thmurphy-37414 Una Noche is a very good movie. I'm not completely sure how much I liked it, but there was something to keep track of from the beginning of the movie to the end. *Spoiler Alert* Lila and Raul end up back on Cuba after they attempt to make it to Miami on their raft, but you could only pick up on that by understanding that the same girl that was on vacation in Cuba was on the Jetski that towed them onto the beach. It was a very sad and depressing ending, which reveals that it is everything, but an American Film. Lila, the sister of Elio, had to suffer the pain of losing her brother, Elio, and was still in Cuba. To me it just seemed like a complete waste of time and torture. A shark ate Elio, so Raul and Lila were hoping for the best as they only had a piece of their raft left over to float on. It was sad to think that Elio was suppressed by the people he hung out with to hide that he was gay the whole time. His crush on Raul was the reason for wanting to leave the country in the first place. Not every story has a happy ending, but it was definitely not this one. I would recommend it to all.

logatherum This has been my favorite film out of the three that we, as a class, have watched. I really enjoyed it because I felt as though the movie never really lost my attention; I always was excited to know what would happen next. There was just so many themes- and so much suspense! The themes in this movie particularly intrigued me, and interested me, because I could relate to them in terms of American society a little more than the other movies. The fact that the males seemed to act sexist towards the females, like when Raul pushed himself on multiple girls on multiple scenes when they declined him. Even when Lila, Elio and Raul were rowing to Miami, Lila barely rowed, as if it were a "man's" job. There was also quite a bit of bullying along with this, like when the girls in the street were making fun of Lila for the hair on her arms. Another main theme was homosexuality. There were so many references and slang terms used in this film, and most of the characters treated homosexuality as a joke and something gross that is not to be spoken of. I thought it was really interesting and surprising when Elio kissed Raul while he was sleeping, and how his sister completely accepted it, and Raul did not. This makes me wonder if Cuba is as evolved as we are when it comes to accepting homosexuality. There was also a lot of sex in this movie, and sexual advances, such as, again, when Raul pushed himself on multiple females, trying to force them to get together with him. Elio and Lila's mother was also cheating on their father with another man, and Lila actually saw them, which must've been hard on her. Raul's mother was dying from AIDS, yet was still prostituting herself, which Raul also walked in on her with a client, similarly to Lila's situation. During the movie introduction that Mac did, he mentioned that two of the actors went missing during the filming of this film, and once they were found pled for a political asylum. This interested me, and made me wonder; what does this mean? A political asylum is defined in the dictionary as "the protection granted by a nation to someone who has left their native country as a political refugee." So, this basically means that one can apply for asylum and can be granted refugee status. One can apply if you have fled your home country in fear for your life, and do not want to go back. The actors, Javier Nunez Florian (the character of Elio) and Anailin de la Rua de la Torre (the character of Lila) were the pair who went missing during the filming of this movie, while at an airport in Miami. Even their costar who played Raul, did not know where they were or why they had disappeared, which caused director and the entire film crew to panic. Thankfully, three days later, the two (who played twins in the movie) were not only found, but also were pleading political asylum. Interestingly, these two happened to be in a romantic relationship outside of the set!

Pablo I was pretty impressed with this film overall in terms of the camera angles, shooting ideas, etc., but the main plot I felt was kind of weak. They could have elaborated a bit more on that I feel. I also felt like most parts of the film were rather unnecessary. For example when the one guy was masturbating with a dead fish, or when they gay cross dresser started making out with Raul and his penis came flying out across the screen. Scenes like these and the one where the mom was pleasuring the one old guy with oral sex to me were completely useless, as they did not contribute to the plot at all. Some things I did like were the camera angles though. I really liked how the camera went underwater frequently to show the raft from below. I thought it gave the movie a nice eerie aspect. It was also foreshadowing that something bad was going to happen while they were on the raft. I also liked how it showed the sharks underwater and stuff. I found it pretty sad how they just went in a circle and Elio died. That is one thing that does make it obviously not American though, it didn't have a happy ending.

John Osburn Lucy Mulloy's UNA NOCHE is exquisitely edited. There are maybe two or three clichéd shots, which stand out precisely because the film as a whole is so fluent and sure handed in its visual rhythms. It is, broadly speaking, divided into two sections, both as a film and as a story: the second, which centers on the life-changing night referred to in the title, and the first, which leads up to it. In the transition from the first to the second part, a stylistic shift occurs.The lead-up is narrated by Lila, the female protagonist, a teen-aged Cuban concerned about her brother, Elio, who is plotting to leave Havana for Miami on a rickety raft that he is constructing with his friend Raúl. His motives for leaving are more complex than it seems, but Lila only feels the impending loss that his parting would represent. She shadows him, and tracks down and tries to thwart his plan, and ultimately accompanies the two boys in their escape... READ MORE:http://osburnt.com/una-noche/