The Prince

Muy buenaa, me mantuvo enganchada hasta el final. Con dolor de guata en momentos y un par de lágrimas en otros (por su violencia frontal, cruda; incómoda, sexual).

Hermosa dirección de arte; de vestuario, de escenografía. Las actuaciones muy bacanes, quedé con gusto a poco en cuanto al background de los personajes, especialmente el protagonista, un tipo complicado pero magnético, con su locura encerrada y narcisismo casi tímido. Me confundió el hilo narrativo llegando al final, pero la disfruté harto.

Muy buenaa, me mantuvo enganchada hasta el final. Con dolor de guata en momentos y un par de lágrimas en otros (por su violencia frontal, cruda; incómoda, sexual).

Hermosa dirección de arte; de vestuario, de escenografía. Las actuaciones muy bacanes, quedé con gusto a poco en cuanto al background de los personajes, especialmente el protagonista, un tipo complicado pero magnético, con su locura encerrada y narcisismo casi tímido. Me confundió el hilo narrativo llegando al final, pero la disfruté harto.

Frustrating at parts and yet the few moments of tenderness do hit deep. While there is a conflation of violence with homosexuality at times and even homosexuality as a temporary cure for loneliness, The Prince does not necessarily conflate the homosexuality of the titular Prince (a prison alias) with such things. The flashbacks can be jarring, but as the in-prison violence ramps up so does our understanding of The Prince’s violence that landed him in prison to begin with. The drama of it all is slow with lighting lifted directly from arthouse and exploitation film alike.

Frustrating at parts and yet the few moments of tenderness do hit deep. While there is a conflation of violence with homosexuality at times and even homosexuality as a temporary cure for loneliness, The Prince does not necessarily conflate the homosexuality of the titular Prince (a prison alias) with such things. The flashbacks can be jarring, but as the in-prison violence ramps up so does our understanding of The Prince’s violence that landed him in prison to begin with. The drama of it all is slow with lighting lifted directly from arthouse and exploitation film alike.

Es cruda, violenta, sexual. No es para los que buscan romance ni para el que busca lo morboso, está justo en el medio.

Es cruda, violenta, sexual. No es para los que buscan romance ni para el que busca lo morboso, está justo en el medio.

A unique take on the prison drama that has plenty of drama and emotion, but lacks cohesion and rushes things to the point where relationships don't make much sense. The Prince feels like an HBO miniseries that got squished and condensed beyond recognition into a minty minute movie. There is so much left unanswered and unexplored. Every single relationship feels like it jumps forward a hundred steps every fifteen minutes and never has room to breath. We get all these interesting plot threads introduced that are never picked up again. Our main character has a compelling story, but his characterization is crazy and his personality shifts on a dime. As a straight man, I'm not entirely sure I'm the target audience as The Prince seems to be classified as a "homoerotic" movie, but it really doesn't feel any different than a regular prison drama other than it has some gay characters. There isn't anything pornographic about it and it has a lot less sex and nudity than your average premium channel original (The first episode of Game of Thrones surpasses this film real quick). I am wholly unfamiliar with the Chillian prison system, so I can't speak to its realism on that front, but even though I think the development of emotions and relationships was incredibly rushed and uneven, they felt real. I think another half hour of just defining these preexisting relationships and slowing down the progression of the new one's would have helped this movie a lot. It's still a good film, but there seems to be so much missing from the story. (Also the ending could really have used a stronger statement)

A unique take on the prison drama that has plenty of drama and emotion, but lacks cohesion and rushes things to the point where relationships don't make much sense. The Prince feels like an HBO miniseries that got squished and condensed beyond recognition into a minty minute movie. There is so much left unanswered and unexplored. Every single relationship feels like it jumps forward a hundred steps every fifteen minutes and never has room to breath. We get all these interesting plot threads introduced that are never picked up again. Our main character has a compelling story, but his characterization is crazy and his personality shifts on a dime. As a straight man, I'm not entirely sure I'm the target audience as The Prince seems to be classified as a "homoerotic" movie, but it really doesn't feel any different than a regular prison drama other than it has some gay characters. There isn't anything pornographic about it and it has a lot less sex and nudity than your average premium channel original (The first episode of Game of Thrones surpasses this film real quick). I am wholly unfamiliar with the Chillian prison system, so I can't speak to its realism on that front, but even though I think the development of emotions and relationships was incredibly rushed and uneven, they felt real. I think another half hour of just defining these preexisting relationships and slowing down the progression of the new one's would have helped this movie a lot. It's still a good film, but there seems to be so much missing from the story. (Also the ending could really have used a stronger statement)