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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

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Thursday, October 21, 2010

entry arrow2:02 PM | In Leo's Room

You know how it is. There's nothing much to do as evening deepens. So you go to and through a torrent site, and download at random some title that seems a little interesting. But you don't expect anything. The previous two movies you've downloaded before this one went straight to the trash bin after a few minutes of inept filmmaking in gross display.



So you didn't think Enrique Buchichio's El Cuarto de Leo (Leo's Room) [2009], a Uruguayan film, would be any different. Maybe a smidgen better, but that's it. But there you are, finding yourself wallowing in the glorious byt understated gravity of everybody's performance, especially that of Martín Rodríguez as the titular character who lends the film just the right amount of bravado and vulnerability. It's all in his face, the way his eyes winces and brightens, and the way he bites his lips. The way his character navigates loss and being lost is rendered so well, you begin to see your own story right there on the screen. Leo's pain, and that of Caro's, becomes universal. There are no hysterics here, no go-for-broke melodrama -- but it had you crying buckets. You come to the end, and you know you have just seen a great film.

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