Amer is truly a work of art. We don't normally pop up newer films on this site, but this is one who's praises I had to sing about. A stunning mix of emotion, images, sound, and color, this is high exploitation art at its finest. A solid smack to the senses that leaves you stunned by its beauty and vision. If that doesn't get you to go out and find it, then read on!

Amer is not so much interested in plot as it is interested in situations and exploiting these situations (3 of them to be exact) to their greatest, finest, painstaking detail. The story is about Ana, but not so much about her as it is about her experiences, 3 key moments in her life that defined her somehow. The first third of the film introduces us to a wide-eyed little girl who lives in a repressed household full of mysteries. There is a dying old man in a locked room, who may be dead already. There is a strange woman in black who may be a ghost, but might also be an odd family member. What we do know is that Ana is scared of both of them, but her child's curiosity takes her (and us along with her) on an intriguing, nearly silent sojourn through the cavernous house of mysteries that leads to a bizarre conclusion.

The middle portion of the film finds Ana as a saucy teenager, thick lipped and braless and looking for something she never seems to find. We focus on her eyes, her lips, the corners of her mouth as they chew her strands of thick, dark hair and we instantly know there is more to this girl than meets the eye. This segment begins as we follow her and her mother on a trip into the city. The lengthy walk down the dirt road allows us to study them and their relationship in a way dialog would just ruin. In town, her mother disappears to get her hair done and Ana explores the labyrinthine city with a young boy who tries to impress her with his soccer skills. She finds greater stimulation when she comes upon a group of bikers by the side of the road. The sequence that follows is exquisite in its pacing and composition. Every shot is beautiful and masterful in the way it shows us Ana falling in love (or lust) for these rough men that seem to be exactly what she is looking for. Not a word is said between her and the group of interested bikers, but volumes are spoken by her eyes and corners of her mouth. She is suddenly derailed by her mother, who drags her away from what could have been the defining moment in her life.

The third act of the film introduces us to the plot, or what I suppose is the meat on the bones...but oh what lovely bones this movie has. We are introduced to a grownup Ana, who returns to the mysterious mansion, now deserted. Her parents must have long since died and now she is in charge of the property. After a bizarre bath where she either washes herself in her urine or her lady juice, we start to realize that she is being watched. There is a black gloved killer on the loose, straight from an Argento picture, and he is after Ana. The final twenty minutes of film are just as beautiful as the rest of movie, but even more harrowing by the growing suspense and violence inflicted by this mysterious killer. In the end, we are given no answers, except those we come up with, and I applaud that.

I will be the first one to say that this movie is not for everyone. It has almost no narrative drive, and the fact that I liked it surprises me because I am huge on plot, but when I understood that the language of the movie was in images I was able to settle into it and enjoy the amazing ride. Written and directed by a husband and wife, Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani, this ode to giallo pictures isn't a straight out giallo until the end, but the build up is masterful. This is the kind of slasher film Ingmar Bergman or Fellini might have made. Some will be turned off by the highly-stylized filmmaking, but I found it a breath of fresh air in a world where point-and-shot random framing has become the norm. I want to know the director is there, showing me what I have to be looking at, because I know he (or they in this case) are there. I can always tell when a director had a firm hand in the actual structure of the filmmaking processes and with this one it is easy to see. Every shot looks like a painting, and every shot is perfect. It may not be an easy film to get through for most people, but please do yourself a favor and get through it. The ending is fantastically graphic and surprisingly hair-raising. Hell, even the quiet, subtle moments in this picture make your hair stand on end by the simple fact that we become so intimate with Ana and it starts to feel like we are as much the voyeur as the killer with the black gloves.

- Jose Prendes