Afterschool

Formally audacious as it is, Campos' debut is also clearly the work of an artist who still hasn't quite found his own unique voice yet. The overwhelming debt to Michael Haneke is almost endearing in it's sheer blatancy (i suppose i could add Atom Egoyan to the list too if i'm being generous). That said, the film clearly lays the groundwork for the more mature and distinct aesthetic footing that Campos would find in his stunning sophomore effort.

There seems to be a desire to comment on the "Youtube age", and its being conducive to a generation of voyeurs, but any such social commentary is left completely opaque, Campos instead more interested in slow pans of students eating, or slow pans of hallways. Any potential for this film was soon erased under the weight of some of the most mind-numbing 100 minutes I have experienced as of late. A tale of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

So derivative of Haneke and Van Sant that it never congeals as Campos' own unique directorial vision, but what it has to say about these clips of video's effects on our very concept of authenticity of experience is pretty interesting nonetheless.

Deeply uncomfortable, Antonio Campos's debut feature is great at what it does. Examining the distance we are able to put ourselves from all the disturbing content of the real world as long as we view it from behind a lens. For most of us its all unpleasant, but, for some, it is the catalyst for something more sinister.

It improved later in the film, but I can’t say I see much artistic value in not showing peoples faces when they talk. The slow panning and cameras aimed at people’s legs just didn’t do it for me. In fact it’s a lot like Corpo Eléctrico (2017) in that way, that the directing/editing is much more distracting than it is anything else. Although Afterschool does have more of a plot to it, and therefore it’s slightly more tolerable. It’s still horribly paced and not really worth seeing.

Formally I find this a pretty mature statement from such a young filmmaker. Campos has harnessed his tools and created a chilling vision of kids at a startling remove from real, enfleshed life. Worse still, the adults seem to have no idea what to do with these kids, no way to reach them (and some aren't even trying). All that said, I'm not sure the film has any real insight into the problem, and its formal echoes of Haneke in particular never give the film a strong voice.

paranoid park, directed by michael haneke

Well, the movie didn't really have any "punch" to sustain the slow pace. But it's OK.

Using long static, oddly framed shots and (intentionally) poor location sound, this mesmerised me, and creates a mood of deep unease. It has a lot of clever, and disturbing, things to say about the nature of truth, and our quest to find authenticity through the lens of a camera. I haven't seen a more rigorous examination of the Youtube generation.

This didn't work at all for me.

its ok but its not elephant

"This ain't Elephant, even if it looks like one." - Ed Gonzalez

Campos has potential but this just felt like a lesser Van Sant film. The ending was great and it makes me bump the score quite a bit but I just didn't care for the main character very much.

One of most boring and slow paced movies I ever seen. Trailer was very promising and from the start it is quite OK. No spy/detective find-it-all kids or obvious murders. This is true opposite of Holywood cheap teen films. Seriously if all scenes would be as long as dialogs go, this would be 20 min long and quite digestible. Acting is above average, but it doesn't change the fact taht you die of boredom whilst watching it. Overall...b...o...r...i...n...g.

It's not often that I can say I haven't seen a film like this before. Antonio Campos' debut feature is remarkably assured and taxing to watch because it demands your full attention. Each shot calls attention to itself and asks you to consider what is being represented, and it's rarely predictable. I'm not sure if it's the constricting demands of the style or a limitation of the world-view on display, but I got that unsatisfying locked-in feeling during some scenes that didn't ring true.

Interesting exploration of a boarding school resident coping with seeing death. Exists somewhere between Elephant, Cache, and Benny's Video, with a dash of Kubrick added in - sometimes it suffers from the similarities to those works, but it also exists strongly on its own. Worth watching, and worth seeing what Campos and the producers do next.