Gigante
Netflix lists the film as “Latin American Film” and does not provide any more information whatsoever. They are so shameless! Normally you’d think someone would watch it or at least read the summary in order to add at least the most basic tags to the film, such as “romantic” or “funny” or “independent”. That should be fairly easy to find out?
In fact, “Gigante” is not much more than that. It’s a film shot on the cheap but with oh so much love. I feel that the director used what little he had to make the best out of it, using creativity and an artistic eye to offset the low budget he had to work with. Don’t get me wrong, the film is far from looking artsy or avant-garde in any sense, perhaps apart from the fact that the storyline progresses slowly. It’s a perfectly unpretentious little film, about a stalker who, instead of appearing as creepy, is just a nice but extremely shy guy. He’s not the kind who is bitter about being in the friends zone, or complaining about not having a girlfriend, or thinking of women as lesser beings who need to be pampered and protected. All he does is to come to like a woman and spends most of the 90 minutes in the film mustering up the courage to talk to her. The slow progression of the film allows us to see his everyday life pattern and how he truly is a simple and kind-hearted guy. It is perhaps the purity of this one-sided love that makes the film so pleasant and I cannot help but root for its main character.
The director also has a nice eye for composition. He especially seems to like symmetry, which gives the film a calm and clean feeling and almost makes you forget that you are dealing with a low budget film. If anything, I am sure the director spent a lot of time devising and filming “Gigante”.
Just from its description, I would not have picked the movie. The reason I have even considered watching this film is that it ran as a competition entry at the Berlinale and was an audience favorite. I figured there must be something great about the film, and I am glad that I finally saw it. “Gigante” is the kind of obscure film that has a hard time getting more known but oh it would deserve it so much. At least it got a few awards. Unfortunately awards won’t tell you what a sweet, funny movie this is. It’s perfect for enjoying a relaxed evening with friends.