20131226: Drama Review--Phase 7

Phase 7

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Argentine live action feature length film, 2011, NR, 95 minutes, comedy, scifi, thriller.  Aspect 2.35
2. IMDB: 5.8/10.0 from 2,194 audience ratings. 
3. Estimated budget: 2.5 million ARS; estimated gross revenue, 665,960 ARS.
4. Rotten Tomatoes: 71% on the meter, but 'no consensus yet'; 51% liked it from 480 audience ratings.
5. Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 95,420 audience ratings.
6. Directed by: Nicolas Goldbart.
7. Starring: Daniel Hendler as Coco, Jazmin Stuart as Pipi, Yayo Guridi as Horacio, Federico Luppi as Zanutto.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Coco and Pipi are at the supermarket.  She's very pregnant, he's grumpy at best.  People are running like anything away from the supermarket as they check out.  They arrive home, after seeing others rushing, some with as many groceries as they can tote.


2. There is some plague in Argentina, Mexico, USA, Canada, UK, Spain, and other countries.  Air flights are cancelled; some chain stores are closed.  One couple in their apartment building was detained by the health authorities for testing.  Armed people in hazmat suits inform them that their building is quarantined.  A quick total indicates there are 16 people in the building, plus a live in maid.  They are closed off with plastic at first.  Coco's cough causes some concern.


3. Coco inventories the refrigerator and the rest of the kitchen for rationing purposes.  The health folks drop by to give a physical checkup of everyone.  Zanutto visits them to borrow a power adapter.  They read a lot and play board games.  At the beginning, at least, the water and power stay on.


4. The level of the outbreak rises.  There is not enough street traffic and police to keep the streets safe at night.  A couple of the other tenants have lowered themselves to holding up other tenants using a hammer.  On the other hand, Horacio gives them light bulbs, some extra breathing protection, and a pistol, which Coco hides rather than tell Pipi.  The alert level rises again, to 7, whatever that means.  Horacio meets Coco to give him direct instructions about using the hazmat suit.  They meet with Lange, Guglierini, and one other to discuss Zanutto.  It turns out the three bachelors are running out of food.


5. So, we have an exercise in the politics of scarcity.  Horacio is a survivalist, and a mason, of sorts.  He has no intentions of putting up with the bachelors' thieving ways, and he gives Coco some instruction on how to booby trap his apartment to repel intruders.


6. Will the thieves get what they want?  Well, no.  Zanutto has quite a surprise waiting for them.


7. How does it all pan out?  Will the plague be ended?  Will some of the tenants survive?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Tenants quarantined in an apartment building face scarcity and each other.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 There was the occasional soft focus plus large scale darkness.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 8/10 Daniel Hendler, Jazmin Stuart, Yayo Guridiand, Federico Luppi were all quite good.


4. Screenplay: w/10 Fails as a comedy: no belly laughs, no chuckles, no "isn't that the truth?" moments.  As SciFi, it was a wash, since there were no SciFi elements.  As a gorefest, it was a bit weak.  As drama, it was reasonably strong.  The shock of people acting differently under different rules is pretty strong, as is the sight of blasted bodies to those who have never seen them.  Much of this movie was about ordinary people dealing with these challenges.