Reviews of film "TOUCHED" at the Opening of the Dominican Republic Global Film Festival
Touched, the film directed by Dan Neira, was a wise choice of opening Funglode Film Festival for his human character of family drama
By JOSÉ RAFAEL SOSA.
Courtesy of Severo Rivera – Revista Informativa
SANTO DOMINGO. The film Touched could serve as an orientation for the mechanisms, talents and techniques for commercial filmmaking in the Dominican Republic. In that sense the film represents an incentive toward a trend that allows for the elimination of themes and conditioning elements that lead the local industry toward comedies, almost in a mandatory way, starring figures from the TV environment as a means to guarantee investments and production standards.
III Dominican Global Film Festival
Opens with “Touched” Courtesy of Clave Digital
By Félix Manuel Lora
“Touched” A Family Drama
“Touched”, like so many family dramas, seeks, through the mother-daughter relationship, to clarify the conflicts that have grown over time and to arrive at a moment of possible forgiveness.
The film tells the story of Monique, a woman whose own personality disorder has affected her daughter from the time she was an infant. Nilsa, the daughter now 15 years-old, is sensitive and good-humored, but as a result of being confined to a wheel chair, she has become submissive in the face of her controlling mother.
The film, based on the real life story of producer and scriptwriter Jackie Watson, is introduced in a way that leaves little left in the dramatic framework thus making it less effective.
A plan is hatched and Monique and Nilsa move to Los Angeles with the promise, made by an old boyfriend of Monique, of a place to stay. When things don’t work out, they have to fend for themselves and that is when Monique decides to look for work in a bar. It is there she meets someone who helps her find a place near Esther, an elderly woman and the director of a children’s choir. At this point Monique meets and falls in love with Jimmy, a young singer.
Within this context, altered by their circumstances, the characters move about, trying to visualize the reasons that justify their lives but they never manage to learn the essential elements of the own nature and actions.
Shirly Brener as Monique seems inconsistent and never quite reaches the level of her role, pushing Holliston Coleman as Nilsa to seek a of equilibrium that seems almost natural. To this, Aloma Wright as Esther skillfully achieves the role of supporting actress.
Shalim Ortiz, among his talents as a singer and actor, takes the shortest route with little pretense in his interpretation but without making it clear that he could have made a greater effort.
This story, which verges on being a tear-jerking melodrama, was shot by Dan Neira’s camera who, as a commercial cameraman, made music videos and such films and TV shows as Immortal Combat (1994) and Journey Through the Bible Lands (1997). He tries to sustain the film by the most fragile point which is the story itself and the mostly weak dialogues.
But we understand the clear purpose of the story, without it being a discourse on domestic violence, is a good excuse to show a variation of love and forgiveness, without justification, when in fact, it is a drama about life and nothing more.
Noviember 19, 2009, 9:57 PM “Touched” Opens to Acclaim at the III Dominican Global Film Festival
Courtesy of HOY Digital By MOISÉS BALBUENA
The third edition of the Dominican Republic Global Film Festival officially opened on Wednesday with the screening of the movie “Touched,” which was well received by the public attending the opening ceremony at the Carlos Piantini Hall of the Eduardo Brito National Theater.
The film relates the suffering endured by a teenager, Nilsa, as a result of her mother’s mental problems. However, despite the physical and psychological abuse on the part of her mother, the possibility of forgiveness is always there.
Holliston Coleman, as Nilsa, captivated the audience whose praise was overwhelming.
The film, a co-production of Shalim Ortiz, Jackie Watson and Olivier Rossman and directed by Dan Neira, also included Shalim Ortiz and Shirly Brener in the cast.
"Touched", A Scoop for the Dominican Republic Courtesy of ListinDiario.com
By Jenniffer Soto
Santo Domingo- Dominican talent is giving people lots to talk about these day especially when it comes to film. The topic on everyone’s mind at the moment is the movie “Touched.”
The film’s producers, one of whom is Dominican Shalim Ortiz who also plays in the movie, chose the III Dominican Republic Global Festival to officially premiere their movie. The entire cast, including Shalim, spoke to the national and international press yesterday at the Santo Domingo Hotel where they gave a few hints about the inauguration of the Festival.
They said the purpose of the film, which took them five years to make, is to raise awareness rather than for commercial ends. According to Shalim, this festival is the best venue to premiere the film because of the festival’s high quality. He decided that the film should be here “when I saw the incredible work being done by the festival’s organizers in achieving such a high level of success as well as being so complete and complex at the same time.”
“Touched,” which deals with the issue of child abuse, is based on the real life story of Jackie Watson, one of the film’s producers.
“The main objective of the film was not just to expose the physical and emotional pain and abuse, in this case between a mother and daughter, it also deals with the issue of forgiveness,” said Jackie Watson.
Actors in the film include Hollison Coleman, Shirly Brener, Aloma Wright, Sevy Di Cione and Shalim Ortiz.
III Dominican Republic Global Film Festival - 2009
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