•
Rating:
Something quite strange happened to me. Let me tell you about it. A guy brings his friend to the bar. I look at her. She speaks just enough, seems quite sharp, and friendly in her interactions with us time-wasting idiots. However, I would be lying if I said I would have noticed her if she wasn't attractive. And I don't see the need to lie, considering I don't have to make a good impression on you. Well, truth be told, more than a pretty face, she had nice breasts, and that's what I'll call her. Nice Breasts. Yes, I'm extremely crude, superficial. And very average, but what the heck do you want me to say. Like a good radical chic, she starts talking about cinema, and so Nice Breasts begins to praise the winner of the just-concluded competition: an amazing director in her opinion. I sneakily and slyly insert myself into the conversation. I would have liked to tell her that the last three works of Ken Loach left me dissatisfied, especially when compared to his filmography. I would have liked to look her in the eyes for once and ask her with a grin what she meant by "amazing." But I'm weak and especially had a soft spot for Nice Breasts. And I wanted to see them again, maybe watch them bounce from underneath. A professional shot, to be clear, worthy of a great director. An amazing director. And so, I acted very sly, as fake as a bank clerk's smile at the counter.
Weeks go by, and I find myself with her at the cinema watching "I, Daniel Blake." The strange thing is that I actually watched the film. The dramatic thing is that I didn't think about Nice Breasts for the entire two hours that painfully pinned me to the seat.
A linear, clean, essential work, devoid of twists and rhetoric that chisels away incessantly with a slow and relentless rhythm. A widowed and lonely man suffers an injury at work. Thus begins a tragicomic and paradoxical struggle to get help from the state. He doesn't qualify for disability benefits, nor does he have the doctor's permission to return to work. Amazed, bewildered, perplexed, and angry, he remains in limbo. He clashes with a world made of small men, featherweights who treat him without respect and dignity just because Daniel is a proud and tenacious person who doesn't lower his head. A glacial and mean mechanism whose infinite contradictions are repeatedly revealed without ever slipping into excess or lack of style. The consequences logically lead the events to the natural dramatic and inescapable conclusion. The screenplay is elementary, and this is a great strength because it avoids distractions and keeps the viewer's attention focused on the two main characters. The protagonist, in fact, encounters a young mother, and their meeting generates a couple of memorable scenes. Simple but filled with human emotions so intense that the contrast with the bureaucratic machine is nothing short of blinding. It's a film to watch not because it says something new. These are well-known and widely-known things; the message it conveys is trivial if we want to be honest. What counts is the way the message is delivered.
Tell me, have you ever been punched in the face?
Loading comments slowly
