Our review of «Luna De Miel» («Honey Moon»), now available on DVD at the U.K.

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luna-de-miel-posterRecently we had the chance to see “Luna De Miel” (A.K.A. “Honeymoon”) Courtesy of Jinga, now available on DVD at the U.K. This is a Mexican suspense film directed by Diego Cohen that brings a tale of obsession, abductions and more. Even if the premise of the film sounds a little bit too familiar, it manages to make some people cringe not only due the violence shown on the screen, but because this kind of things can be happening every day in front of us, unnoticed.

Not to be mistaken with the film directed by Leigh Janiak, “Honey Moon” let us see how after a long and careful planning, Jorge, a deranged doctor obsessed with his beautiful neighbor Isabel, decides to kidnap her and try to force her to accept him as her husband since for some reason he is 100 percent convinced that he is a way better suitor for her than his actual husband. As you might imagine, Isabel is not happy with her new life as a captive, but every time she tries (in vain) to escape her captor, she ends up being punished (Because… Love) in ways increasingly cruel, but even when the fortune seems to smile at the not-so good doctor, we can see that Isabel’s anger and desperation are slowly turning her into a very dangerous guest.

hm7“Honey Moon” has a lot of good things to enjoy: the acting is solid, the pace is good, the plot deals with very touchy subjects, while never going for the easy shocks or the gratuitous violence, and there is just enough gore and blood to make sure at least some scenes stick with us some hours after the movie has finished. This movie might not be groundbreaking for those used to the called “Torture porn” sub genre (I term I actually dislike), but it is very different from the films that are normally released in Mexico (With the exceptions of “Mexico Bárbaro” or “We are the flesh”) and I actually enjoyed it a lot (As a film, mind you).

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There are some quite strong scenes that might unease some people, specially those that are not into gore, the effects are very well done, and they actually made me cringe a couple of times. While there are some nude scenes that I think could have been avoided, they worked well in the story, and didn’t feel forced. There are moments when the film deals with rape, but the scenes are not explicit nor are there just for shocks (Think Jennifer Lynch ‘s “Chained”). While I can not recommend this movie to just everybody, I think is worth watching at least a couple of times, specially due some important details revealed on the third act.

hm1One of the strongest points of the movie is Hector Kotsifakis’s performance as the obsessed Jorge,. At no moment he tries via an emotional blackmail to become a character that we can relate to nor to forgive, but still we can see a logic to his madness specially on the third act, still we never stop to despise him, specially when he tries to justify the horrible punishments inflicted upon Isabel.

I only got two complaints about the film, and the first one is something that I have mentioned several times on previous reviews: There are too many shots where the camera just seemed unable to stay still, and while I can understand a shaky shot in an action film, I don’t think they work for every film, nor should be used at random. Those kind of shots always tend to take me out of the story and remind me constantly that I am watching a film, some people say they are done to make the film more realistic, but I disagree, when I watch a play in a theater, I don’t see people shaking the stage. I might be in the minority, but I think that you can (and should) engage your audience with story and characters (Effects should be most of the time, the icing of the cake, but not the cake itself).

The other VERY MINOR thing that stuck out for me was the end itself, or more specific, the last two scenes, I thought the film could have a stronger ending if the story had finished on the previous scenes… I can’t go into details due to possible spoilers, but when you see the film you will understand what I mean.

Luna De Miel” was directed by Diego Cohen (Who also directed “Perdidos” and “Amaneceres Oxidados”) and written by Marco Tarditi Ortega (“Dame tus Ojos”) and has the performances of Hector Kotsifakis, Paulina Ahmed and Alberto Agnesi.

The film is still due to be released in the U.S.A. but people in the U.K. already can get the DVD thanks to Jinga Films.

 


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