Siesta
Claire (Ellen Barkin) is an American citizen who wakes up bruised, battered, and disoriented, at the end of a runway in Spain. To make matters worse, she has a nagging suspicion that she has murdered someone. She is forced to wander the Spanish streets, alone and penniless, looking for answers.
Member Reviews
Terrible. And yet... - rdees
This is a strange film to review, as it was both astonishingly bad, but also weirdly watchable. It's a film filled with clichés and terribly stilted dialogue. And yet, I found myself enjoying it on some level. Why?
Maybe it was the music, late-era Miles Davis, mixed with a bit of standard 80s mood music. Maybe it's witnessing Gabriel Byrne try his hand at a Spanish accent (and failing). Or maybe it's listening to Julian Sands recite vulgar rhyming couplets, with his broad smile. Or Ellen Barkin's red dress and flowing blonde hair. Her terrible acting. The dry haze and quiet streets of this small town in Spain, where the film is set. Or perhaps its the central mystery: Ellen Barkin's character - Claire - seems lost, adrift in Spain, moving dream-like through the scenes like a ghost. What is she doing there? how did she get there? did she murder her lover, his wife? or did something else happen on that fateful day, the fourth of July? why do her wounds take no time to heal? is it all just a dream?
Mary Lambert, the director, was best known for her work making music videos for Madonna before making her feature debut. (Touches of Like a Prayer and La Isla Bonita can be seen here.) Maybe this is insignificant, but there's something of the glory days of MTV in this film, in the editing, the set designs, the stilted dialogue and stylized movements of the players. She went on to make the two Pet Sematary films, among others.
Siesta, however, remains a bizarre film, difficult to condemn, yet equally difficult to admire.
Member Reviews
Read All...
Terrible. And yet... - rdees
This is a strange film to review, as it was both astonishingly bad, but also weirdly watchable. It's a film filled with clichés and terribly stilted dialogue. And yet, I found myself enjoying it on some level. Why?
Maybe it was the music, late-era Miles ...