A Fantastic Woman (2017)

I don't always check out Academy Award nominated foreign films unless they really grab my attention (nothing personal, just time constraints with what I watch). A Fantastic Woman recently opened in the city and I decided to check it out. Didn't know a whole lot going in but I was excited nonetheless. After viewing the film I'll say while its not perfect and seems to get lost at stages as it goes along its still an effort that speaks towards today's issues and a film with a fine central performance from a newcomer.

The film is about a transgender woman who recently experiences the loss of her lover after he experiences his seizure. She is not able to grieve and attend the funeral properly because his family are embarrassed by her (because she's transgender) and even resort to verbally and physically attacking her. The film also shows how difficult her life is as she tries to find peace and solace in the death of her lover. The film was submitted from Chile.

Daniela Vega is very impressive for a newcomer. Her performance is powerful. She has to stand up against oppression and is unnerved as she does it. She's quite a great and complex character and has to carry the film. A Fantastic Woman is a thin work otherwise. Its interesting because it touches on discrimination against LGBTQ, which is still a problem in the world today. I do feel like the film builds very slowly throughout and doesn't quite achieve its potential.

The film is actually fairly safe compared to other films that deal with discrimination and hate. Other's might feel more positive about the film than I do. Daniela Vega has a future and will likely be in other foreign (or even local) work. I do have a mind to check out some of the other foreign nominees this year but I might just in the end check out the winner instead. Who knows, could be this one.

6.5/10

Fmovies: Director Sebastián Lelio gives too much attention to how his film is shot which is why A Fantastic Woman is a sight for sore eyes but an altogether boring film. A young lady finds her life turned upside down after her beau, a guy much older than her, suddenly passes away. The film takes one through her journey as she mourns his death and simultaneously tries to prevent herself from slipping into insanity. It deals with issues of feelings of loss, transsexuality, and desolation. While all that are clear except for the sexuality angle, A Fantastic Woman moves with a slow pace and indulges in itself for quite some time, giving bulbs of ennui to its restless audience. Despite that, the presentation of how the LGBT section is considered by the other groups earns some brownie points. It cannot, however, be the sole reason for me to appreciate the film. The commonplace story has shades of freshness, thanks to the Chilean setup, but the central character seems to be taking the directions from Lelio a bit too seriously. Daniela Vega puts up a wooden face through the 100 minutes of running time, making the film all the more uninteresting. The film does enough to present the tragedy of its characters, but the slow pace wreaks havoc to the whole experience. As mentioned before, it has some great photography throughout, which saved me from dozing off, but this is not an art show. Sometime in the second act, I even though there was a thrilling criminal arc in the film, courtesy the sauna parlor, but I was disappointed. With an ambient score that complements the screenplay, A Fantastic Woman can be best described as a film that has power but is just boring. TN.

Somber, bleak and unrelenting, "A Fantastic Woman" is a very moving portrait of Marina, a transgender woman, who must deal with all the hatred and intolerance from society when her lover dies suddenly. This film depicts a reality which cannot be ignored. It delivers punches to the gut opening our eyes to the urgency of not special, but equal rights. Marina demands she be treated with decency and respect as a human. She seeks no special rights or anything else than what she believes is owed to her as a grieving woman who just lost her loved one. The films is urgent and poses many questions to the viewer to ponder. You can't help to think about the actions you would take facing the grim choices Marina has to deal with. She is constantly stripped from her dignity in the midst of grieving. But her sense of hope is palpable. She will not let anyone get in the way of her having that last moment she needs to say goodbye. This film really keeps you choked up for many reasons simultaneously until the very end when you feel somewhat a sense of vindication for Marina. An outstanding piece of cinematic art worthy of the praise and accolades it has received. Here rooting for "A Fantastic Woman" to capture that Best Foreign Language Oscar, and hoping this film will bring attention to the bleak reality many transgender people must deal with.

A Fantastic Woman fmovies. The LGBT themes of this movie are a backstory to Marina's real, profound grief over the death of her lover, Orlando; as his ex wife, son, and brother strip her of Orlando's possessions of value. This film is so deeply tragic and relate-able to anyone who has lost a loved one.

Marina Vidal (Daniela Vega) is a transgender woman and aspiring singer in her twenties and living in Santiago, Chile. After the death of her lover, a man in his fifties with an ex-wife and an adult son, Marina is left alone in dealing with her grief and the aftermath of the death.

In addition to the burden of grief, Marina must also deal with humiliating and prejudicial situations around her transgender status. She subtly shows an attitude of "I hate having to go through this again but I can." Interestingly, her transgender status is used to her advantage in a later scene in the film.

Vega is in nearly every scene of the film and must carry it on her shoulders. She does the job superbly. She ably conveys awkwardness and vulnerability as her character attempts to maintain what is rightfully hers while being aware that many battles may not be won.

Much of the film follows Marina as she journeys through the city's urban atmosphere to numb her pain. The last quarter of the film takes a different twist that is less interesting than what precedes it. But "A Fantastic Woman" is a good film overall mainly due to the subtle skills of its lead performer.

This is really, really good.

(opens a can of wasps)I'm always struck by the sky-high ratings on IMDb for bad LGBT movies, and wonder if it's attributable to a) the comparative paucity of these films, meaning that we should celebrate those we get, regardless of their technical or artistic deficiencies (the extension, I suppose, is the tribalistic mindset this engenders, in which you can't judge them as bad films, as they're not just films); b) my lack of insight into what these films should be doing in relation to their audience and LGBT issues in 2017.(/can of wasps)

Anyway, no such ruminations necessary on this one, it's bloody brilliant: a dazzling, poetic, sometimes dream-like Chilean film about a trans woman (Daniela Vega) trying to hold it together – and reach some point of resolution – after the death of her boyfriend. I should mention that his family aren't helping.

Vega has the most fascinating face and the camera makes the most of it, not least in a dazzling nightclub sequence that moves from pain to sensuality to a fantasy dance number, but there's such depth to her characterisation too, and the film's refusal to give her easy, sassy victories is uniquely satisfying, grappling profoundly and humanely with issues that are both specific and universal.

The effect is of a Dardennes story adapted by Almodovar, but I haven't seen anyone like Vega before. I'm not sure she can really sing classical (the best use of 'Ombra mai fu' is now and forever in Humphrey Jennings' seismic short film, Spare Time, Handel fans), but the rest of the music's a treat, with British composer Matthew Herbert delivering an audial dreamscape that like the script, photography and performances serves to conjure a very particular mood.