| View Larger Image | Lake Tahoe | DVDStarring: Diego Catano, Hector Herrera, Daniela Valentine, Juan Carlos Lara, Yemil Sefami
Directed By: Fernando Eimbcke
| List Price: | $24.95 | | Price: | $22.49 | | You Save: | $2.46 (10%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 81 minutes | | Format: | Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled | | Studio: | Film Movement | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.33:1 | | Release Date: | November 10, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 36,941th |
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 3 reviews)
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A Slow Moving Experimental Film by Daniel G. Lebryk  3 Stars
November 23, 2009
Experimental film is important to push boundaries. Sometimes the films work magic and something spectacular is discovered; other times, well it's a failed experiment. I think Lake Tahoe sits closer to the latter.
This is an incredibly subtle film. It takes patience to watch this film. Every single shot is bookended with nothing for 5 to 10 seconds. A given shot begins with a camera locked solid steady on a scene where nothing happens. That shot is held for 5 or 10 seconds. Then some kind of action occurs, a car enters the frame, stops, something happens, and then the car exits the frame. Instead of moving on, the director holds that shot for another 5 or 10 seconds. The camera never moves. Frequently the film is butt cut away to black, sometimes something significant happens with sound, or mostly nothing happens.
Not much happens in this film. A boy runs into a telephone pole. His car won't start. He searches for a mechanic. He meets several people along the way. About 45 minutes into the film each character starts to make sense, and then they finally fit into the story. That first half hour is very slow. But it does set the stage for the reveal at the end.
The film is unrated, and is presented in Mexican with English subtitles. There are a few moments of subtitled strong language. There is a bedroom scene with a female briefly topless in dim light that lasts about 30 seconds. The film is not long, one hour and seventeen minutes.
On the one hand, this was not a very good film. The bookended shot technique was so slow and methodical as to almost induce sleep. On the other hand, the shots were so slow and the story so slow to develop, I kept thinking something has to happen. In fact that last half hour or so, is very impactful. My son and I talked about this film for a good half hour afterwards. There was something good here.
Film Movements doesn't disappoint again. The DVD included a 6 minute short, Noodles, that was a fabulous surprise. This film was done with normal editing and shot length. The French film has no dialog, but speaks volumes. Thank you again Film Movement.
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Deadpan, Droll and Devastating by Randy Buck (Brooklyn, NY USA)  4 Stars
May 07, 2009
Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke was news to me before this feature (his second), but after watching LAKE TAHOE, I'm going to keep an eye out for his future work. He's got great, assured technique, a good hand with actors (the cast here is marvelously offhand), and a refreshing sense of how to structure a screenplay. TAHOE starts like an extended shaggy dog story, funny in a deadpan way, but rather familiar in style (think early Jarmusch). Then, midway through, as we piece together the storyline, the narrative becomes richer, darker, and unexpectedly moving. This one will linger with you for days afterword. Highly recommended for fans of the offbeat (and here's one film that manages true eccentricity without feeling in the least forced). Very fine work all around.
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Intriguing minimalist approach to filmmaking - exploring the aftermath of personal tragedy without melodrama by Nathan Andersen (Florida) 3 Stars
March 23, 2009
There is something very refreshing about the minimalism on display in this film. Fernando Eimbcke throws the viewer into a situation without explaining its backdrop, and this allows for the film to reveal its larger preoccupations only slowly.
The story appears to take its starting point from a minor accident - a kid runs into a telephone pole and has to figure out how to get the car fixed - but that minor accident later turns out to be merely a symptom of a deeper tragedy, and the difficulties that the kid faces in solving the minor problem turn out to be crucial to his process of dealing with the larger problem.
What is unique and remarkable about this film - its subtlety and stylistic simplicity and its refusal to dramatize what is in fact a pivotal day in this life of its main character - is also what is likely to put off most viewers. The camera hardly ever moves. There is no continuity editing - no cuts on action, no cuts to reaction or closeups. Pretty much what you get are a series of long shots in which the "action" and interactions take place. The shots are beautifully framed and their breadth establishes the loneliness and isolation of the main character, but the camera tends to linger a moment or two, even after the characters have exited the screen. Some shots are punctuated by blackness - and unlike even a film like Stranger than Paradise where a similar cinematic approach is employed, here the blackness lingers a few seconds past the point where it is uncomfortable, causing me to wonder (at least the first couple of times) whether there might be something wrong with the dvd. There is sound in these interludes and some of the most crucial moments happen between shots, and we only hear what happens.
Perhaps "Lake Tahoe" is best seen as a response to all of those films in which some kind of tragedy or unexpected event leads somebody to break out of their ordinary routine, have meaningful encounters with interesting people and wake up the next morning a changed person. All of that happens in this film, but without any of the melodrama and without the musical cues and the pivotal moments where life's lessons are highlighted, so that one might be forgiven for thinking that nothing much happens at all. The "Lake Tahoe" of the story functions as a symbol that is to this film as significant (or as trivial, depending on your interpretation) as "Rosebud" to Citizen Kane - but without any of the melodrama that surrounds its revelation in that film.
I was very intrigued by this film, and was impressed by the boldness and austerity of the director's vision, and by his refusal to introduce artificiality into the picture. At the same time, I think it is a hard sell - I'm sure I couldn't sit through it again except perhaps on the big screen where the beautiful images could compensate for the difficult pacing. I recommend this film for those who enjoy cinema that push the boundaries of what films can be.
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