Cinema Lounge Reviews

Whilst being treated for his own disease, Diego also befriends a boy who is a patient at the cancer hospital. Along with that, we are also shown the many aspects of Diego’s life whilst with cancer and showing the treatment journey.

The story focuses on the emotional journey of Diego, a film director who has been diagnosed with a form of cancer. The film takes us on a weird and emotional tale of Diego’s final year and what events take place during this time. Now, I do say weird because even though the story is heartbreaking at times especially through the character development later on it takes us on but at times it does show some confusing subplots and scenes throughout which were for me hard to piece together but I do somewhat understand why they have been included. It does seem to appear that Diego does have hallucinations whilst being treated because of some unusual events taking place late at night in his ward similar to what we saw in Rapid Eye Movement. However, in a way, it is quite effective as it adds more of a mystery to the story and gives the audience a reason to keep watching. Although at some cases it is confusing of why some of these scenes have been included as some include nude scenes from women. Speaking of nude, that does seem to be another recurring theme throughout as sex plays a huge role in Diego’s life during this year.

Similar to movies we have reviewed before, you can tell that this movie crew really does focus on telling the story behind this film rather than making entertainment which most movies usually do. Aspects such as tragedy, physical decline and the scenes where Diego befriends the Hindu boy play a big part throughout as all add up to why this becomes more emotional. As well as all these reasons, the theme of comedy can also be hinted as slight humorous jokes made by the main character and also other extra scenes which are intended to be made comedic.

The overall look of the film looks highly professional especially with how they have incorporated some colour correction effects to really make the film look high end. Not only that but it even does well with the feel of the movie as well. There is some unusual music which goes with some scenes but I do have to say, it actually does seem to fit with what’s happening. Something else what is good to see is that throughout the first part of the film we only see a few main locations and settings but as we progress into the second half we explore various other locations to do with Diego’s life.

Willem Dafoe (Diego) once again delivers an amazing performance playing his character and really fits into his role perfectly. He really does fit into all his roles perfectly and really get to know them so meaning that when we see his acting it makes it that more special for us as it means he cares about the roles he portrays. In some areas, I do believe that acting from some of the other roles could have been improved slightly to make their characters be more realistic but apart from that, I can’t really complain about it.