La Ciénaga (2001)

One of my all time favorites.

Best movie of this year hands down!

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

excerpt, more at my location - La Cienaga, or The Swamp, is the debut film from Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel. Originally released in 2001, the film announced the arrival of a unique new voice within international cinema. Finally granted a DVD release in the UK, it shows that the director of The Holy Girl and The Headless Woman had emerged with her distinctive and uncompromising vision of cinema already fully formed.Beneath the surface banality of La Cienaga lies a resonant and troubling picture, the work of a filmmaker with a considered and singular artistic vision. Even if Martel's particular vision is likely to repel as many as it attracts, her film possesses a lingering, haunting power. Not especially enjoyable, but undeniably affecting.

I usually don't rate any movie below 5 as long as I can still watch them from the beginning to the end. however, this movie is really boring, since I don't know any of the actors, it feels as if I am watching a bad edited reality show.Sure, there are those people who are talking, arguing, etc, but what is the purpose of this movie, I don't understand. It could be that because I have never been to that country, so I don't really know about their culture. Still, I have seen plenty of foreign movies, some are just so emotional. After watching this movie, I didn't feel a thing about this movie, there is nothing memorable about it at all.And I am surprised about this high rating for this movie. Basic Instinct 2 is much better than this one for sure, but it only has about 4.

I didn't know anything about the film before seeing it. Not sure if I would have watched it, knowing what I know now.The opening scene really grabbed me. The lack of family members' interest, even reacting to one of their own falling and becoming seriously injured. Some right there don't even seem to know anything has happened.After that incident however, I get lost. The host of characters, the intermingling of seemingly unconnected story lines and the sheer number of players confused me to no end. A family tree or some kind of chart depicting relationships would have been helpful.Aboout 40 minutes into the film some understanding developed, so what! I became bored.After reading other user comments it seems this film can only be appreciated by those having a deep understanding of the culture and economics of the Argentine sub-culture it reflects. So now I can better understand but still feel my time viewing it was wasted.

"La Cienaga" (The Swamp) spends its 1:45 run examining the trivial daily activities of two families spanning three generation as they vacation in the sweaty climes of a run down Argentinian resort. There's no story arc in this film which ends much as it begins with bored family members who seem as uneasy with each other as they are with the humidity and temperature while they do the most mundane things. "La Cienaga" is so flat, in fact, that there's hardly a reason to recommend it save the fact that is so real and so much spot on with writer/director Martel's vision of bourgeois discomfort that it compels the viewer to watch vicariously and voyeuristically eking out moments of resonance. Not for the average film goer, this flick will work bests for foreign film buffs into plaintive studies of daily life. (B)