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1. Whitney Murdy 11.11.12 / 11am

   What an incredible review! I too found it unbearable to watch in moments and it seemed like the camera operator was just standing there and doing nothing to help this girl. The strange, voyeuristic angles really made you feel like you were watching something that you weren’t supposed to see. The film shies from and enlightening resolution and really fails in the message against bullying like you mentioned. Great film, but I would not recommend it because of the intense narrative.
2. China Rose 11.11.12 / 7pm

   “The implacable beauty that surrounding us adds a layer of pain” and I agree with that remark in regard to this film, After Lucia. Like you, I also saw this film and like you it was a brutal thing to have to watch and be held to watch as the camera did. Intrigued by your well defined impressions and why you had them I saw something rather different from this project. Like for instance the teens seem to have a hierarchy and no one seemed to want to get in conflict with the alpha girl. The alpha girl was shallow, selfish and jealous toward the protagonist Alejandra. This was a little perplexing for me at times in terms of believability. The parents of the other children seemed to never even exist to wonder where there drugging, drunkard kids were? Perpetrating most of the violent acts against her friend, Ale the alpha girl allows the other kids to contribute their fair share. They seem to relish physical tortures that yes, seems sub-human and have almost no contextual support for this animosity. In this film I saw a lot of blank walls, grey and beige colors and empty space to describe and define in visual formats, how it feels when someone we love dies suddenly. The family was numb after a death of the mother and Ale the surviving daughter did not want to be stigmatized by fact at a new school. And yet her fears came true in a different fashion. For Ale her father was rudderless and adrift with grief in stark contrast to the bullying she endured and how the father ends the film with his hand on the rudder. Was this the punishment she accepted for her guilt? Martyrdom seemed to be a thematic element in this cultural setting. Though your review suggests an Americana view to this movie I saw only a very cultural story. In other words the violence would be at home in a “Mean Girls” movie but not likely in a real American classroom. It would be rare to the degree that we experienced in this film to think this is happening elsewhere. In my understanding it is meant to be both allegorical and moral in it’s perspective. Many of your perceptions I definitely concur with. What I felt about this piece was that it is a composite of the worst with the worst but in some of the best sets of circumstances. What I mean is that at anytime Ale could have spoken to her aunt or sought some kind of help from her social structure. Even as fragile as it was, it wasn’t alien and she didn’t even try. She personified a grown-up mom and took charge of her father (cooking and wearing her moms clothes) but then she caves in without even a whimper when her friends cut her hair. Her shame and humiliation for having had teen sex to the extreme that she was catatonic in self preservation was also a tad askew for me. There was no context in this the film to suggest if she was overly prudish or somehow tainted by her sexual experience anymore or less than any other teen who is found out and made fun of. To explain her guilt or shame or whatever stopped her from doing a naturally human thing like seeking safety and self protection was not made clear to me in the storyline. The film elements were quite dramatic, the staging was quite beautiful at times and yes, cold. The shots were often framed in a casual way or with static elements that make this films subject feel (like it was) daunting. The water shots of the ocean were often taken from a low angle and held long. This conveyed the impression of being under water. My only bone of contention with this film is that the lead character Ale appeared as a strong girl who steps up but then she cows down. That was a shift in her personality a change in her character personality I did not feel was supported by the storyline. Though somewhat mild mannered she also exhibited traits that suggested she would kick her way out of any box someone tries to put her in. She even buys her own ticket and travels away when she wants to suggesting she can leave whenever she wants, but doesn’t until the audience can bear no more. The retribution for the father at the end said a lot about how the film’s culture portrays a vigilante type of justice in extreme circumstances. I could not have agreed more since we were suspending all realities anyway. The father did everyone a favor in that now there is one less guy who will perpetrate violence against women. For me the end brought some symmetry to the plot as a whole in that it wrapped things up even while ends were left loose and dangling everywhere, metaphorically speaking.
3. JJ E 11.12.12 / 1pm

   I really enjoyed this review of After Lucia as I feel as it touched on many of the important traits and qualities throughout this movie. In fact, this was one of my favorite movies at AFI fest 2012 for a couple of reasons:

   As described earlier in this review, Franco encompasses a unique mis-en-scene style that I have rarely seen in feature movies. For a number of reasons, this simplistic style tortures the audience because we aren’t involved in every step of the characters process, nor do we get to feel as if we are another character in the mix. However, with Franco’s style in this film about Bullying, it fit perfectly. His lonely, static, camera made the audience feel as if they were mere spectators – which was brutal and even hurt at times. Frankly, I would call Franco a genius for using a tactic like this for a film on bullying as it added a WHOLE new aspect to the film that made the audience feel as they were helpless, which added to the pain we were feeling… For a filmmaker able to direct and stir emotions like this from his audiences through his films, is an incredible success (if you ask me).

   Going back to the review, I actually disagree on the fact that our audience and society need to be constantly reminded of the terrible affects bullying and other harmful tactics can have on an individual. Personally, I have not witnessed bullying in quite a long time, but after leaving this film, it made me want to instantly end any bullying that I ever saw. This my friend, is an incredibly strong message for the people around the world to take in.

   All in all, this was a fantastic film for a lot of reasons. Franco new his budget was small, filmmaking tools were simplistic and his cast was small, so what did he do? He created a film on a topic that allowed of these disadvantages, turn into his advantages. Truly an exemplary move. With saying this, all of his shots were placed there for a reason, the slow beginning helped to add to our frustration, and the acting was unreal.
4. Lawrence Gleeson 11.12.12 / 2pm

   I agree. I felt like I couldn’t escape from the father’s overwhelming sadness and despair. I just wanted to say to him, “Come on, man, it’s going to be okay. Get over it.” But it never happened. Instead I had to watch the man murder a rather stupid, ignorant teen who was guilty of bad judgement, highly questionable behavior, and a rather horrific act. For me, this film became a question of personal responsibility. Not only for the actions committed but also for the acts omitted. Enough is enough.

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