Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

WHO THE HELL IS JULIETTE? is a flimsy premise for a film, however it certainly demonstrates how an astute director can present a non-linear story with a maximum of artistic beauty and emotional warmth. Carlos Marcovich has created a most unusual quasi-documentary about the making of one of his music videos in Cuban during the early 1990's. To ramp up the sex appeal for this nondescript power ballad, he included sultry fashion model, Fabiola Quiroz. And, while in the process of filming, they met a quirky gamine by the name of Yuliet Ortega who is every bit as sexy. WHO THE HELL IS JULIETTE? meanders through the histories and back stories of the principle characters, and haphazardly reveals their personalities. And, also the movie examines the lives of people who just happen to wander by as the film is being shot. Much of the movie is gorgeously photographed on location in Havana, and the sun, sky, sex, and sea blend to create a heady concoction more potent than a very strong Cuba Libre. Yuliet is a real life character like nothing that has been seen on film. Probably she is a prostitute, but has such a bright and irreverent personality, that is is nearly impossible not to fall for her charms. She is equal parts smoldering sex siren, and headstrong and intransigent adolescent, and although she lives a very complicated life in an infamous Cuban barrio, she seems to give as good as she gets. WHO THE HELL IS JULIETTE? probably will offend as many viewers as it captivates, but I found the film a refreshing and spirited look at very low budget, almost tacky, tropical hedonism.

I was introduced to this film by a friend of mine. What drew me tothe story, more than anything, was the theme of fatherless youngwomen. I, too, was a fatherless young woman up until lastNovember when I finally met my biological father--a physicsprofessor from Venezuela. Fabiola, the beautiful Mexican model, and Yuliet, the beautiful,sassy and broken sixteen year old prostitute from Cuba areamazing to watch. Both young women grew up without knowingtheir biological fathers and carry emotional baggage and painlocked up in their hearts. Although, the subject matter of childprostitution, despair and intense identity crisis seem heavy, thefilm is funny and uplifting. It also is emotionally rich and may verywell make you cry. I found myself wishing the best for both youngwomen. Their beauty and strength of character really struck achord in my heart. Thank you to the director and the young womenwho brought so much to this story.

An appropriate festival film that tackled the senses with its incorporated style of documentary, feature film and music clip. The story of a sixteen year old Cuban girl is told through some stunning photography, flashy editing and a MTV style of camera work, (really, Godard was doing this with BREATHLESS in 1959). The life of Juliette, (or is it Yuliette?), crosses paths with a model. They star in a video clip together and the story spreads from there as they both dwell on their lives and the whereabouts of their fathers. I realised midway through that I was grinning at the cheekiness the director, Carlos Marcovich, was up to with a story well told but possibly too long. And from where I was sitting there was a fair few people heading for the exit. They didn't seem to have the patience for the cheeky Juliette, or for that matter, the style of the direction.

This documentary provides an interesting insight into the lives of two very different young women. One (Yuliet) gives us a glimpse of the harsh reality of the life of a young prostitute growing up in Havana Cuba. The other (Fabiola) is an aspiring model on location while shooting a video. While very different, the two share many similarities in that both are young, beautiful, and have had difficult (at best) relationships with their fathers and men in general. These difficulties combined with the dysfunctional nature of their family lives (particularly Yuliet) results in a documentary that delves into the neurosis, depression , and isolation that results from these problems. The movie makes a case for the statement: All men are self-centered, selfish, uncaring jackasses.