Burnt Money
|
List Price: Our Price: $11.33 You Save: $8.62 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.38 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Burnt Money
Movie Review: Bonnie and Clyde, Meet Angel and Nene
Summary: 5 Stars
Repeat after me -- this is NOT 'just' a 'gay' film! Along with "Nine Queens," another recent Agentinian film, this film ranks as one of the best this year. The script, the camera work, the pacing -- everything is top quality. I won't repeat the plot -- the other reviews posted here describe it very well -- but suffice to say that it is that rare heist film that combines the expected action with a gripping character study and romance, all against a backdrop of endemic police and government corruption. Eduardo Noriega, as Angel (who hears voices and suffers terrible guilt over his sexuality), and Leonardo Sbaraglia, playing Nene and described by one critic as similar to a young Richard Gere only more overtly sexual, are mesmerizing, accomplished actors; they create one of the most passionate and convincing "troubled" relationships -- gay or straight -- you are likely to see on film. They were much more believable to me than saintly Jennifer Connelly standing by poor deluded Russell Crowe (no matter what) in the overrated "A Beautiful Mind." The director does a superb job of holding the film together, keeping the audience engaged each step of the way -- even though you think you know (as a matter of history) what will happen, the film keeps surprising you, right up to the end. As soon as you think you have figured it out, it takes an unexpected turn.
It is too bad that it will be perceived as a 'gay film' just because the two leads are men who are in love with each other. The film transcends the genre as surely as the movie "Priest" did several years ago. In fact, the only real sex scenes in the film are between men and women (NOT between the two male leads, sorry Noriega fans!). I do not know why the film maker did not include such a scene between the leads, at least before Angel's voices tell him to stop -- perhaps Argentina is not ready and/or the actors were unwilling -- nonetheless, the love and tenderness captured between the two is so palpable, so intense, I did not consciously realize how coy the film was at depicting their relationship until after the film was over.
Also interesting is the depiction of women in the film; despite the fact that the two main woman characters are also the only two actually shown to make a real intimate physical connection with two of the male characters, they are ultimately depicted as traitorous to our antiheroes and not to be trusted; in the end, the men have only each other. The end is sublimely romantic, and I swear owes a debt to "Bonnie and Clyde" and Michaelangelo.
Movie Review: Sophisticated, erotic, exciting masterpiece of a film
Summary: 5 Stars
BURNT MONEY is another film from Argentina that places that country in the forefront of exemplary film making. After viewing this compelling movie of a retelling of a bank heist that occurred in Buenos Aires in 1965 one wonders why Hollywood has so much difficulty presenting credible and sensual male/male relationships. The chief characters in this story are two lovers (played to perfection by Leonardo Sbaraglia as 'Nene' and Eduardo Noriega II as 'Angel') who, known as The Twins, are hired to assist in a heist. This event occurs at the very beginning of this two hour film, leaving the rest of the movie to explore the intricate relationship between the lovers as they elude the law in their flight to Uruguay. The physical passion between thes two men is palable, erotic, and as profound as any love story to hit the screen. When the stress of the life of hiding drives Angel to focus on the 'voices' in his head, his physical withdrawal sends Nene outside the relationship to satisfy his sexual needs. One of these encounters is with a woman he meets in a bar and results in a confessional talk about his gayness and ultimately ends up in one of the most sensuously graphic sexual scenes since "Last Tango In Paris". Yes, in this story that is focused on a gay relationship, the sexual encounters filmed are heterosexual ones and very well filmed at that. The physical relationship between Nene and Angel is far less graphic and yet far more sensual for being so. Would that Hollywood could make gay characters so wholly three dimensional as Director Marcelo Pineyro does! The supporting cast includes more beautiful people than Sbaraglia and Noriega: Leticia Bredice and Dolores Fonzi play the sexy female roles and there is a cameo by cabaret singer Adriana Varela whose luminously sexual singing focuses the sensuality of this story completely. Well written, well photographed and well directed, BURNT MONEY starts on a high note and just gathers momentum right to the devastating climax. A superb film.Movie Review: In Spain we say "one of the decade's most important films"
Summary: 5 Stars
This film, original title "Plata Quemada", totally is a complete deal. The gay magazine of Espana, Zero magazine, calls this movie one of the most important films of the past 10 years. It represents perhaps the next film in gay movies where "gayness" is not the end-all-be-all focus of the film (as is the case in gay movies made by Hollywood)
A wonderfully acted film with plenty of action and a gripping story. Plata Quemada is the story of the 2 principal bank robbers, Nene and Angel, one from Argentina, the other from Spain. They are lovers. But this is not a "gay film" in that the gayness is not the focus of the story. But it is central to understanding the emotional impact that this film carries. Think "Bonnie and Clyde" but Bonnie is a beautiful sexy muscular latin man.
