Who payed the critics

Waste of time

One of the best films i have seen

Amateur movie with Big budget

La Niña Santa is one of the smartest, sexiest, tenderest, funniest, quiet-and-unassuming movies I've seen in the last half dozen years. It delivers a velvet glove, emotional coup-de-grace (despite the diminuendo ending), and for precisely the reasons the other reviewer adjudged it 'one of the worst movies' she'd ever seen. Isn't curious how we all differ?; the screenplay is intelligent without being smart-alec, nuanced in the most tender of manners, and slyly humorous. Yes, it takes 13 minutes, or more, to figure out what's what and that is only one of the film's glories. What may seem like amateurish framing is clearly a masterful use of the camera in a sensual-naturalistic mode. Its hard to believe this is writer-director's (Lucrecia Martel) second feature film; there is an understated command of all the elements of cinema that reminds one of Kieslowski (and the brothers Dardenne; Truffaut); and perhaps that is another reason the film has elicited strong reaction.The Kieslowski reference is not casual, for the theme of the film is the subtle palpitations of the heart, in particular feminine desire, conjoined with a moral dilemma. Much of the plot focuses on Amalia, the teenage daughter of Helena, a sophisticated divorcée who runs a hot-springs resort where a doctor's conference is being held. Dr. Jano, the third protagonist, takes a somewhat perverse fancy to Amalia, 'casually' rubbing himself up against her in a crowd on the street packed around a man performing on a theremin. This incident (which is reprised) in conjunction with Amalia's religious - 'what is our vocation in God?' - instruction (also reprised) serves to awaken Amalia's desire in, what to her, is a disturbing and profound manner: she conceives that she has been given a 'sign' of her vocation to save the soul of this anonymous man.Complications arise, mostly for Dr. Jano, when he meets Helena in the hotel bar and falls gently into the perfume of their mutual attraction. Amalia keeps following him, haunting him in a way he is not comfortable with, all the while he is being drawn to Helena and she to him. Slowly it dawns on him that Amalia is Helena's daughter and he realizes, but he alone, that he is caught in a moral bind.One of the supreme glories of this story is the tender way in which the group of teenage girls, Amalia and her friends, are represented (again this reminds one of Kieslowski, the brothers Dardenne, Truffaut). They are seen to be curious and critical-skeptical, naive and wise, awakening to a world of desire about which they are 'technically' ignorant and innocent. María Alche as Amalia, has a face and a presence that is at once homely and luminous. It is so rare, and so moving, to encounter a story in which the dilemmas of teenagers are given as much credence as adults, treated by the story-teller (both script and camera) with respect, compassion, love, and understanding; and this is even more rare, I think, when it concerns teenage girls. If you love women, whatever your gender, you might just fall in love with La Niña Santa.A revelation; Lucrecia Martel (writer-director) is clearly a new and major point of reference on the world cinematic horizon.

This film received such critical raves, that I decided to rent it on DVD. What a huge mistake. This isn't even mediocre...it's horrible. The first hour of the picture wasn't even necessary. The "story" (and I use that term loosely) takes shape in the last 45 minutes or so. And then I waited for the ending to possibly make sense of this crap and they just roll credits?! Here's some more good adjectives to describe this film: excruciating, over-rated, and pretentious. One of the worst movies of 2005, and knowing how bad 2005 was, that's saying a lot. The only thing that makes me feel better is seeing other User Comments on IMDb ripping into this film as well.

I watched this movie on DVD and I almost suffer a cardiac arrest - terrible piece of art!!!. I had watched The Swamp a couple of years ago, which I found even worse, unbearable really!!!. Lucrecia I'm sorry, but I don't really understand you at all. On top of that, I had the patience to go through all the "making of the movie" and the interviews that the DVD brings, I could not believe all the rubbish I was hearing. Not only you, but everyone who spoke in those interviews looked like complete charlatans. Trying to justify every single bit of the story with silly arguments.Absolutely pointless to keep wasting my time - please do not watch this crap!Cheers, Esteban BernasconiPS: tried to write in Spanish but the system does not accept it!

"The Holy Girl (La Niña santa)" effectively captures the obsessive, all-consuming passions of adolescent girls, like an Argentinian "Thirteen" suffused by Catholicism instead of California pop culture.Young teens are shown exploring their faith as equally as their bodies and the new found power of their sexuality, as a religious instructor, Mía Maestro of TV's "Alias" protectively, and finally impatiently, tries to channel their avidity into becoming a nun.But one of the girls comes into contact with the panoply of the perfidy of adults in an intriguing situation, as part of the family of resident managers of a resort hotel. The film focuses on the week when a medical convention brings partying doctors into her and her mother's sights.Writer/director Lucrecia Martel adds an interesting element, recalling but much less brutally than "Blue Car" and "Fat Girl (a ma soeur)," when an older abuser crosses paths with the curious adolescent. Ironically, here he is a nondescript, middle-aged husband and father but he gets off on anonymous rubbing up in crowds (which is eerily accompanied by a street musician playing the spooky-sounding theremin), that she confuses for more direct attention into what she transfers as her religious "mission" (at least that's how it's translated).The parallel story with the flirtatious mother is less convincing, even with some sort of jealous motivation because her ex's young trophy wife is now pregnant and her boredom with some sort of ongoing, casual relationship she has with another hotel employee.The film ends on an oddly sympathetic note for the fetishist as his needed anonymity is gradually lost over the course of the week, with a negative view of the teenage girls as they manipulatively deflect adult notice from their experiments.The English subtitles are very awkwardly translated. Some of the English words have a disjointed connotation and are downright confusing.The cinematography is very lush and warm, reflecting the girls' overheated emotions.