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Crónicas

Crónicas (2004)

May. 16,2004
|
6.8
| Drama Thriller Crime

A suspense thriller about a reporter from Miami who travels to Ecuador in pursuit of a serial killer known as the "Monster of Babahoyo."

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Reviews

Scanialara
2004/05/16

You won't be disappointed!

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UnowPriceless
2004/05/17

hyped garbage

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RipDelight
2004/05/18

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

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Philippa
2004/05/19

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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Vomitron_G
2004/05/20

This has got to be one of the most powerful movies I've seen in a long time. Like most movies, it's best that you go into this one without even having seen the trailer (in my opinion, even though it doesn't spoil anything really, it still gives away too much). It deals with journalist Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo) and his two-headed crew on the trail of a child-murdering serial killer in Ecuador (refered to as the Monster of Babahoyo). At the same time, bible-salesman Vinicio accidentally runs over a little kid with his car and ends up in jail. Manolo sees this opportunity as an extra story, and decides to interview the man. When he does, he finds out one or two things related to the child-murders. To uncover the truth to the matters (as well as getting the story of a lifetime), Manolo will stop at nothing...The foul, hot and steamy Ecuador settings used throughout the movie are as unsettling as they are dominant. After the little prologue, the real opening-scene is extremely hard and uncompromising. After having hit (and killed) the kid with his car, a raving mad crowd tries to lynch Vinicio. They kick his face to a bloody mess, and even set him on fire... until Manolo and his crew intervene. After that, you just know that the movie will not hold back on disturbing and shocking subject matter. And it's not really that there is more on-screen violence or bloodshed in the rest of the movie. It's just that the subject matter is so alarming and the truth to the matters is severely disquieting.The cinematography is excellent. Often hand-held cameras are used, to re-create some sense of realism, but it still looks very stylish and it always feels like a real film (so no documentary-style of filming here). The soundtrack is also worth mentioning. Music isn't over-used in the movie, but when it's there, it strikes the right chords or just provides a welcome pause to breath. Because at some times the events in this movie are so compelling that they nearly suffocate the viewer (which is, of course, intentional). Sebastián Cordero clearly is a gifted film-maker, since he established a look & feel for this movie that worked effectively. Some shots of the city and landscapes (though not very numerous in the movie) look beautiful. But also during conversations, Cordero chooses his angles carefully. I was pretty amazed on how good he could make it all look with hand-held cameras (kudos also to cinematographer Enrique Chediak, of course).But the best thing about CRÓNICAS must be the story itself, and the way it is set up. However, around the one hour mark, the movie does slow down a bit. Some might say it's a little flaw in the script, I myself think it's not. To me it was a welcome moment to just slow down together with the movie and think things over. Speculate and re-evaluate. Because even if CRÓNICAS isn't a high-tense, fast-paced thriller about the pursuit and capturing of a villain, it does contain a lot of tension and even nerve-wrecking scenes as well as gruesome images (not likely to be found in other drama movies). The script itself has got a unique approach to it: After about 20 minutes into the movie, the viewer already knows who the main suspect is, and he's even already locked behind bars. Only, the authorities don't know it. The only one who does, is Manolo. But he himself is not sure of it at all. Vinicio knows stuff, but that doesn't necessarily make him the killer. Manolo's ways to uncovering the truth get very manipulative at points, and he, as well as his crew, are just bound to make mistakes... but at what costs? The progress of the story does try to mess with your head because as a viewer you also get the feeling you're being deceived. And even if the story itself, with its mildly convoluted ways, doesn't really get to you, then the ending most certainly will. Because most likely, you will not like how this movie ends. And that is the biggest strength of this film. It's just too damn powerful.But CRÓNICAS manages to make other points too. The power of the media is severely questioned here. Also whether the end justifies the means. A topic like Ecuador Police Forces being severely under-staffed gets briefly touched too. And in a detailed manner, I believe Cordero even was trying to tell us: Producers just can't be trusted. How all this relates to the story, you'll just have to see for yourself. And let's not forget the extremely capable cast giving excellent performances. John Leguizamo is as decent as can be. So is Leonor Watling, fellow-journalist (and producer's wife) in Manolo's team. Even the whole supporting cast is highly believable. But it will probably be Damián Alcázar, as Vinicio Cepeda (who spends the biggest part of the story behind prison walls), that is most memorable. His performance, and even more, the character he plays will stick with you forever. The man at least deserves an award of some sort.Because of being such a powerful movie with a compelling story, I can do nothing but strongly recommend CRÓNICAS. But a word of warning nevertheless: Parents who lost a kid in some way beyond their will, should probably better not see this film. It's very difficult subject matter to handle. And people just looking for a feel-good movie to watch, should best run like hell when they come across CRÓNICAS.

