession being born out of confidence. Which it quite clearly isn't. Glad to hear this isn't the case. You apparently see far more substance in their *beep* (explanation: I accidentally mistyped the word 'relationship' by substituting the letter 'p' for a 't' . Apparently s_h_i_t is a swear word in English, according to the IMDB auto-censorship system anyway) than I am capable of doing, though (for one I can't recall where all this laughing and joking among friends is supposed to have taken place, so I guess I need to watch the movie again). But that's okay; we're both entitled to our differing opinions.
She introduces herself to him by saying something like, “I’m called Giselle here, but you can call me any name you like.”
I stand corrected. I'd forgotten about that. Guess I
should be watching the movie again, before I start stating other false claims and make a complete fool of myself.
Do you have an alternate version screenplay in mind to progress the story to its inevitable conclusion?
Should I? No, I haven’t. Must I do that to be entitled to make critical observations about it? (j/k) That'd be highly impractical, since I have similar complaints about all my favorite movies, and I have neither the literary skills nor any great desire to rewrite any of them. But I won't shy away from having an opinion. Besides, were I to do such a thing it’d be fan fiction, which really isn’t my cup of tea. I did accidentally come across a few instances of PQ fan fiction online once, while searching for something else. Some writer had built an alternate universe around the characters from the movie. Didn't read or even bookmark it, and I wouldn't dream of writing any such thing myself, but the fact that these stories exist at least means we're not the only ones who have seen and been inspired by this movie.
Anyways, if I
were to come up with an alternate scenario, I'd either leave the Giselle character out completely or develop her into a more well-rounded and credible character. I think the Giselle sidestory could be skipped altogether without taking anything away from the movie. After all, she doesn’t add much to it in the first place, besides possibly providing a welcome opportunity for
hand relief for a particular viewer group who like watching movies with one hand down their trousers. Like I said already, I believe there were specific reasons why this character was included, reasons that had nothing to do with telling a good or believable story, and even though I understand these decisions from a marketing point of view ("sex/nudity sells" etc etc), I don't have to agree or be forbearing in regards to them. I do think Pineyro et al made their share of "compromises" in order to sell their movie, and from a business standpoint alone I can very well see and understand the rationale behind some of the choices they made. There were financial interests at stake. Most people in the performing arts business do at some point adapt to audience expectations and "give the people what they want". Only a very, very small handful of artists are talented enough to allow themselves the luxury of not
having to make such compromises (and thus jeopardize their independence and integrity) in order to make money, since they are so
extraordinarily talented and unique that their work will always generate interest and find a sizeable audience anyway, just because of the sheer quality and uniqueness of their material. Honestly, I can't think of a single living person that fits that description nowadays, though. There are talented, enterprising and crafty people out there, no doubt, but no one that I'd label a genius. They are such an elite few to begin with, and now "the playground of geniuses" appears to be deserted, left for dead or at least temporarily dormant, as far as people in the performing arts go. Like I said, there are plenty of talented people around, but nobody I find to be truly unique.
But getting back on topic; even if they
did feel the inclusion of this character was necessary (beyond adding sex, nudity and melodrama for the courtesy of a mainstream audience who crave these things, to a movie that up to this point had done a fairly decent job of steering away from too obvious cliches), she simply isn't written or executed well, imo. If she
has to be there, give her a few more minutes of air time, some character development and a little more screen time with Nene, something that would make his reactions to her at least
slightly believable. But they don't. Apparently her presence in the movie is required for some plot reasons, but she isn't important enough to merit believable characterization. She gets introduced, she gets naked, she weeps, she leaves. Describing Giselle in four easy steps. There isn't a whole lot more to her than that, really. It just seems to me that since this character is responsible for wreaking so much
havoc, like getting all the three main characters as well as an undisclosed number of policemen killed, we should in retrospect be able to tell more about her than how her breasts bounce when she is being screwed in various positions, or how she apparently earns a living by spreading her legs for strangers, then for some mysterious reason expects to cash in more than just money from them afterwards. But like I said, from reviews I've read I know there are people out there who get off on seeing her in various stages of undress, so at least the sex scene holds a certain function.
If her participation in the movie had ended there, I would have no complaints as to how her development was handled, and this thread would not have existed. But then we see her with Nene a second time, and this time around they start reenacting a scene from Twilight Zone. Or maybe it's an early draft of Twilight (I heard the "romance" in Twatlight is pretty clichéd and unbelievable too. What kind of influence do the kids of today grow up with?)
