Director: Pablo Larraín
Writer: Pedro Peirano
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Nestor Cantillana,
Antonia Zegers, Luis Gnecco, Alejandro Goic
Synopsis: During Chile’s 1988 referendum the Government implemented
two advertising campaigns for a new election. It included a “Yes” and “No” cause
for Augusto Pinochet. No focuses on
the “No” campaign and one young advertising executive, René
Saavedra (Bernal), and his method and work towards defeating Pinochet.
No may be a relatively small film – with low production costs and
no star-studded cast – but it makes an assured impression. Tonally it’s quite
unique, becoming a quaint political thriller/drama (not your average
description of that type of genre). However, the stand-out feature of the film is
arguably its aesthetic – filmed with a U-Matic and looking incredibly
old-school, No looks so different to
the RED or 2K A-grade cameras of today that it immediately grabs your attention.
The seemingly archaic aesthetic,
laced with blurred lines and crackly pixels, is jarring at first. Once your
eyes adjust to the HD-free cinematography the style does, in fact, become
unnoticeable and perfectly fitting for the capturing of the era and events.
Much like the advertising agenda
of the film, No is very clever at
hitting all the right notes in order for it to get noticed. First off, the lead
actor, Gael Garcia Bernal, has a fantastic screen presence who perfectly
embodies the everyman hero. Watching as he controls the advertising campaign
(experiencing comedy, peril and romance along the way) is fascinating, more so
due to the character being a young man in the company of tired, old officials.
Under the circumstances of taking on an established power figure, Bernal’s
character does find himself on the wrong paths; these scenes are particularly
tense sandwiched between dialogue-heavy or (contrasting) comic moments. The
aforementioned scenes of heavy dialogue are the only drawback to the film,
leaving No to drag in certain
places where action and rumination are mismatched in the narrative’s arrangement.
The light-hearted nature of No will be one helpful factor in
generating a wider audience (along with its Oscar nomination). The theme song
created for the “No” campaign will inevitably get stuck in your head for weeks
and the general “kill them with kindness” efforts of the adverts shown will
additionally remain memorable. Those not particularly interested in politics
should be able to find something in No,
whether it be the humour or the execution of the campaign. Because of what No aims to show you and the level of
strangeness in the “No” operation, it becomes a striking film deserving of audiences
and accolades.
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