People are voting emotionally.

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Saw this movie at Frightfest Glasgow.And let me just start by saying oh my good god and holy ghost and mother mary, this is so fantastically boring.Yeah, yeah, before you get your sweats in a wrinkle, I get that it is supposed to be "art", and blah-blah. But that doesn't mean it has to be boring.There is close to no horror here, it is absolutely not a horror movie. There is one scene that is actually pretty creepy, but that's it.No more. No more horror for you! Get out!Really. It is a lot of, uhm, silence, and, I don't even know what to call it. Just, super mellow. People looking through key-holes(?), scarfs blowing in the wind. I don't know. I feel a little douchy, because I'm sure the people who made this are nice hardworking people and I doubt they would call this horror. It should definitely not be shown at a horror movie festival. No, no, no.It should be shown at a can-you-stay-awake-though-this-festival.During the whole movie I hoped for the horror to start. In every scene (feels like about 14 hours long) you wait for something to happen, then no. Just a new scene with nothing cool. I was so happy when this movie was over. That's not what you want from a movie!

Yeah, I'm really not a fan of these 'style over substance' style movies. I saw this film's follow-up, THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY'S TEARS, before I saw this, so I had some idea of what to expect, but still this film's almost entire lack of storyline and coherent narrative was enough to finish me off. I get what the filmmakers are doing, and I'm a huge fan of the giallo genre, but this just smacks of pretentiousness and comes across as completely pointless.AMER tells the visual story of a girl whose life is chronicled in various parts. She's subjected to a terrifying experience as a child, and then her perfect life as an adult is brought into jeopardy by the intervention of a mysterious stranger. There's no more to it than that; this is an entirely visual production, with thousands of cuts and edits designed to make the most beautiful experience ever.The images are great, and the soundtrack is hugely evocative, but the whole thing lacks so much substance that it's a real chore to sit through and it seems to go on forever and ever. This is from a guy who's been enjoying the art films of the likes of Werner Herzog and Kim Ki-duk. But AMER is a case of the 'Emperor's new clothes'; the lights are on, and they're very pretty, but nobody's home.

"Amer" has three parts, sections, chapters, whatever you want to call them following three specific periods in the life of Ana, her as a child, virginal teenager, and a young woman experiencing an unusual sexual awakening. Even in the second chapter, you feel something sinister could happen to Ana as she seems to purposely drift towards danger (in the second part's case a group of bikers). The first chapter has young Ana interested in a timepiece clutched in the hands of her grandfather (who may or may not be deceased), experiencing her first sight of sex catching her parents in the throes of ecstasy while attempting to avoid her creepy grandmother (I call her the "lady in black" as she wears a black dress and shawl, her face almost always hidden). The second chapter has a teenage Ana, walking with her mother to a store for groceries (her mother also is there to get her hair colored and dried), chasing after a soccer ball she kicked away from a boy interested in her, finding herself in the company of a rugged motorcycle gang. The third chapter has Ana returning to her childhood palatial home, now in ruin and decay, possibly in jeopardy of becoming the victim of a psychopath in black leather gloves, carrying on his (or her) person a straight razor. In the third chapter is a taxi driver who drove Ana to her home after she got off the train. The direction by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani never allows the film to remain grounded in reality, but instead they opt to pursue the desires and fantasies of the protagonist who seems to have kept her inner yearnings and sexual passions held imprisoned within. But, even more interesting, is how the sexual evolves into a weird psycho-sexual, with Ana's fantasies growing more violent until a victim finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The camera work is up, close, and personal, and if you are not a fan of extreme close-ups of the flesh, of the eyes, of the mouth, then this film will certainly annoy you. There is also a heavy emphasis on sound, whether it be leather rubbing skin or the metal of a straight razor tapping teeth, cloth of a dress beating away thanks to the wind (in the second chapter, we see how the wind flaps open Ana's dress repeatedly, her panties present in quick bursts), the use of comb teeth to pleasure the flesh, or this ominous sound of heavy breath, the directors want us to always be aware of the characters and surroundings revolving around Ana during each chapter of her life. I firmly believe what we witness as a child can have a great impact on our lives as teenagers and adults, with Ana experiencing terror and sex first hand at such an early age, shaping the woman she would become. The use of color is pure Bava and the POV is all Argento, while the more giallo elements feature prominently in the final act, when there's a nice bit of savagery that punctuates Ana's journey into the abyss. Tantalizing shots of hands caressing skin (particularly at the end, with erected nipples further conveying the erotic charge such caress brings), little knowing smirks that signify Ana knows men are watching her closely, and a dress ripping apart at the sewn seams as Ana is caught up in the wind while having her head out the window during the taxi drive to home, all add a sensual quality that is present throughout the movie—this is the ultimate sexual awakening movie that turns dark and deadly. Eye popping cinematography from Manuel Dacosse and impressive editing from Bernard Beets ensure that the film carries a mood and aura so surreal and off-the-wall, we experience all the sights and sounds that are present near and around Ana (even an ant or spider pose a threat to Ana, crawling up her leg or into her hair). A bearded face, an eye through a key hole, aged fingers creeping towards her: all seem to offer the possibility of evil or harm to Ana. "Amer" will be certain to frustrate some viewers while others may find it a tough slog, but I think those interested in something a bit different and unusual might like it.

Amer is structured in three sections and deals with the experience of Ana, who is shown as a child, a teenager, and a young woman. The movie is hyper-stylised, and intensely saturated with colour. Amer is doing its best possible to get you inside Ana's sensorium, although it's also highly voyeuristic at the same time. This dual perspective seems to coincide with the mixture of a male and female director, and produces a view of Ana en ronde.Reviewers have made a lot about the relation of this movie to giallo, and indeed the film does contain many cine-literate references to the genre; however giallo fans may be disappointed by this steer. Whilst there are quotes of visual motifs, reuse of classic soundtracks, and a similar overall atmosphere, the movie isn't a murder mystery. Stylistically it's more likely to appeal to those who like late Argento, films such as Stendhal Syndrome, which is bonkers, and has a hysterical female lead, or those who liked the dream sequence at the start of Lizard in a Woman's Skin.I also think that the giallo focus doesn't lend one to expect what is more a film about the shock of life, this confused, vulnerable, painful, tantalising, quizzically rich shiver, over in a flash.The voyeuristic perspective of the movie is certainly arousing to those oriented in line with the mise-en-scène. After the example of Russ Meyer, Amer contains a mons-veneris-fixated shot, here dogging teenage Ana from behind, capturing the diaphanous ripples of her minidress hem in a blatant long take.The first sequence, reminded me very much of my childhood dreams, intense, baroque, magic lantern type dreams, at a time of life when darkness was dark, not eigengrau. Another type of nostalgia Amer induced was of bloodfulness, of being at an age where one still has vasomotor tone, and this exquisite feeling of warmth. There's a capturing of the sensitivity of youth (that time when coffee wasn't purple, to make a "Welt am Draht" joke). Ana's bed is shown canted at night, all in orange against a blue curtain and a black backdrop, this is the phantasmagoria of a child's nighttime. There's also a well-captured feeling of the pre-moral state of childhood, that age before seven when children merely behave themselves out of respect for the power you hold over them.One other thing the film is good at is bringing you into its world, by including imaginative yet very recognisable stimuli, such as sitting down on leather in an over-heated car, trilling the teeth of a comb against your mouth and the sound of contact on teeth (cf. the nervous rattling of a glass against teeth in Suspiria).There has been a criticism of Amer as a long short film, but, like a foot long hot dog, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It's just unusual for a form such as Amer to receive funding as a feature.