The Club (2016)

What makes it different from others?

Very well executed

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The film focuses on the life of a group of nuns who share the same house in a coastal town in Chile. At the Berlin Film Festival where the Jury Grand Prize was awarded, Darren Aronofsky admired the jury under his presidency and received a full grade from all the critics. The film, which won the Grand Jury Prize in Berlin, tells a group of priestly husbands away from the Church because of crimes they have committed confronted with sins, a dark atmosphere and a calmly tale.

The Club is about of group of former male priests who have been sent to live in a house for supposedly being incapable of properly ministering, when something horrible happens outside their house and a young priest-psychiatrist joins them in the hopes of finding out what's going on, and putting the former priests back on the right track. The movie has so many twists and turns, it's probably better that you don't know much more about it. And that's something that I loved. It's unpredictable, and the movie just goes along without over dramatizing much, thus making it just a little more real. Right from the get-go, this is a beautifully shot movie. Every scene is gorgeous, and the gloomy color pallet really helps set the tone. Even the coloring of the house sets the mood incredibly well, and allows an atmosphere of dark sadness to settle over the entire film. The acting is all pretty good. The characters are convincing as characters, and they react in ways that I think a lot of people would in their situation. This is often due to the writing, which is also great. The dialogue is intriguing and pulls the story along with nice pacing. The movie is pretty slow to start. When the dog races are first introduced, I thought it'd be about dog racers and lost interest. However, I'm happy I stuck with it because it gets better. Much better. Despite how well-made and unpredictable the movie is, I found myself somewhat distant from it emotionally. Scenes that should have shocked or made me tear up had little effect. While it captured discomfort perfectly, it didn't quite capture other emotions. Overall The Club is great. The acting, writing, shots, and story are all very engaging, all with a little too much discomfort. It lacks emotional investment and intrigue right off the bat, but it gets better. In the end I would definitely recommend this movie.

"El Club" had a few main themes, those being religion, irony, secrets and guilt. A lot of viewers have actually said that this film was made to expose the Catholic church and make it look bad. I agree with this statement, because so many events that happened in it were ironic, because there were things done and said by priests (whom this movie focused on) that would not typically qualify as 'holy' in my opinion. El Club is about four old, retired (and at least one gay) Catholic priests living in a house, ("the club") in a secluded, beachy and foggy area in Chile. The house is run by a woman surprisingly, whom is a retired nun, making up all the rules, one being that there was no contact with the outside world unless they were in their circle of religious figures. The group loves racing dogs, which seems to be a shared passion for all of them, (which I thought was a bit strange and random.) They have a strict schedule that forces free time to mold around their duties of praying. However, the reason this house is secluded is because the men are secretly there to ask God to forgive them for their sins, which are actually horrible crimes. These priests are guilty of child molestation, abuse, kidnapping, etc. Early in the movie, a new priest comes into the house, but his sins follow him. A now grown man stands outside the house yelling about the very graphic and horrendous sex abuse he endured as an altar boy from this new priest. However, the priest cannot seemingly stand his guilt, and quickly shoots himself in front of everybody. This is when I realized that this movie is extremely messed up, because later when the police were questioning the others in the house about why he was dead, the nun and other priests lied to cover up the abuse and crimes he had committed. When a new director comes in he sees the dysfunction, and wants to shut down the home. This film then follows the journey of their dog racing, trying to save the home, and the life of the angry man who was abused sexually by the dead priest. I liked this film, but I liked it less and less as it progressed. I found the point of the ending very confusing and it honestly lost me. This was possibly because there was very little dialogue between characters, and when there was, it was short. It ended with men killing the race dogs, blaming it on the man whom was abused and then him being ironically brought to repent his 'sins' in the house with the other four priests. I really loved the beginning, however, and my favorite scene was when the man was outside the home screaming the sex abuse he endured to his molester. I found this very interesting, because not only were the poor man's words very graphic and "unholy" but, as he was yelling them, the priest (his molester) was denying it to his housemates. I thought that when he grabbed the gun he was going to shoot the man yelling outside the house, but actually shot himself, which I was not expecting. I also liked when the nun was cleaning up his blood, she was singing very peaceful church songs. This film was very bizarre, weird and sexual, which I found ironic. I wish that the director had left out the theme of the dog racing because it just confused me and made the main theme of secrecy between priests less prominent and blurry.

"El Club" by Pablo Larrain as "No" (2012) movies with a burden of historical and political transcendent defining only one side of the coin of Chile. Portrays a crude but important insight into a very small part of a country that is more than necessary to expose and raise it as a reality in the XXI century.Aesthetically subtle and powerful at the same time, excellent music composition and interpretation of characters. Dynamic parallel editing perfectly achieved that gradually unfolds the story.The film holds the viewer in front of the screen all the time, almost unblinking. Intriguing, mean and real.A Masterpiece!