Julia (2009)

director: Eric Zonca

writers: Eric Zonca, Aude Py

starring: Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek, Kate Del Castillo, Aidan Gould

genre: Drama, Thriller







Sometimes I don’t understand how a movie can have such a disperse and awkward release schedule around the world. Julia was made last year and released in many countries but sadly not ours. After reading interesting things about it and saw its great reception at festivals I decided to give it a shot and wasn’t disappointed. Sometimes these indie films deserve better and its sad that time goes by and they are forgotten and the mass never finds out about them.



As obvious it can be the film is about Julia (Tilda Swinton). Who is Julia? Well she’s an alcoholic who is a danger to herself and everyone around her. With money problems and a lot of unknown bed friends her life isn’t going greatly. After pressure from her close friend Mitch (Saul Rubinek) who still sees the good in her, she starts going to AA meetings. There she meets up with Elena (Kate del Castillo) who wishes to get her son back by kidnapping him. Julia instead of sympathizing with Elena's sad situation she sees an opportunity for money. Her wish will not be that easy. While kidnapping the child happens, things will continuously get worse for her and the kid. After all her failures she will soon have to realize and decide for herself what kind of person she’s going to be.





What makes this film so special is the key character Julia and complexity that interferes with her decision making process. She always sees opportunities for change and with good people around her she still manages to go the other way. But every time she does that you see always her head going a million directions to get out of the situation and maybe do the right thing. Its funny how this film was influenced by Gloria, maybe in the sense of woman with an interesting bond with a child. But I don’t remember her being that much o a crazy lunatic. Here they just took that idea and went fully with a crazier character. But maybe that’s the charm of this film. Erick Zonca the director and co-writer does a fine job of never letting us second guess the logic to the events that happen and plausibility. Instead it seems like a normal progression for Julia’s judgment of situations to get to her redemption.



Moving on i have to not forget to mention the great star of this film Tilda Swinton. For how long has she played in supporting roles in big films like Constantine, The Beach, Michael Clayton and many others. Now we get to see her in bigger roles where she can shine even more. Her choice to play this project shows that getting the Oscar does always mess with your head. She still chooses interesting and challenging films to play in. Let me add that she will probably and better be up for a nomination awards time because her performance doesn’t let you down not even for a second.





Julia is an inspirational film with a great cast, marvelous direction, pitch perfect writing and a story that’s going to leave you at the edge of your seat. Scene after scene you will be wondering how this nightmare plays out for Julia and the little boy she kidnapped.

Personal Rating:

Review by Paul