SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

secondtake The Maid (2009)In some ways this film is extraordinary. It's small, limited in its setting, and it has a slightly predictable inevitability. But it is so seeringly well acted and filmed with an honest small budget honesty, it's hard not to appreciate. It also deals with a huge issue in many countries--the use of household help, often now from other, poorer countries, and the ironies and sadness that goes with this class structure.Catalina Saavedra is "the maid" in this, and like the leading role in the even more astonishing "The Hedgehog" we get inside this person's modest and seemingly invisible persona to really get them, or part of them, for a brief spell. It's moving--it made me cry--and revealing. It's not like we don't know that live-in maids lead an unfair, often unhappy life (which they disguise from their employers). But we aren't often faced with it so plainly.This also is revealing about the standard of living in Chile, which is one of the two or three South American countries fully above the "third world" status you might think at first. The fact it did so well in the United States (earning half a million dollars) is not because it was a glimpse of a foreign impoverished country, but because it resembled so well the situation in American households. Those with maids.See this? Yes, certainly. It has a simple cinema-verite style, not quite home movies but shot almost entirely inside the house in a shaky camera. The plot might not be enough for some viewers--after awhile it is what it is without a lot of complications. Or at least not complications we haven't seen before. What carries it is the sincerity of the performances, especially Saavedra's.

Joe Maguire La Nana (The Maid) was written and directed by Sebastiān Silva, and tells the story of a live-in maid working for an affluent Chilean family. The movie opens with Racquel (Catalina Saavedra) sitting alone in the kitchen eating a basic meal; whilst the family she works for dine in much more pleasant surroundings. After giving this first impression of an oppressed servant, Silva then gradually reveals the much more complex relationships which are at play, and Racquel, who has worked for the family for twenty-three years, is shown as more of a troubled member of the family than an employee. As the tagline says, "she's more or less family".Racquel has no life outside of the family home where she has worked for so long, and is suffering a kind of mid-life crisis, causing her to become ill and clash with the family. The family try to help her by bringing in extra staff, which leads to some funny moments as she tries desperately to cling on to her position at the centre of the household. Eventually she makes a friend, begins to get a life outside the home, and disaster is averted.The direction and cinematography are wonderful here; feeling at times more like documentary than fiction. Catalina Saavedra is utterly convincing in the lead role, and is well supported by all. There's very little music in this movie, but there is a theme song call AyAyAyAy which is entirely addictive. This is definitely worth a watch!

evening1 If you enjoy family soap opera and dysfunction, as well as the chance to peep at women as they shower, this is the movie for you.Here we have the story of an attractive, privileged couple somewhere in South America, along with their squabbling children, and the series of maids who put up with them.The main nanny is Raquel, an angry and depressed woman of uncertain intelligence who has sacrificed 20 years to this clan with nothing to show for it but a cramped bedroom and a deplorable attitude.When the stress begins to get to Raquel, the woman of the house decides to get her some help. Raquel proceeds to act out almost psychopathically until one of the maids pummels her and another tries friendship.A little concern and support go a long way with Raquel and she seems to be regaining her grip by the end of the film. I didn't find this story to be that compelling, though it did keep my interest till the end.As hinted above, I resent the filmmaker's gratuitous inclusion of a breast-revealing shower shot of nearly every female in the film. He may be a voyeur; I prefer not to be.

Pablo Muller Impeccable cinema is too often predictable and boring. "The Maid" is far from impeccable. If you are able to excuse not having the best CGI, a team of 20 Hollywood scriptwriters and a big budget, you'll get the chance to experience a movie that comes alive in front of you. In my perspective "The Maid" has been mislabeled as a sociological study. It's just set against this morbid & somehow interesting sociological background of housemaids in Southamerica, but it's much larger than just that. There's a story that develops and characters that are very well defined.Did I mention the acting? Too many times a foreign movie's acting gets good reviews, when it's really a case of finding the foreign ways exotic & attractive, but the acting itself sucks. As a Chilean I can say that this is certainly not the case in "The Maid". Everyone is superb, not just Catalina Saavedra.The American release cuts to 95 minutes, whereas the local one, to 115. I personally think that "Less is More", specially in the Youtube age.