Neruda

Carlos Filipe Freitas

“Neruda” is a fascinating piece of cinema, an elegiac and exhilarating chant of refined artistry that reaches the sky not only through the faultless performances by Gnecco and Bernal, but also through an engrossing direction. (4.5 stars)

msmichel

Larrain's other masterpiece offers a fictional take on the persecution of Pablo Neruda in 40's Chile that offers some inspired lunacy and breathtaking visuals that often brings to mind the controlled madness of the films of Raul Ruiz. The cinematography of Sergio Armstrong is dynamite as is the period detail supplied by the film's artisans. Scripting is excellent as well (Calderon) but Larrain's stamp is evident.

Zac Weber

After a screening at the Chicago International Film Festival, Larrain said he set out to create an anti-biopic and that by filtering the story through the eyes of the policeman, the director was able to explore the environment and cosmos surrounding Neruda in a deeper way. The film has a distinct visual identity, and at times the voiceover seems to mimic the cadence of Neruda's poetry.

Joe Hackman

A bumbling police comedy... meets poetically sad existentialism... meets JJ Abrams-esque lens flares. I loved it.

Artemis

Inspired filmmaking. Unconventional, insightful, and an ideal homage to a cultural and political icon.

MATTEO BITTANTI

It's not just about Neruda. It's a biography of a country that was raped, violated, experimented on by the Yankees (the first Neoliberal "experiment"). Augusto Pinochet, the invisible "protagonist" of Larrain's masterpiece Post Mortem, appears here briefly in an uncanny cameo. He is in charge of a concentration camp for Communists. He will soon turn the entire country into a concentration camp. God bless America.

Salvador Amores

this guy should be where iñarritu is bc he actually makes really stimulating/smart/satisfying industrial flicks and not boring bestiality porn disguised as deep tarkovskian meditative poetry

Renton47

Larrain is a consummate stylist, and then he keeps going. At once I am both moved and appalled by his technique, the beautiful image rendered in a hurdy gurdy. But it also suits the literary ends on display, a construct of national myth, a biopic with a poet's embellishment. It's still Larrain though so Chile's hero film is as much about the villain, in its way about how both necessitate the other & national identity