Sidewalls (2011)

Sadly Over-hyped

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Martín and Mariana are lonely Buenos Aires residents living next to each other without knowing. Mariana lives on the 8th floor but has a phobia about elevators. Her long-term relationship fell apart and she's isolated in her apartment looking for Waldo in the city. Martin is caring for a little dog that his ex left when she took off for America. She starts dating the dog-walker but she's distant. He spends more time online than in real life. Eventually, Martin and Mariana finally meets. This is a cold romance of two isolated human beings in an isolating environment. The biggest problem is that the characters don't get together until the very end. It's an artsy romance movie but not one of fiery passion. There is an artistic appeal but not necessarily a compelling watch.

This a film about relationships, architecture, psychology, pop culture and humanity. The plot is simple: two non-related people have misadventures during their task to find love and understanding in the middle of overpopulated and chaotic city that seems to be the reflection of theirs lives and the lives of its cohabitant's. I will be honest: it is an interesting movie, not only for the photography but also for the themes that are developed during the course of the movie. The main problem is: it doesn't have almost any humour. In its task to portrait human behavior and soul it has committed the great sin to not make much use of satyrs and irony to show our contradictions and problems, and that isn't the only trouble, comedy for most times can make a movie more interesting and dynamic, things that this film lack a little bit when showed to a more popular audience that is not used to more slow and deep movies.

The movie "Sidewalls" is very different from the movies I usually watch and to be completely honest I'm not sure if I liked it or not. I thought it portrayed real life very accurately; real like is sometimes slow and a bit dull. In real life you go through conflicts caused by others or sometimes the conflicts are within; depression, anxiety, insomnia, loneliness, etc, and I think "Sidewalls" showed that. I would prefer if the movie was in English, mainly because I focused on the dialogue and didn't see some of the detail that was put into a couple shots. However, I thought "Sidewalls" was filmed very well; I personally really like it in movies when there is a voice over with shots that complement what is being said and this movie did that multiple times. I really liked how the two main characters went to the same places, were connected in several ways (the chair, the crosswalk, etc), but they never met until the end of the movie. I think the director wanted this movie to accurately portray reality: mental health issues controlling certain people's lives, how the internet is ruining face to face communication, but can also bring people together, and how everyone, at one time in their life, will feel completely and utterly alone. I think this movie can be directed towards a wide variety; mainly teens-adults. I definitely don't think this movie is appropriate for children because of some of the content and I don't think most elders would like this movie, but besides that I think this movie is targeted to most ages. I think that "Sidewalls" was a movie; it did have some things you could learn from and say was "educationally", but I do think it is more for pleasure. Overall, I do think "Sidewalls" was a good movie; I would suggest it to a friend and may even watch it again myself.

Its maybe strange to title the comment on this way, but this beautiful movie made me exactly that impression. Watching this movie from second grade European country was enlightening thing to do. It show me that on a different continent on different hemisphere on planet Earth, but in a same time, people live with a very same problems as I and my countryman do. Everyone become more and more isolated, people get estranged, while we more and more zip ourselves in our concrete beehives. And a exit from that darkness is simple. We need more light. Not of those artificial but those natural, God given, Sun light. There was a lot symbolic in act of braking a hole in a wall in one movie segment. Best recommendations.