MovieChat Forums > Los bastardos (2009) Discussion > SLOW..... VERY VERY VERY SLOW!

SLOW..... VERY VERY VERY SLOW!

posted 15 years ago by bettestreep2004
5 replies | jump to latest

This is one of the slowest paced films I've seen in a very very very long time.

I should have known it was going to be when the opening scene took an eternity to just show 2 men walking.

And then for about another 70 minutes or so I realised that my life was passing me by and I eventually dozed off - until....

mercifully the director wakes us up with one of the most shocking and violent scenes I've seen in a movie.

Was the pace going to pick up? Was there finally a point to this whole fiasco?

Another violent shock and then..... back to the slow paced film-making that marred the first 70 minutes of this film.

Best way to sum it all up is what I overheard 2 audience members say to one another outside the cinema;-

"So very very very slow" and "what was the point of this film?"

This should have been a faster paced short film. Only 5 minutes of it was worth seeing.

[–] albertooooooo 15 years ago

I can only agree, 80 minutes for nothing.

[–] only_myschly 15 years ago

I thought the slowness added to the movies feel. The reality of the day-workers.

A little too slow, 5 minutes less would've done the trick.

If you watched it at the movies, then yes, it must've sucked. I watched it at home, alone, with peace & quiet. Even though I was just alone with it, it worked well. Probably better watching it alone.

[–] andrea-leal21 15 years ago

It is meant to be slow. Unfourtunately all people want to see nowadays is action action action... and we've become so used to that we can't be patient enough to enjoy a slow paced movie -which sets mood-, and analyze what we're watching.

[–] slipcat555 14 years ago

This was a 30-minute story stretched out to a 90-minute movie. There may have been some artistic purpose to making it so slow, but I suspect the real reason was that a half-hour movie would never make it to theaters and DVD. Why make every scene so slow? Five minutes to show two guys walking to work? It would only take one minute for a good director to express whatever it was Escalante was trying to express: the tedium of their lives, the boredom, alienation, or whatever. If this is art, it's the art of evasion.

I'm getting sick of all these ultra-minimalist films coming out of Latin America: Lake Tahoe, Hamaca Paraguaya, Whiskey, 25 Watts, Batalla en el cielo, Mil nubes, etc,; and I'm getting sick of critics praising them. Just because a movie is slow doesn't mean it's deep or meaningful or artistic. And it's not that I don't get the point of these films; it's that I COULD HAVE GOTTEN THE POINT IN LESS THAN HALF THE TIME. It's poor editing, a lack of rigor, and narcissism.

It's time to move on from this trend and start making strong, smart, passionate movies again, like Birdwatchers, Brava Gente Brasileira, El Violin, La ley de Herodes, Machuca, etc.

[–] ohthehumanity45 14 years ago

i just watched this on HBO signature. I would have never caught this if it wasn't for good ole insomnia. I didn't really know what to expect at all when i started this. I knew the synopsis but not much else. I started when they were outside waiting for work. I totally thought it was a documentary at first. I think coming into this with no idea who or what was going on made it so much better. the slowness didn't even bother me...although i am jealous that you were able to sleep during this movie. I dunno, the slowness of the movie kinda reminded me of how life really is. anyway, i didn't mind the slowness at all.