At the very beginning we are welcomed with Wilhelm Reich's quote: "A sexually repressed society will resort to violence". He is an international trader - a speculator who grew up in a typical American family devoted to power and success. She is an illegal immigrant from Nicaragua, and works as a volunteer in a free clinic. When they meet it's a collision of worlds (quite literally) with plenty of sex and conversations about politics, philosophy, and other worldly pleasures. This movie very effectively raises its voice against the culture in which violence is considered to be top-notch entertainment, while sex is taboo and shame.
Now & Later
2011
Action / Drama
Now & Later
2011
Action / Drama
Plot summary
Bill was a golden boy of the banking industry. Living the good life in Los Angeles, he had a nice house, a good job, and a loving wife. And then he got greedy, lost everything, and was sentenced to an eight-year prison term. Instead of giving up his freedom, he jumps bail. While in hiding, his former driver Luis finds him and offers to get him out of the country. But Bill must hole up for a few days more before the truck will leave. Luis brings Bill to Eddie's, a cheap Central American dive in downtown LA. There, Bill meets Angela, a free spirited Latina. Bill has been on the run for weeks; he's depressed and suicidal. Angela offers to take him in when she discovers he has nowhere to go. Bill had always succeeded when he focused on the future, but finds himself at loose ends with the present. He was always concerned with the next big sale, buying a bigger house, a bigger car. He never learned to stop and enjoy the moment. His ambition and his desire for more power and money is what led him to overextending his reach at the bank and ultimately to a prison sentence. Angela, on the other hand, lives in the now. She doesn't worry about tomorrow - she'll deal with that when it happens. She believes in living life to the fullest and experiencing everything as deeply and as fully as possible. In her apartment, a "living scrapbook," Angela exposes Bill to a whole new way of thinking. She explains how his actions at the bank had far reaching consequences for other people, something he'd never considered. She begins to show him how to live in the now and to really feel things, not just breeze through life focused on what will happen in the future. Angela points out to Bill that his problems were caused by the American way of life. For Angela, who migrated to the States from Nicaragua, a country that had been devastated by civil war, every thing she had or was given was deeply appreciated. As a child, she had very little: the Contras had killed her parents and her grandmother raised her. For Angela, the American way of life - always running, running after more money to buy more things and paying more bills - seemed so disconnected from living. She tells Bill that, "rather than enjoying what you had, you killed yourself for the future." For Angela, sex is another way to live in the now. Bill, raised in a traditional family where desires were hidden, had sex with his wife once a week and stopped masturbating in college because he felt it was childish. Angela, on the other hand, believes there is no reason not to find pleasure wherever she can. She wants to enjoy life as much as possible, and finds the greatest physical joy in life is through sex. She pushes Bill's sexual boundaries to open his mind to new experiences, and to focus on the now, not the future. Through Angela, Bill is forced to look at his mindset and his old way of life. He comes to terms with the excess of his American lifestyle and makes the connection between wealth and global policies. After confronting his ex-wife, and strengthened through Angela's generous spirit, he is able to leave his country and find a new life.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
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A sexually repressed society will resort to violence
Ignore the distractions, just relax & enjoy this beautiful film
I could analyze this film as a critique of the American Dream and a very good one it is.
I could also point out the mass of very good social commentary and analysis of modern Western ethics.
And I'm sure the prudes will be put off by the very intimate sex scenes while the pervy types will be distracted from the story by them. So I could implore you not to let this happen and, instead, just allow these scenes to draw you into a feeling of intimacy with the characters.
I could also go on about how much the two lead actors must have put into this to bring their characters to life so vividly.
But instead I'll just say "Enjoy what is a very beautiful film on several levels".
btw I reserve 10 points for really, REALLY excellent films that stand out well above others. Otherwise I would have given this 10.
Explicit
Explicit images (read nudity),but also penetration have made their way into mainstream movies (no pun intended). And while the term mainstream might feel like a stretch given to a low budget movie, this is not a single case of this thing happening. Low budget movies (or even higher budget movies like Nymphomaniac) do not hold back anymore. Caligula did that many decades ago, but back then it was more like a single case scenario (if you don't count some "horror" movies who had some explicit intercourse in them as well).
But back to this one, which is depicting a relationship and a financial situation that might make feel people uncomfortable (even more uncomfortable than two people having sex together, while everything is shown). There is drama between all the nudity and it does work on a basic level. The acting is a bit off, which might have given this a bit of a boost, but overall the story is decent, though annoying at times. If you rent/watch it for the obvious non-story related reasons, you might feel disappointed, don't blame the movie for it though - on the other hand don't expect this to be a superb drama