Review of Little Ashes (2008) by Letícia "Saoki" L — 02 Feb 2010

I have to admit, I am not a huge Salvador Dali fan. I do however love the work of Frederico Lorca. I can appreciate the controversy and revolution of Dali, but not the actual paintings. Drugs would probably help.

ANYway. The movie wasn't bad. Robert Pattison had some explainin' to do after his gasp-y, twitchy rolls in Twilight. He started off shaky, but had completely won me over by the end, silly mustache and all. Javier Beltran had me at hello.. or .. hola. Whatever. Marry me.

The director succeeded in almost every aspect. I felt transported to 1920's culturally repressive Spain. I wanted to jump up in coveralls to promote anarchy and homosexuality in the fascist military state of My Living Room. I loved the look and the pace of the film, the jazz, and even the homoerotic swimming. (I was completely and utterly amusing by the movie's byline "And then.. one night in the phosphorescent water, it becomes something else." AKA Dudes making out. I can totally hear that line in the movie voice-over guy's dramatic bass. Awesome movie marketing. Awesome.

Besides the failed gay sex, Rob Pattinson does indeed succeed in bringing Dali's eccentricity to life. His performance makes me think he could follow in Johnny Depp's footsteps playing disturbingly sexy oddballs for the rest of his career. The movie is supposed to be about Lorca's emotional ties to his country and the revolution, and then his eventual death at the hands of it but... it's totally a movie about Salvador Dali being weird. And since I love weird, Little Ashes goes on the list.

(But I'm still not buying a poster of "The Scream").