Amer Blu-ray Review

• 31st Jan 2011

Split into three sections, Amer is an illustrious trip into the realm of senses, over and above anything our own human fear and desires. Seen through the experience of a young girl in the first part, a teenager in the second and a woman in the third.

The first sees the character as a young girl roaming the rooms of her home encountering a recently deceased relative laid out for funeral; a spooky widow who may be spying on her and her emotionally removed parents.

The second section is a mastery of visual sexuality shown through a trip into town the girl and her mother take. The dialogue is almost non-existent in its section as we are treated to a visual and sound mix of every day sexuality and competition between to the two. The mother having to open her garments slightly in a bid to save what remains of her sexuality whereas the girl is awakened merely by the wind that blows her hair and dress around her body. The film is almost an essay of how touch between others and even inanimate objects can set off both desire and fear in all of us.

This sensual journey continues in the third act as she is at first given a taxi ride by a rather rough looking gentleman.  Again the contrast between the two is built heavily on in both their physical appearance as well as the way they both partake in the ride: him forceful, in control as she flips between breezy sensuality and fear of personal invasion through her lack of control.

Once home the film starts to return to the more creepy nature of the first act where fear is played on in tandem with sexuality. Towards the end of this it takes the most bizarre and perhaps unexpected turn where you see it finally achieve its adult rating in a strong return to the Giallo.

This elongated final section is perhaps where the film does start to reek of repetition and drags slightly. With such little dialogue and a short, yet insightful premise there is only so much they can do with it in this film before it starts to feel like what should have been a more impactful shorter film.  Despite the flabbiness of the final half hour it is still a beautiful film that won’t have too much trouble reaching cult status.

The directorial team must be commended for their choice of shots and how the editing has come together to make these moments very effective. It is art house cinema at its best and the fact that it is a European release need not frighten off those afraid of subtitles as there is such minimal dialogue.

There is also a collection of short films made by the team which reflect their love for the genre work they so ably pay tribute to in their work.

Steven Hurst