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Review: Most Beautiful Island (2017) ★★★½

Most Beautiful Island (2017)

&NewLine;<p>There’s a pervasive fear of the rich among us&comma; the regular folk&period; This fear works its way into the horror genre&comma; like <em>The Purge<&sol;em> series&comma; in which the ultra-rich hide behind security fences while the unwashed masses kill each other&period; Or worse&comma; they use their wealth and power to hunt and kill poor people at random&period; Whether they’re watching &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the others” kill each other or participating in the killings themselves&comma; the rich are the bad guys&period; This is the underlying theme in director Ana Asensio’s dramatic horror film&comma; <em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you take away the more horrific elements of <em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em>&comma; it boils down to a gloomy drama about the difficulty of making ends meet as an undocumented immigrant in New York City&period; It’s the city of endless opportunities&comma; drawing in millions of hopefully immigrants every year&period; Unfortunately&comma; most of them struggle to get by&period; Our heroine&comma; Luciana &lpar;Ana Asensio&rpar;&comma; is one of these ill-fated immigrants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>While Luciana’s backstory is never fully realized&comma; we do know that she left her home country after the death of her child&period; Vague exposition implies that Luciana feels personal guilt for the death&comma; though Luciana provides very little information on the matter&period; Her mother tries to reassure Luciana that the death was an accident and she should return home&period; However&comma; Luciana has no desire to go back to a life that continues to haunt her&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Though it seems as if Luciana has no choice but to leave New York City&comma; she stays as an undocumented immigrant&period; She also struggles to pay rent&comma; doing odd jobs here and there to scrape together a living&period; During one job in which she hands out flyers for a restaurant&comma; she meets a new friend and fellow immigrant&comma; Olga &lpar;Natasha Romanova&rpar;&period; When Olga casually brings up an opportunity to make really good money&comma; Luciana is skeptical&period; As the bills pile up and she faces homelessness&comma; Luciana decides to take Olga up on her offer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Olga provides Luciana with very little information about the job&period; Luciana must look nice and show up to an address at a set time&period; Other than that&comma; she has no clue what to expect&period; Though Olga reassures Luciana that she doesn’t have to do anything against her will&comma; Luciana has her doubts&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Once she arrives&comma; Luciana discovers that Olga has tricked her&period; Luciana&comma; Olga&comma; and several other girls have &&num;8220&semi;volunteered&&num;8221&semi; to be pawns in a potentially deadly game&period; As the night continues&comma; the job puts both Luciana and Olga’s lives at risk&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em> is not a comfortable film&period; It is tense from start to finish&period; Viewers can’t help but sympathize with Luciana’s financial predicament and inability to deal with the pressures of city life&period; If put in the same situation&comma; most people would likely follow the same path as Luciana&period; When backed into a corner&comma; we will all do whatever it takes to survive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;07&sol;Olga-most&lowbar;beautiful&lowbar;island&lowbar;2&lowbar;0-1024x561&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Most Beautiful Island &lpar;2017&rpar;" class&equals;"wp-image-1981"&sol;><figcaption><strong><em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The film also ratchets up the tension by playing with some of our worst fears&period; In one seemingly random scene&comma; Luciana takes a bath to try to take her mind off of her finances&period; While bathing&comma; she notices a piece of loose plaster on the wall&period; She picks at it&comma; letting loose a stream of cockroaches&period; They scramble around&comma; trying to escape the water&period; Though she shows disgust&comma; she does not jump out or scream&period; She merely flicks them away&comma; as if they were a small disturbance in her otherwise tranquil bath&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I have no intention of giving away the ending&comma; though it is predictable in some ways&period; You can expect the rich to exploit the poor and disenfranchised&period; <em>How<&sol;em> they choose to do so is pretty innovative and helps<em> Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em> stand out from other films of its ilk&period; It also explores interesting themes that make it more than just a by-the-book thriller&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em> does an excellent job of vilifying capitalism and increasing the sense of financial urgency&comma; much in the same way that Anahí Berneri does in <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;2019&sol;03&sol;05&sol;review-alanis-2017-&percnt;E2&percnt;98&percnt;85&percnt;E2&percnt;98&percnt;85&percnt;E2&percnt;98&percnt;85&percnt;E2&percnt;98&percnt;85&percnt;C2&percnt;BD&sol;">Alanis &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;a>&period; However&comma; director Anahí Berneri tells the story of an Argentine mother struggling to make ends meet as an escort&comma; while Ana Asensio takes her story in a much darker direction&period; Rather than capitalism merely making life impossible from a financial perspective&comma; it also makes life a living nightmare for those at the bottom&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I love the underlying themes of financial disparity and desperation in <em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em>&period; That said&comma; the film doesn&&num;8217&semi;t always meet its lofty goals&period; It is a relatively low-budget indie flick&comma; but you might not know it from the excellent cinematography&period; We often experience Luciana’s daily routine through closeups and handheld shots&comma; as if we are just casual observers of her misery&period; Visually&comma; it works well for the sake of the story&comma; the themes&comma; and the genre&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>That said&comma; the cracks begin to show as the film moves along&period; The second half of the film&comma; though tense&comma; feels a little cheap&period; The performances from some of the ancillary characters struggle to keep up with the somber tone&period; The story has you on the edge of your seat&comma; only to have a few weak performances take you out of the narrative from time to time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;07&sol;Webp&period;net-resizeimage-8-1-770x433-1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Most Beautiful Island &lpar;2017&rpar;" class&equals;"wp-image-1982"&sol;><figcaption><strong><em>Most Beautiful Island <&sol;em>&lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>However&comma; if you’re willing to overlook its minor shortcomings&comma; <em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em> sends a timely message&period; Some may find it excessive to portray the rich and powerful as ruthless sociopaths&period; However&comma; others find the representation true and necessary&period; I happen to fall into the latter category&period; That said&comma; I understand that hyperbole doesn’t always have the effect that artists intend&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Many viewers may dismiss the film outright for its seemingly outlandish plot&period; However&comma; I genuinely think that it’s not as far-fetched as people would like to believe&period; Though it doesn’t deal with sex-trafficking directly&comma; one could say that the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;job” of the film is sex-trafficking adjacent&period; Desperate women are forced to look beautiful for powerful men &lpar;and women&rpar; who see them as disposable objects&period; Unfortunately&comma; this is not a far-fetched concept for the world in which we live&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>As her directorial debut&comma; <em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar; shows Ana Asensio&&num;8217&semi;s true potential&period; She excels as both a leading actress and feature film director&period; Asensio turns a relatively simple plot into a complex&comma; heart-pounding dive into the darkest elements of human nature&period; Though it has its faults&comma; <em>Most Beautiful Island <&sol;em>offers a great start for what will surely become a long directorial career&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&half; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you’d like to watch <em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;&comma; it is currently available to stream on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;shudder&period;com">Shudder<&sol;a> or <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B075HD7NF2&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;B075HD7NF2&amp&semi;linkId&equals;4172b1d9812711e089920e846fbd1ed2">Amazon<&sol;a>&period; And if you’d like to read more film reviews like this one&comma; consult the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film Homepage<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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