Movies: Bebe in Julio Medem's "Caótica Ana"

In the year 2000, Spanish director Julio Medem (Los amantes del círculo polar, Lucía y el sexo,...) lost his sister Ana Medem - a promising paintress - in a car accident. Now, seven years after his sister's death, Medem translated this traumatic loss into a new film: Caótica Ana ("Chaotic Ana"). This film is a tribute to his sister's art, her personality and the strength of women in general. Without a doubt, Medem's film is a beautiful and touching commemoration of his beloved sibling, but personally I think Medem could have treated this subject in a slightly more sober and less hysteric way: Ana is discovered to be the reincarnation of thousands of women of the past, all mistreated and killed by men. Medem desperately tries to bring up as many themes as possible and link them (violence in nature, American imperialism, capitalism, father and daughter relationships, lost love...), which actually distracts the film from its original purpose. It's not a bad film, but it lacks consistency and credibility.

The good thing about Caótica Ana is that one of our favorite Spanish artists is in it! Bebe (Nieves Rebolledo Vila) , born in Valencia, won the 2005 Latin Grammy Award for Best New Artist after her album Pafuera Telarañas came out in 2004. In Caótica Ana, she plays Linda, Ana's Andalusian-speaking friend in an artist home in Madrid. Bebe surprisingly enough is the most naturally playing actress: in a very convincing way, she makes you believe she's like this in real life. The other actors are sometimes very annoying: up to four characters are foreigners and have a terrible accent in Spanish, but at the same time speak Spanish perfectly, without even the slightest grammatical error! To me, this was just too unnatural and it even made me laugh at very inappropriate times. Anyway, if you have te chance to see this movie, I would still recommend you all to do so, because in spite of the somewhat artificial plot and the annoying actors; photography, editing and soundtrack are excellent! And uh... you get to see a lot of boobies! ;)

Caótica Ana was released in Spain on August 24, and will be presented at the Toronto and New York Film Festivals, before its release in the States on December 26.

Here's a trailer for the movie (in Spanish):