In Spanish with English subtitles

I've been watching a lot of movies. I say movies because its almost always blockbuster stuff the Americans are churning out or Asian horror or Hollywood remakes of Asian horror. Question: Why don't white actresses (Jennifer Connelly in Dark Waters, Naomi Watts in the Grudge) ever look scared of whatever that's spooking them?

But. Recently, I've caught a few films - stuff which are not in the nature of those cited above. Films, test your intellect and have unpredictable and unconventional narratives - and for myself, leaves a lasting impression or simply fucks your mind out (Closer did that to me). Like Babel, Perfume, Little Children, Pan's Labryinth - these are fantastic and compelling films.

With the exception of Half Nelson. I truly wanted to fall in love with him, I imagined raving about its seamless cinematography and the way it'll convey social problems and fucked human minds in the most subdued yet poignant of ways. I really saw myself doing that and perhaps its this expectation which made it into a bigger disappointment. I hated it. One of the most boring films, everything could have been condensed into a 15-minute scene and the only way it salvaged itself was how amazingly attractive (what a turn on!) Ryan Gosling looked in his schoolteacher get-up. So two points (out of a 100) for those retro shades and another one point for the way he sexily lugs around the tattered briefcase.

The Mexican Film Festival ended yesterday but I managed to catch Bedroom Fairy Tales for Crocodiles - about a man in search of his and his son's salvation from a family curse. Mixes the reform war and the Mexican Revolution alongside fantasy - I thought it was a beautiful, accomplished work that pales Half Nelson if compared.

Answer: It's just one of those things that can never work. The same way Asian fims rarely have Indian draculas or Chinese gremlins. We prefer to stick to zombies and pontianaks.