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Red-125
2004/05/21

Crónicas (2004) written and directed by Sebastián Cordero, is a grim movie about a grim subject. John Leguizamo plays Manolo Bonilla, a Miami-based TV reporter who is covering the story of a "monster" who is torturing and murdering young children in Ecuador.Manolo is a good detective as well as a reporter of sensational news, and he thinks he may have discovered the identity of the murderer. The question is, Should a reporter just report, or should he be a participant in the story he is covering?Leonor Watling is excellent as Marisa Iturralde, Manolo's producer and possibly his lover. Camilo Luzuriaga is excellent in the supporting role of Capitan Bolivar Rojas--"the only honest cop in Ecuador."This is not a movie for the squeamish--it contains violence, scenes of humiliation, and graphic--but unromantic--sex.On the other hand, how often do you find a movie from Ecuador playing in Rochester, New York? Even at our excellent Little Theatre, films from South America are rare, and often--as in this case--worth seeking out.Finally, if the views we get of prison conditions in Ecuador are accurate, I wouldn't even risk a parking ticket there, let alone anything more serious. Trust me--you just don't want to be in that particular Ecuadoran jail.

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Chris Knipp
2004/05/22

Young Ecuadorian director Sebastián Cordéro's "Crónicas" begins and mostly sustains itself as good intense fictional coverage of what can happen when corrupt, sensationalistic journalists in Latin America cover a crime wave far from home base and encounter what even for them are obvious moral conflicts when they attempt to exploit it.A Mexican news team out of Miami goes to cover the search for "the Monster of Babahoyo," a pedophile serial killer in the province of Los Rios in a remote part of Ecuador. A violent incident in the street when the team arrives in Babahoyo puts their reporter in contact with somebody who may be a victim of public hysteria, or may be the killer. Crónicas never gives you time to think and screws up its suspenseful situation into a tight knot and then lets go and drops you. Somewhat ironically the result feels very like the first episode of a sensational TV miniseries. The film would have been better if it had stepped back occasionally and let us and the story breathe. A haunting opening sequence of a man alone bathing and washing clothes gives a hint of how that might have happened.The news people are serviceable stereotypes: photogenic lead reporter Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo); his sexy female producer Marisa (Leonore Watling), who soon hops into bed with him; his raunchy, substance-abusing cameraman Ivan (José María Yazpik), who has to keep pointing out that they're all supposed to be a team. To lend cred and support to the movie and give them a boss there's Alfred Molina in the background phoning in as Miami anchorman Victor of a fictitious news show, "Una Hora con la Verdad," seen and heard only on tiny TV screens and ever-present cells. Haunting the news team as it prances around and threatening a confrontation that never really materializes is "the only honest cop in Latin America," who happens to be the local police captain and seems to have a lot of time on his hands which he spends tracking the news team and reminding them they're not following the rules. Such reminders are feeble since they're free to fly out whenever they want and have plenty of money to bribe low level cops. Besides that Manolo is asked for his autograph constantly and greeted as a hero for things he now wishes he hadn't done.Director Sebastián Cordéro's best move in "Crónicas" is to try to build a serial killer who's not a spooky Hannibal Lector type super-villain but a human being whom his victims trust and other people like. Cordéro makes real headway at achieving that goal by choosing the pitiful, sweet-faced Damián Alcázar to play Vinicio Cepeda, the "witness" in prison who may be the suspect. Where Vinicio fits in winds up being too clearly telegraphed, but the best scenes are still the ones where Vinicio gives creepy, insinuating testimony to Manolo (away from Ivan's camera) and bargains for his life.What also makes "Crónicas" worth watching, if you can stomach the theme and don't mind the simplifications and lack of modulation in the sequences, are the grittily authentic local backgrounds: messy hotel rooms, grungy prison cells, chaotic streets, shantytown dwellings. These give the in-your-face story a sense of authenticity that isn't entirely undercut by the stereotypes and the pumped-up action. What doesn't quite work is a screenplay that gets everything going full speed from the first reel and never lets up till it just walks away leaving you waiting for the next gripping episode.(Seen at the San Francisco Film Festival, May 3, 2005)

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bastetg4
2004/05/23

It's hard to rate a movie that you find intensely disturbing and a bit nauseating. I saw this at the Philadelphia Film Festival, and the friend who saw it with me was equally disturbed - we both wanted to give it a rating of F***ed Up. Then again, if you spend the next two hours talking about how much a movie bothered you, that means it was well acted and directed, right? The reporter (Leguizamo) crosses the boundaries of morality and goes too far in pursuit of his story, and the movie ends on a very unsatisfactory note. Still, the bad guy is very good at being a psychopath, and the reporter and his crew are very good at being morally bankrupt. See Cronicas, but brace yourself for unpleasant subject matter.

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