Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 21st, 2010
Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) has been the maid for the family run by matriarch Pilar (Claudia Celedón) for 23 years. Those years have taken their toll, and Raquel looks worn far beyond her 41 years. She is clearly unable to look after the household on her own, and Pilar tries to hire another maid to help out. Raquel takes this the wrong way, imagines she's being eased out, and treats each new maid as an invader who must be repulsed.
Saavedra is extraordinary in the title role, her exhausted, pained, but determined look invoking a sullen bulldog who is on the verge of going feral. But this is not the story of a maid's psychotic break, nor is it one where the family she works for is made up of monsters. Everyone in the film is very human, and the story is a very human comedy. The comedy is not of the slapstick nature (though there are some pretty physical moments), but rather grows out of the finely observed characters, and is shot though with genuine drama. A find, deeply sympathetic piece.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2010
Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), a decorated solider just back from Iraq and having difficulty re-adjusting to life on the home front, is understandably less than thrilled with his new assignment: working with Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) in the Casualty Notification Service. These two have what must surely be one of the worst jobs in the history of history: knocking on doors and informing people that their loved ones have been killed. It is important that they deliver the news and leave, and have no further involvement with the bereaved. If only life were that simple...
