Carmen

A little independent arthouse film, that is quite charming and enjoyable, if you are able to dispend some disbelief about the credibility of the story, which I didnt find hard to do, because this movie has got such an endearing story.

Not any bad? Well, this is probably best suited for a (patience) arthouse audience, who dont mind watching a story unravel slowly.

The good: beautifully photographed, well acted, with an uplifting, endearing story about a woman who accidentally gets mistaken for a priest and decides to seize this opportunity to do some good with her newfound status.

Left me with a smile on my face. Lovely!

It's a comedy-drama set in the 1980s in the Republic of Malta. It follows the life of a late-40s woman after the sudden death of her older brother. She had served as a housekeeper for her Catholic priest brother for 30 years. It's loosely based on the life experience of the director's aunt.

Carmen (Natascha McElhone)'s family forced her to look after her brother, Father Francis (Henry Zammit Cordina), from age 16. He is austere and disliked by his small-town parish. After his death, another priest plans to come. The new priest's sister, Rita (Michaela Farrugia), will look after him.

Carmen has nowhere to go, but God keeps supplying signs to guide her. Some of the options she chooses are engaging and very funny. At one point, Carmen has a relationship with a young pawnbroker, Paulo (Steven Love), which includes more drama. Throughout, we have flashbacks to a relationship she had as a young girl with an Arab boy, Ahmad (Chakid Zidi).

There is a resolution of sorts by the end, though some story threads are incomplete.

This engaging movie is about blossoming in middle age after three decades of repressed living. Natascha McElhone is excellent, as is Steven Love as Paulo. Many of the fringe players are also very good. The cinematography makes full use of Malta's beauty. Highly recommended.

The director grew up in Toronto but had a Maltese heritage. The film is a joint Canadian-Malta project.

In a sleepy town on Malta, Carmen (Natascha McElhone) has been taking care of her brother, the local priest, since she was 16 years old. One day, he drops dead and she is left all alone in the world. A new priest is taking over with his own sister housekeeper. Carmen is expected to leave for her family even though she has none. She finds herself taking confessions from the town folks and searching for a life of her own.

Sin is the central theme of this movie. It's the heartbreaking reveal. Rita is obsessed with it. The women in town suffered under it. The movie should open with the priest berating the women and warning against the sin of disobeying their husbands. That would set up the rest of the movie much better. I really love the confessions. It is noticeable that McElhone is changing her hair color along the way. That may be too much. She should keep her greys. This is a wonderful little movie.

Carmen is a film about faith and kindness, lonliness and love.

It's a quirky and charming comedy drama about a lady named Carmen who hasn't been dealt the best cards in life. But with the passing of her brother , the priest, she finds new possibility in her lonely adventure.

Certainly this film makes some light hearted pokes at Catholicism, but it's all very much in good spirit. Essentially suggesting that religion is also about fun and that surely, the Lord wants us to happy, even if he has mysterious ways of showing it.

The music is lovely, the scenery is pleasantly mediteranean, and the soul is very much that of a 1960's quaint romance, with a touch of tradgedy.

Carmen is a warm and endearing film that will leave you with a smile on your face and a chuckle in your tummy.

Check it out, it's nice. :-)

A feel-good little film detailing how little sprinklings of humaneness and liberalism can overcome systemic failures in society and the church.

The film is the journey of the titular character traversing from being stifled for many decades to discovering how to be happy once again.

The ending is seemingly deliberately unrealistically over-optimistic, and that's the point. It is a film designed to lift one's spirits and see the good in the world again.

While certainly not for everyone - for example, it won't be for those who like only realistic dramas and those who strongly adhere to the stringent side of Catholicism - personally, I feel in love with it.

It doesn't overstay its welcome and has a few laugh-out-loud moments too, especially in the opening third. Recommended.