By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Erick Zonca
Starring: Aidan Gould | Bruno Bichir | Jude Ciccolella | Kate del Castillo | Saul Rubinek | Tilda Swinton
Country: belgium, france, mexico, united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 144
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903627/
Michael says: “What do we make of JULIA, and the very unusual career of filmmaker Erick Zonca? JULIA is a difficult to categorize film, part crime thriller, part melodrama, part farce, part comedy (although I’m not 100% certain the last two are intentional…) and boasts a rather remarkable performance by Tilda Swinton. Julia is an alcoholic spiraling out of control. She’s brash, obnoxious, duplicitous and somewhat dangerous, especially to herself. Julia gets herself tangled up in a ludicrous plot concocted by Elena, her somewhat unstable next door neighbor who is desperate to get her son back from her extremely wealthy grandfather. Elena enlists Julia’s aid in a kidnapping scheme, which Julia then hijacks as her own get-rich-quick idea. As you might expect, especially when dealing with a loose cannon like Julia, things go horribly wrong pretty quickly. What follows involves murder, kidnapping, helicopter chases, border crossings, and Mexican thugs. Through it all, Tilda, nearly unrecognizable in a coarse, over-the-top role, sweeping us along in fascination.
“And what about director, co-writer Erick Zonca? The French filmmaker has only fade three features spread across ten years. His debut, THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS, made considerable impact on the indie scene, and is light years away from the fascinating, and perhaps intentional train wreck that is JULIA. Quiet, introspective, intensely personal, THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS was certainly crafted with a precision tool while JULIA was hewn out of rock with a blunt instrument. Still, while it may sound as if I didn’t enjoy JULIA, I found it to be a lot of fun, if a little overlong. It certainly kept me awake! We started the film at 11pm and it clocks in at nearly two-and-a-half hours. On the strength of Tilda’s bravura performance alone, I give JULIA 3 ½ cats”
Hilary says: “I thought the film went on too long — felt like two incomplete films pushed together — but I couldn’t stop watching Tilda Swinton. She was strangely feminine in a way I haven’t seen her before, a total wreck, and thoroughly compelling.”
Thom says: “I can’t really add much to Michael’s review. I gave this exceptional film 4 CATS, but, while entertaining as all Hell, it’s really only extraordinary due to Swinton’s great performance. She’s even hard to recognize as she takes on the role of a hopeless alcoholic and watching her work is one of the greatest pleasures in films today. If you want to study how a distinguished actress works this is a film to see.”