Sunday, October 9, 2011

Directors: Luis Buñuel


The love-hate relationship I have with the genius from Calanda actually compels me to make a somewhat annotated post!


Film I love: La hija del engaño (1951): This Mexican entry was my first Buñuel ever --even if I may have watched Gran Casino before. It got me in a trance (and hooked on Buñuel forever, for better and worse); one feverish, delirious melodrama, with a edge-of-your-seat, very page-turning kind of pace to it. I precisely remember it as a hell of a melodrama/serial-type, and it's one of those revered movies I won't revisit for fear of not getting at all what they gave me the first and only perfect time they opened my eyes.

Film I like: Belle de jour (1967)

Film I almost hate: Simón del desierto (1965): Silvia Pinal is a very tempting devil, but kicking a poor little lamb out of the frame like a soccer player is absolutely not my idea of art, no matter how much good-looking the actress' legs are! Something Buñuel never understood and will always be the main thing which, for me, essentially detracts from the otherwise excellent quality of his craft.

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