When I saw this, my first thought was "Yay, the film can't getter any better than this!". Unfortunately, I was right.
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When I rented this film, the description said it was a "comedy" suitable for "14 y.o. or older" and "100 minutes long". The name in Portuguese was "Meeting and failing to meet (Encontros e Desencontros)" and it seemed like a good romantic comedy, perfect for a Sunday afternoon at my girlfriend's house. It wasn't a comedy (or romantic whatsoever), it sure had embarrassing scenes you wouldn't expect in a "suitable for 14 y.o. or older" material, which deserved at least a warning and it lasted a lot longer than 100 minutes. At least the Brazilian name reflected what the film was: Two people met and they failed to meet logic or any reason behind it. I'd say the following paragraphs would contain spoilers, but in this case this might save someone's life.
What exactly was the goal of this film? Whatever it was, they seem to have failed. If they wanted to show the weakness (or subtle crisis) of both main character's marriage, it sure didn't, because even sitcoms could portrait the drama in a better way. Like Arbiter said, there was no conflict. No tension. No highlight (other than the girl's ass in the beginning). Even the pseudo-romantic-adultery of the two people not given proper attention by their spouses in this film seemed so fake you could've actually seen it coming, without any major expectations.
It's like... this part totally showed how brainy the girl was. Totally like... she didn't get any attention from her workaholic boyfriend and he hung out with stupid people. It's like she was in something like... whatever |
As for the boredom, I wouldn't have watched a film if I wanted to be that bored. Even if they meant to show how bored and lonely the characters were, it was so shallow you could barely feel sorry or anything at all for them. That was not a "I'm lonely because I'm in a foreign country where I can't understand anyone". That was a "I've got nothing to do this afternoon and I can't think of anything better other than standing by the window". In Fucking Amal I felt loneliness and craving for attention. In "The Invisible" too. In "Chasing Amy (or Looking for Amy, I can't remember the right title)" there was an interesting conflict between the people involved in the relationship. In "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" you could feel the fear of that older couple of getting together and losing their mutual friendship, which was also subtle but interesting. There was this other Chinese film I've once seen that had a better view on adultery and marriages (which didn't show even one kiss, if you want to mention subtleneess). I've named only some titles because I can't be arsed to search through all the films I've seen in which you could find a similar situation. Even in the Lion King I felt loneliness and craving for attention when Simba's father died.
Was there any "comedy"? I laughed at the hooker asking to have her stockings "lipped" and the kids going mental playing videogames, but that was about it. That talk show was utterly pathetic. Oh, the conversation with the kid in the hospital was somewhat entertaining too (and the poor kid just wanted to know for how long he had been to Japan or something). I hopefully believe that once you understand a bit of Japanese the film gets boring, so that might've been my problem. I was the only one who had never been to Japan in the room, and I was also the only one who didn't sleep throughout the film. That must be a sign of hope.
Some can even argue that Japan was just used as a scenario, but it wasn't the main part of the film. It was just an attempt to show they were in an exotic foreign country. Heck, why didn't they go to Central African Republic or Nepal? Now THAT would be a big culture shock. I firmly believe it was just a lame excuse to spend some time in Japan. Better yet, they could've shot it in the United States, if the place didn't matter. At least the film would remember to focus more on the relationship and less on secondary parts.
As for the plot, I won't say a solid plot is necessary. In fact, many comedies are just an all-over-your-face attack of random jokes, which is good too. It's just a matter of hit or miss.
This film is absolutely a miss. The good part must've been lost in translation, if there was a good part in the first place.
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