Based on true events that took place in Argentina and Uruguay in 1965, it is about a bank robbery gone wrong. But it is also about the 4 main characters and how they relate to each other.
Unlike american films where american actors (gay and straight) seem so wooden and artificial when they play gay characters (i.e. Interview with a vampire Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt) due to their own fear of seeming "too genuinely gay", Spain has a wonderful history of straight actors who make you believe the passion and love between two men. Law of Desire with the very young Antonio Banderas as un chico obsessed with his boyfriend was one. This is another.
Leonardo Sbraglia and one of Spain's major hunks, (el chulo) Eduardo Noriega, draw you into the tortured lives of 2 men who are weird, unbalanced and.... love each other without limits. The end of the movie had me longing for a love that was as strong as what these men show on screen.
If you like a great story with great emotional content, lots of action, beautiful beautiful men both latin (Pablo Echarri y Leonardo Sbraglia) and spanish (Noriega) and a message that will get to you straight gay or whatever, get this movie.
Movie Review: NENE AND ANGEL.......LOVED !
Summary: 5 Stars
I caught the review of this film in a local street rag. And I am really glad I did. This is one of the best homosexual theme movies out on film, and the two main guys have done a jam-up job of acting. There is no sex scene's between the two men, but there is a sense of very much love for each other and their kisses are real and not strained. Kudos for these two great actors. The picture has won many awards! Leonardo Sbaraglia, (Nene) , Wild Tango,
Wild Horses, and Eduardo Noreiga (ll) ( Angel) , The Devil's Backbone, Abre Los ojos, Thesis. Are known as 'the twins' , but they are not brothers, they are lover's and they are for hire robbers. The way they look at each other and the way they care for each other is very moving.
The story is about a heist that goes wrong in Buenos Aires and policemen are shot and the newspapers know who did the job. The gang has to skip to Uruguay in hopes they can stay there until the heat is off of them. But things do not go their way, and they have to move again....
I cannot say enough about the two main characters, they were excellent in their portrayal of The Twins, always together and always looking out for each other.
Also, Pablo Echarre as the driver did an excellent job. But, the tone of the movie is in the court of Nene and Angel. And their love for each other. One of the best male to male flicks to come out since Urbania. To bad Hollywood cannot turn them out!!
Burnt Money ,(Plata Quemada) will not be for all... but if you want to see some great acting and a caring no bars held male relationship, then you must run to see it. Out on DVD Oct 1, 2002 . This is the theatrical version not the dvd! I give this a 5/5 !
ciao yaaah69
Movie Review: A honest and unusual exploration of gay relationships.
Summary: 5 Stars
I must admit I have a soft spot for foreign film - it's almost a magical experience for me to enjoy how other cultures deal with human issues, and often in a more honest way than the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Also, relying on subtitles to understand what is going on has the most amazing effect - you are forced to stare at the screen for the whole film and therefore become more engrossed in the story and characters. So when a friend sent me a copy of Burnt Money as a present I was estatic, and after viewing the movie, that elation has stayed with me.What amazes me about most foreign films is the honesty they portray when dealing with human emotion. There is no watering-down to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but a genuine effort to get inside to our most basic thoughts and emotions.
Burnt money is no exception. The film essentially deals with a relationship between 2 men. Though unlike any film I've seen before, that relationship is detailed under the umbrella of the violent, criminal underground world. The usual themes of gay relationships are on display here, but we get to see them from a totally different perspective. This film helps to challenge our thinking and our ideals about relationships, love and change. Powerful stuff.
The DVD itself is quite handsomely packaged. The quality of the transfer is average - no benchmark DVD here but nonetheless better than what you would see on VHS. No special features at all, except for the the original trailer and four trailers for other DVD releases.
If you love being challenged, and rewarded for your patience, see Burnt Money - you won't regret it.