A Useful Life (2010)

Best movie of this year hands down!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

"The Cinema is not a collection of cards, a collection of data" is the answer given to the question from A Useful Life's central character Jorge presented, what audiences should see when they are active spectators? It is a comment with breaks down the forth wall and confronts us as spectators that we must see A Useful Life and other films at a deeper level. With A Useful Life, Federico Veiroj makes this point significantly clear whilst defiantly offering his appreciation of cinema as an art form.Primarily Veiroj makes this point through Jorge, a dedicated cinephile whose seems to be the dual representation of the silent film picture house he works for. It is Jorge who articulates the tragedy A Useful Life shows in cinema as a true art form deteriorating from the pressures of commercialism. Understand the continuing context of commercialism vs art which conveys Jorge as the tragic figure in this scene, stood alone next to a projector witnessing what he sees as visual art whilst external influences see it as uneconomic, makes A Useful Life prominent as cultural commentary. Veiroj's drive to expose the counter argument of cinema as worthy art as deep - seeded immorality comes to ahead when Jorge briefly pretends to be a Law expert, explaining to a group of students the skill of lying is mastered in society to the point of perfection, regularly used to unjustifiably bring down others. Some could simply see this scene as Jorge embittered by the fate of his beloved picture house but Jorge was having a moment of clarity which perfectly personified Veiroj's intentions.Being true to the displayed cultural beliefs in dialogue were also applied to A Useful Life's micro style. Presented in black and white is an ever affective technique in adding to the dreary tone of Jorge's predicament. Also the framing of specific scenes creating a sense of isolation within Jorge, an outcast figure socially and culturally attempting to get by. A Useful Life both aesthetically and contextually beholds what cinema at heart should be, producing art which spectators can emotionally invest in rather than profit which in today's climate is falling under as Jorge did.

In black and white, with non professional actors, and a minimal story with slow pace, it might seem another boring and pretentious experimental work. Quite the contrary it's a fascinating, melancholic hilarious and delicate testimony of some people's true love to cinema. People that work all their lives in film archives and cinemateques,and that dedicate their existence to preserve films, exhibit them and educate audiences, have never been better reflected in a movie. Going to in counter-current with the trivialization of the media and dominating pop culture full of vacuous digital "special effects", this work appeals to real "special affects" in order to introduce us to the daily work in the uruguayan Cinemateque, one of the most respected of the continent. It's not a documentary, although at moments it might feel better than one in approaching it's characters, most of them people who really work at the cinemateque or in the case of Jorge who are film critics, not actors. The surprise comes at the second part of the film, when reality and fantasy overlap and when the main character makes a strange and illuminating voyage through the streets of Montevideo in search of love and to reinvent himself through cinema. A precious jewel recommended only to those with sensibility and intelligence to appreciate this sincere declaration of love.

The first time I saw ''A useful life'' was in a special screening for a group of old critics and journalists. It was in a little theater on a early afternoon. I must confess that I'm a film addicted, however I felt like an alien among all these people who knows film better than me. "A useful life" starts as a old comedy. When Jorge appears using old fashioned technologies, I couldn't contain my laugh because it remind me people and institutions I know in many countries who use audio or video- cassettes tapes and others obsolete media ways to do things, it woke me up tenderness. In the year of 2010 Jorge and his Cinematheque represents an obsolete way of living however it is a real way in many parts of the world. A old fashioned cinema world into the real world, "A Useful Life'' smells this contradiction showing us this bizarre way of living, and reflected warmly. I remembered other films of cinema within the cinema: Cinema Paradise, The Purple Rose of Cairo and my favorite B&W movie: Sunset Boulevard. "A useful life" takes part of this great films list, irony, humor, beauty, and an unusual ending, I like these type of movies. When the film reach its turning point and Jorge starts out his new way of life I felt the energy and enthusiastic expressions of the public, it was incredible! we were happy knowing that he and his way of living can survive, it was a common feeling in the room: cinema can be safe. To people like me, theater, B&W movies, Cinematheques, and movies like "A useful life" cannot disappear, neither dinosaurs.

I see about 5-8 movies a year at the Toronto film festival, and I always see a few unknowns just to take a chance. Sometimes they are great, and sometimes they are incomprehensibly boring. This film represents the latter.It really felt to me like "artsy for the sake of being artsy." Shot in black and white, and slowly paced (which I have no problem with), the film mostly follow a day in the life of a man whose theatre has closed down. The director attempts to be amusing by shooting the film in ways similar to that of classic cinema. This was not amusing to me.Drawn-out, incredibly dull scenes follow. Lengthy scene of main character getting his haircut? Check. Lame references to 8 1/2? Check. The message is that the main character, once his theatre closes down, turns his own life into a movie. Unfortunately, it is not really a movie that anyone would want to watch--and definitely does not nearly approach the quality of any of the movies playing at his own cinema.You may see fans of this film giddy with the fact that the director references classic movies. I guess if you want awkward classic film references presented at an achingly dull pace which makes 70 minutes seem like 2 hours, this is the film for you.