Films/DVD Asylum

"Ostende:" from "New Argentine Cinema" comes this disturbing little gem

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that whispers, rather than shouts, at the viewer. A young woman wins a vacation to an off-season seaside hotel where she is to be joined soon by her boyfriend. Before he arrives, however, she is bored silly and begins to listen to the goings-on in the next room--- are those cries of passion or pain she's hearing? She strikes up a discussion with a waiter who, once he finds out her boyfriend is a filmmaker, proceeds to share his screenplay-in-progress--- creating a film-within-a-film.

After her lover arrives, the woman shares her concerns--- and she begins to more closely observe the older man she suspects--- and the 2 far younger women that he is with and who appear to increasingly anger him.

Most reviewers point out the likeness to Hitchcock, but there are many nods in this first film by Laura Citarella; a subsequent film, "Dog Lady," made a stir in major European festivals.

Certainly, not a perfect film, but I'm glad I entered into this troubling little work.

It's in "MUBI." Yeah, it's $10.99 with the usual free week trial. To a film lover, it's a must for contemporary and modern film. It's international collection is unmatched. There are many, many great and very good films out there--- and you'll never know it if you don't A. Go to international film festivals (good luck with that, now...) B. Subscribe to this service.

I easily find three or four films/week, making the $/film cost pretty laughable.

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