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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Movie Recommendation: Phase 7


This is an Argentine movie that some of you have been recommending. By pure coincidence I watched it too just a few days ago and while not Oscar material (67% at Rotten Tomatoes), I did enjoy it a good bit.
Its about a couple caught during the spread of a pandemic in downtown Buenos Aires, how they react to it, and such, with a bit of dark humor thrown here and there. I suppose lots of its sarcasm is lost in translation, but for a native Argentine Spanish speaker it does have its moments.
It´s interesting how in the begging of the movie it shows a bit of looting and people running around the supermarket where the main characters are at, yet they don’t seem to care much about it. That’s a clear nod to the sadly often seen scene, showing how you can become indifferent and react with apathy to situations that should otherwise stress you to some degree. The couple though, just goes on as if nothing happens.
See if you can catch it on Netflix. Don’t expect a great movie, but something ok to watch while eating popcorn and watching something different within the survival genre.
If you watched it and want to comment on it or want to recommend something else click on the link below.
Join the forum discussion on this post!
FerFAL

7 comments:

Pakkinpoppa said...

I bought this movie, it was two thumbs up. I watched it in shifts, in Spanish, with subtitles, so as not to expose the 2 year old to the "f" bombs...until the main character started cussing in English. D'oh!

I wanted his neighbor's closet.

I would recommend it to anybody as unlike in most Hollywood movies, the guy who is prepared isn't killed first and the unprepared idiots mostly die.

Anonymous said...

I must admit I enjoyed the movie even though I spent a lot of time reading the subtitle. It give you a perspective of what will happen if law and order collapse and some wanna be's wants to enforce their will on others whom they think are helpless.

Anonymous said...

I just saw a Matt Damon movie, "Contagion". It was great story with enough info to be a documentary about the birth and worldwide spread of an extremely deadly disease. It's got plenty of well-known actors and it was really good. I'm surprised I haven't heard more about it.

Most of the lessons on your blog from home defense to food shortages came into the plot at various times.

Anonymous said...

You wrote, "I suppose lots of its sarcasm is lost in translation, but for a native Argentine Spanish speaker it does have its moments."

After watching the movie(in dubbed English), I suspected as much. The movie is good, but the tone was a bit uneven, sometimes you would think it should have been funny, but it wasn't. Still, it was a very interesting movie.

Movie aspects aside, while the movie was set in an apartment building in a major city, the idea of being so isolated from what is happening around you if you "shelter in place" fits really well with modern suburbia as well.

Nate said...

I saw this movie on Netflix the other night. It was indeed fun to watch and I think a lot of the humor came through despite the language barrier.

Is it common to say, "Good leuck" when parting ways in Argentina? They said that frequently in the film.

Anonymous said...

if you liked Phase 7 and the movie Contagion
I would recommend the book
THE JAKARTA PANDEMIC by Konkoly
its a pretty realistic scenario of a flu pandemic

Anonymous said...

Overall I liked the movie.Funny though because it was coming off like a pretty decently budgeted movie until the "special effects" LOL!