{"id":26397,"date":"2013-02-10T20:30:20","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T04:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=26397"},"modified":"2013-02-20T15:49:24","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T23:49:24","slug":"la-sirga-william-vega-2012-columbiafrancemexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=26397","title":{"rendered":"La Sirga (William Vega, 2012): Columbia\/France\/Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by\u00a0Jacob Dekker<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2013.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The way this film was shot, it reminded me a lot of No Country for Old Men. \u00a0I decided to write a summary with a style similar, and far less superior, to Cormac MacCarthy (the author of the book No Country for Old Men). \u00a0The film had some great mise-en-scene and cinematography, but the plot was convoluted and incoherent. \u00a0Hopefully this piece reflects that. \u00a0I included this introduction just in case does not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A boat paddles through a still lake. \u00a0 The oars slap against the water in calming\u00a0rhythm. \u00a0Fog obstructs the view of the young man rowing the boat, but his heart is beating just as steady as the oars hit the water. \u00a0He passes by some gruesome scenes, but he remains unfazed. \u00a0On his right he passes by an impaled body, left there to rot to make an example. \u00a0But the man rowing continues at the same pace.<\/p>\n

Something catches his eye. \u00a0The reeds\u00a0rustle\u00a0back and forth. \u00a0The sound\u00a0grabs\u00a0the young man’s attention. \u00a0He moves the oars\u00a0quicker, and the water laps against the paddles even louder. \u00a0He glides across the water getting closer, and closer, and closer until he sees small feet. \u00a0A girl! He paddles up to her and pulls her into the boat. \u00a0At first, neither of them exchange a word to each other.<\/p>\n

I am looking for my uncle, she asks in Spanish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The boy smiles warmly, and leads her into a small two story cabin sitting by the lake. \u00a0Her foot breaks through a piece of wood on the porch. \u00a0The wood is rotting, the roof is leaking, and the house creaks and cries in agony\u00a0every time someone finds refuge in it. \u00a0It’s an inn, they tell her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The girl wakes up on the couch with red and green quilts pulled over her. \u00a0A big man pulls a chair up next to her.<\/p>\n

Uncle? She asks rubbing her eyes.<\/p>\n

Maybe, he says in a gruff voice, while rolling up his sleeves.<\/p>\n

She explains herself using as few words as possible and asks if he can stay at the inn to hide for a couple of weeks, and the man reluctantly agrees. \u00a0As a trade off she will help the maid rebuild the inn to its former glory. \u00a0A few weeks go by and she exchanges as few words as possible with her uncle, the maid, or the boatman but she proves herself to be an\u00a0asset.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The maid rests the ladder against the side of house and motions her to climb up. \u00a0The cabin cries cries in pain with every step up the ladder. \u00a0The winded started to pick up and rain started falling. \u00a0The maid passed a blue tarp up to the girl. \u00a0The rain hit the\u00a0sheet metal\u00a0making a pitter patter sound. \u00a0The wind followed causing the loose metal to twang.<\/p>\n

The wood ladder under her feet was rotting but she spread the tarp anyway.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She wakes up with a cold, and heads downstairs. \u00a0An unfamiliar man is cooking behind the counter. \u00a0He tries to be friendly with her, but still she stays reserved.<\/p>\n

I’m your cousin, he says. \u00a0Your uncle is my father.<\/p>\n

She nods in\u00a0acknowledgment and walks outside to help the maid fix up the hotel.<\/p>\n

The rotting wood has been replaced. \u00a0Glass window panes have been added, the roof has been patched, and plants have been added around the inn. \u00a0The girl smiles, but her uncle walks out without taking a second look and unties a boat off the dock.<\/p>\n

I like what you have done to the inn, the boatman says as he paddled up to the dock. \u00a0The girl smiles again.<\/p>\n

I made this for you, the young man hands her a carved wooden doll. \u00a0The lake is quiet and so is the girl. \u00a0She accepts the doll, but remains quiet. \u00a0He leads her on his boat, and they paddled around the lake. \u00a0He cousin watches from behind the pane glass window.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The young man rows up to the inn again the next day, and calls for the girl. \u00a0The girl meets him outside, and he hands her another carved doll.<\/p>\n

What’s her name? She asked carefully looking at the doll.<\/p>\n

Alicia, he says with a smile. \u00a0The girls cousin stood on the porch watching them. \u00a0As the young man handed her the doll she looked back at the inn and pushed his boat out into the water. \u00a0The young man stood at the end of the boat with doll in his outstretched hand. \u00a0She smiled and returned to the inn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The lake is calm for the next couple of days. \u00a0The inn is open for business, but no one has checked in. \u00a0The young man watches over the lake with a wooden spike driven through his body. \u00a0Fog obscures him until he disappears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by\u00a0Jacob Dekker.\u00a0 Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2013. The way this film was shot, it reminded me a lot of No Country for Old Men. \u00a0I decided to write a summary with a style similar, and far less superior, to Cormac MacCarthy (the author of the book No Country for Old Men). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1913,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[193,3,191],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creative","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}