Site icon Philosophy in Film

Review: Kept and Dreamless (Las Mantenidas Sin Sueños, 2005) ★★★

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><em>Kept and Dreamless<&sol;em> is&comma; above all else&comma; a <i>mood<&sol;i> picture&period; It makes spectators adopt the same sentiments as the characters&comma; as if they were living right along side them&period; When things are joyful&comma; we are joyful&semi; when things are desperate&comma; we are desperate as well&period; The problem with this approach is that it can feel a bit cloying&comma; and at times <em>Kept and Dreamless<&sol;em> falls into this trap&period; Despite this&comma; Martín De Salvo and Vera Fogwill’s work is a dreamy and spirited portrayal of a mother and daughter at the end of their rope during the Argentinian economic crisis of the early 2000’s&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Verga Fogwill plays Florencia&comma; a young&comma; drug-addicted mother who has little hope for her future and is too busy getting high to change things&period; Eugenia&comma; played by Lucia Snieg&comma; is her precocious daughter&comma; whose energy and drive to improve their station in life allows her to care for her mother and keep their heads above water&period; However&comma; as the economy goes into a free fall&comma; money and goodwill become scarce&comma; leaving Florencia and Eugenia to fend for themselves&period; The situation becomes even more dire when Florencia discovers that she is pregnant&comma; and is unsure who has fathered the child&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">As can be surmised from the synopsis&comma;<em> Kept and Dreamless<&sol;em> is a pretty depressing film&period; Sure&comma; there are dream-like sequences and even musical numbers that briefly lift the narrative out of the gloom of deprivation&comma; but these are fleeting and feel out of step with the rest of the film&period; The mother and daughter are accompanied by a cast of colorful and eccentric characters&comma; though none of them are all that believable as real people&period; And while the story is taken in a dark&comma; quirky direction&comma; the quirkiness gets lost in all of the ugly emotions&period; One feels bad for Florencia&comma; and even worse for Eugenia&comma; and the filmmakers do little to alleviate that&period; I am not implying that it is bad practice to make a film depressing&comma; only that the tone is all over the place&period; When you have characters who are in a dire situation&comma; it seems to be poor taste to insert strange&comma; busy-body neighbors and oafish friends to lighten things up&period; It is as though they wanted to make a dark&comma; off-beat comedy set during Argentina’s financial crisis&comma; and instead made a film that lacks any kind of categorization&period; To be clear&comma; the limits of genre are not a necessary requirement for a superior film&comma; but when spectators are left conflicted over what the filmmakers are ultimately trying to say&comma; it stifles the intended message or effect&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;1371" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-1371" style&equals;"width&colon; 850px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-1371" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;02&sol;071111080240&lowbar;ik0mxs7ryj-300x166&period;jpg" alt&equals;"daughter in Kept and Dreamless 2005" width&equals;"850" height&equals;"472" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-1371" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Kept and Dreamless &lpar;2005&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The shifts in tone make <em>Kept and Dreamless<&sol;em> difficult to assess&comma; but the acting makes it much simpler&period; Though the two leads are generally very good&comma; some of the supporting cast leaves much to be desired&period; Her friends and neighbors are incredibly two-dimensional&comma; and only offer very bland humor to lift the mood&period; Mía Maestro plays Florencia’s affluent friend from high school&comma; and while there is nothing wrong with her portrayal of the character&comma; the writing does her no favors&period; The dichotomy the filmmakers try to strike between the classes is painfully obvious&comma; and largely unnecessary&period; We are aware of the economic backdrop&comma; so inserting a character just to make some poorly conceived statement about class differences leaves a bad taste&period; She wears her expensive clothes and behaves in a pretentious and condescending way&comma; blissfully unaware of her friend’s destitution&period; It functions only as a cheap way to relate the story back to the economy&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Visually&comma; the filmmakers do an exceptional job of mimicking Florencia’s surreal state of mind&comma; while never letting go of the intrinsic despair of her reality&period; The camera drifts over her as she crumples into a ball&comma; unable to raise her daughter&comma; unable to change her destructive ways&period; The sets are drab and lifeless&comma; set against a city that is too busy with its own problems to care at all for hers&period; Meanwhile&comma; Eugenia’s intrusions into her mother&&num;8217&semi;s space always offer a glimmer of hope&comma; and a chance for redemption for her mother&period; Ultimately&comma; we are left with a film that has a lot to say about the willpower that children can possess&comma; but also the inability of those at the bottom to change their circumstances&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">With all of its shortcomings&comma; <em>Kept and Dreamless<&sol;em> has its moments of beauty and quality filmmaking&comma; and should not be missed&comma; particularly for those who enjoy Argentinian cinema&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"s1">Rating&colon; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">&starf;&starf;&starf;<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1"> out of 5<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to watch <span class&equals;"s1"><em>Kept and Dreamless<&sol;em>&comma; it is currently available to rent or purchase <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B00IA0KEB2&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B00IA0KEB2&amp&semi;linkId&equals;ea9030d574c62524723943beb8a125d0">via Amazon here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Exit mobile version