If she was nothing but a filler character, this neglect would be of no particular importance to me. But she is central to the outcome, and as such I don't understand why they couldn't have taken some time to flesh out her character a little more. I'd like to see what it is about her (besides the pathetic deluge of tears she is able to turn on at will) that inspires sympathy in Nene, because based on her behaviour he should be disgusted and angered by her, were he to be in character. Crying isn't emotional development, Pineyro! Why do so many (predominantly male) directors seem to believe this is the case? The first thing
any of us do, often while still connected to our moms via umbilical cord, is to cry. It doesn't necessarily speak of any emotional depth or sensation, but rather of functional tear ducts. I'm sure it was at least somewhat more satisfying (from an acting p.o.v ) for Bredice to exercise her “emoting” skills, rather than
just be a f_u_c_k_toy for the more developed male protagonist, or a wallflower. She's not the one to blame here. Considering how small her part actually is, I can't really fault her for trying to make the most of what little there is. Problem is, the overacting makes her even less credible and cheapens the movie as a whole. Which is why I'm bothering to get so worked up about it. The movie went from being a drama to becoming a melodrama in five minutes. And I was enjoying it so much up until this point. Additionally, on top of everything else that happens in this scene it is just so
clichéd.
Again, here we are at the nerve center: the OOC-ness (beating a dead horse here. Feel free to skip this section). More specifically, my main beef with her is that she makes
Nene act out of character. We don't know Giselle enough to care about her, but I was kinda put off by how her grand emoting skills affected our antihero's emotional composure with so little provocation. Nene (as we know him) apparently left the room, only to be replaced by his sappy, mentally slow twin brother (not the one he sleeps with). Hey, maybe this is what happened? Nene
does have family, after all. After learning of his untimely demise they apparently reclaimed his body and had it shipped back to Argentina. So he wasn't buried with his partner (this makes me a little sad. Does this mean I'm a romantic after all? That's a disturbing thought. Don't tell anyone, I'm not sure I could live it down). This is what I find inexcusable, not whether or not the characters act like “saints” or “bastards”.
In fact, I quite enjoy their “bastardness”. I have no interest in the non-dimensional “classic Hollywood hero”. In a crime drama based on actual events I'm not expecting to see a bunch of characters who are devoid of human flaws. If that's how I've come across, I've done a really poor job in arguing my views. In short, my complaints aren't primarily about whether or not Nene is a "bastard", in the traditionally understood definition of the word. He's a criminal, so I'm not expecting to see a goody two-shoes with guilt issues over the thought of swatting a fly. I'm a expecting to see a character who, due to some ill-chosen actions and a following set of circumstances, finds himself in a position where he has become violent, suspicious, hostile, narcissistic, hot headed, self-obsessed, trigger happy, selfish, greedy, what have you - hardened by circumstance in order to survive. I also expect to be able to see the flipside of this; the other, more desirable human qualities, since even the most hard-boiled criminals that ever lived still have some redeemable characteristics.
[digression]Heck, even calculated serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer appears to have had his softer moments. This is a guy who preferred the dead to the living. Even as a child he showed signs of beginning necrophilia; he'd have his parents buy him pets, then secretly kill them, only to dig them up later and keep the cadavers around. When he grew up, he'd repeat this practice, only with people as test subjects. Well, we all need a hobby. And for him, this was a recreational activity. Some of us go to the gym, or grow mushrooms, or fold origami swans, others again like to enter power drills directly into people's skulls, have sex with their dead bodies before cutting them to pieces, have some of them for lunch, then keep the remaining bodyparts stored in styrofoam tanks.
Ol’ Jeff had no respect for life. People's lives only gained importance to him in retrospect. But he still tried to preserve his victims' memories in his own, peculiar way. After he had the flesh removed from their bones with acidic solutions, and their skeletons carefully arranged in their designated spots in his underground exhibition facility, "the shrine", he'd assign them plaques and quietly contemplate their existence. According to his own twisted logic, he felt that by doing so he was paying them respect (you'd think it'd be more respectful not to bereave them of their lives in the first place, but I digress). In death his victims became alive to him (better late than never, I suppose). He was indifferent, rationally sane, emotionally stable, he had no highs and lows. He did what he did, not to exorcise demons or get back at someone who had wronged him, but to escape boredom and in the hopes that his actions would produce some feeling of excitement. Unlike most criminals, whose actions are characterized by a lack of self-control in regards to keeping their temper in check, this guy was doing what he did because he
couldn't get emotionally aroused. Dahmer was the embodiment of the serial murderer; emotionally flat, seemingly incapable of human empathy. In psychology the name for this condition is APD (Antisocial Personality Disorder). But interestingly, one planned victim was able to say or do something that got under his exterior. As a result he was able to gain an
identity whilst
still being alive. This in turn made it impossible for even Dahmer, this most despicable of beings, to go through with his carefully though out murder. The intended victim got off, no harm done to his person. Dahmer referred to this episode in retrospect. He never could understand why he suddenly found himself unable to do the routine deed. [/digression]
A bad deed is a bad deed, regardless of motivation. So if you commit a murder, it is a morally reprehensible act regardless of whatever your motivation might have been. But being dictated by fear, anger or hatred at least is understandable, as these are emotions we can easily recognize in ourselves. The idea that one would have an urge to commit murder not on the basis of hatred or anger, but as a way of escaping boredom, is far more alien and thought-provoking.
In that light, Nene and Angel, their behaviour and their actions, aren't particularly mysterious at all. Even though they find it hard to control and express their feelings in a socially acceptable manner, at least they
have them. That alone makes them infinitely relatable.
[to be cont’d in part 2]
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