Sadly Over-hyped

Pretty Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

A Disappointing Continuation

'Never was a shade of any plant dearer and more lovely, or more sweet' - the English translation of Handel's aria form his opera 'Serse' - Ombra mai fu di vegetabile, cara ed amabile, soave più plays a significant role in this Oscar and Golden Globe winning foreign film from Chile: it is heard throughout and closes the film with the main character Marina singing it to the audience. The music is exquisite as sung by Daniela Vega, a gifted mezzo-soprano and actress, who in life is indeed a Chilean transgender female.The theme of the film - the pain and ridicule transgender people face by society - is daring and well handled. Marina (Daniela Vega) is a young waitress and aspiring singer whose lover is Orlando (Francisco Reyes), 20 years her senior, who owns a printing company. They are in love and planning for the future. After celebrating Marina's birthday one evening, Orlando falls gravely ill and as Marina prepares to take him to the hospital Orlando falls down the stairs. Marina rushes him to the emergency room, but he passes away just after arriving at the hospital. Instead of being able to mourn her lover, suddenly Marina is treated with suspicion. The doctors and Orlando's family don't trust her. A woman detective investigates Marina to see if she was involved in his death because of the bruises and bleeding resulting from the fall down the stairs. Orlando's ex-wife forbids her from attending the funeral. Orlando's son threatens to throw Marina out of the flat she shared with Orlando. Marina is a trans woman and for most of Orlando s family, her sexual identity is an aberration, a perversion. So Marina struggles for the right to be herself. She battles the very same forces that she has spent a lifetime fighting just to become the woman she is now - complex, strong, forthright and fantastic. A strong cast, fine direction (Sebastián Lelio who wrote the screenplay with Gonzalo Maza), exceptional musical scoring (Nani García and Matthew Herbert) and cinematography (Benjamín Echazarreta) allow the impact of Daniela Vega's superlative performance to glow. The film is a bit slow moving, but that allows time for the interplay of Marina's strength and the family's prejudice to gain focus. A solid film. Grady Harp, July 18

I have watched the 5 nominated movies for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and this movie Really was THE WORST of them and one of the worst movies I have ever watched, I wonder surprisingly why it won Oscar

I watched this film basically because it won the Oscar to the best foreign picture. Found out that the film was another one to many, picturing evident transgender cliches and slow situations that end up in a very boring linear movie, without montages and cheap incidental music. Seems to me Oscar is giving away their prizes in a very convenient way.

This film won the 2018 Oscar for best foreign language film, and deservedly so, carried confidently on the shoulders of Daniela Vega, playing the title role of Marina Vidal. Marina's world falls apart when her relatively recent, much older lover unexpectedly dies, and she faces the bigotry, prejudice and appalling behaviour from the deceased lover's family, police, health authorities and just about everyone else. The reason is her transgender status, prompting a range of reactions from blatant bigotry to intrusive curiosity.The film isn't easy viewing, but the steely, determined calm with which Marina faces her almost overwhelming range of opponents is little short of amazing. It tells an important story well, and deserves wide audience support to reinforce the generally high critical acclaim.