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Oriana, a review by Danae Cassandra

Where We Are: Venezuela
wikipedia

What We Watched


Oriana

Year of Release: 1985
Starring: Doris Wells, Daniela Silverio, Mirtha Borges, Maya Oloe
Directed By: Fina Torres
Genre:  Mystery, Romance

Overview:
A taut, Gothic, Latin American romance, winner of the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Marie returns to a rundown Venezuelan house in the jungle where she spent summers as a child. Her return ignites memories of a summer when her adolescent sexual curiosity led to a surprising encounter. "An exotic JANE EYRE set in a jungle-choked hacienda" (SEATTLE WEEKLY).

My Thoughts:
Ignore the rather lurid overview there.  This is a mystery.  Yes, Maria does return to the hacienda where she once spent a summer with her reclusive aunt Oriana.  The mystery is Maria trying to figure out her aunt and the mystery of her life and family.  The film is told in three timelines:  Maria as an adult, Maria as a teen, and Oriana as a teen, but I didn't find it confusing when it moved between times.  It's a pretty good mystery, as you are led through in Maria's perspective who is naturally curious and inquisitive about her aunt, especially as she finds clues to Oriana's past and is constantly redirected away from her attempts to find anything out.  The end of the film gives you some answers, but other answers must be figured out by the viewer.  While the clues are there, my mom and I had a good discussion figuring out exactly what the relationships within the family were and why Oriana had remained at the hacienda her whole life.

Very glad to have finally gotten the time to watch this, and recommended for anyone who might enjoy a family-centered mystery.

Bechdel Test:  Pass

Overall: 4/5

(From Around the World in 86 Movies on February 1st, 2013)

Mr. India, a review by Tom

Title: Mr. India
Year: 1987
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Rating: NR
Length: 173 Min.
Video:
Audio: Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Anil Kapoor
Sridevi
Amrish Puri
Satish Kaushik
Sharad Saxena

Plot:
A decidedly delicious mix of patriotism, comedy, science-fiction, romance and adventure. Arun (Anil Kapoor) who lives in an old spacious rented house, rescues orphans and looks after them. He is aided by his Calendar (Satish Kaushik) the cook and odd job man. When journalist Seema (Sridevi) also takes up residence in the house there is trouble. She despises children, and this brings about a love-hate relationship between Arun and Seema. One day Arun discovers something his scientist father (Ashok Kumar) had hidden, a secret formula to make one invisible. Arun uses the formula to save the country from the evil Mogambo (Amrish Puri), a villain to beat all villains. Seema falls in love with Mr. India (that is what Arun is when he is invisible), without even having seen him, not realizing that they are one and the same.

Extras:
Music Videos
Scene Access



(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 7th, 2009)

"Due South" marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

You Must Remember This

This one really didn't impress me all that much. I found it to be slow and boring for the most part. I also found who the girl was as being pretty obvious... I figured it was something like that early on into the episode.

My Rating:

Last couple in a row I wasn't very impressed with... I hope it picks back up here soon!

(From "Due South" marathon on July 15th, 2009)