Alelí (2019) User Reviews

The bloody deaths are a show apart... Very good...

[RosanaBotafogo · 7/10 · 16 April 2023]

After their father's death, the brothers Alba, Alfredo, Ernesto, Lilián and Silvana start to dispute the ownership of the old beach house. Willing to do anything to get what they want, they put their childhood memories and family togetherness to the test.

I love horror when it involves children mainly because we have "mini talents" acting with mastery, here we have a humanoid alien that never bleeds and without any human empathy, but if we see what has been happening with some children who attack schools, any similarity seems not to be mere coincidence, occult forces and a lot of adult evil influencing these decisions, literally the children of darkness... The bloody deaths are a show apart... Very good...

a house by the sea

[shutupandeal · 9/10 · 17 January 2020]

IT's hard to articulate what I think works so well about the film, but it's incredibly hard to create the balance this film does -- characters who are authentic, funny, full of contradictions, charming, disingenuous, desperate.....There's just a very rich sense of familial relations, people trying to fix their lives but not being able to. The story premise really works nicely to hold it all together. At the end is a film about hard topics that are easy to relate that does not hesitates about facing them with humor, for that I felt grateful. One more star for the outstanding performances.

a look at family interactions

[ksf-2 · 8/10 · 23 April 2020]

From south america. found this one on netflix during the grand shutdown 2020 .. ... great example of families cooped up together, bickering, arguing. they all seem to know each other's triggers, and aren't afraid to say anything to each other, even if it hurts the other. Ernesto and Silvana have a certain kinship, and they both retreat to the beach-house that their father had built years ago. Ernesto seems to be the lynch-pin of the family, trying to keep everything together and solve everyones' issues. but he is clearly overwhelmed, and lashes out repeatedly. The siblings start thinking about what to do with Grandma, now that Grandfather has passed away... they talk about selling off the beach-house, or maybe she will live with one of them. there are some fun moments, and there is a certain function in their dysfunction. and EVERYONE in this family is on their phone the whole time. and Silvana usually lets it go to voicemail, which ticks off the rest of them. Directed by Leticia Jorge, who has directed three films prior to this. she and Ana Guevara appear to be a team, working on the same projects. fun film. a typical family, where people argue and say what they think. it's certainly communication, even if it's not always said politely.

Surprising from the subtle, the best of Uruguayan cinema in recent years.

[jonaealfonso · 8/10 · 23 May 2020]

The premise of the story may seem common, and it is, but the way of telling it and the characters, as peculiar as they are real, manage make people cry and laugh without falling into melodramas or ridicule. After the loss of his father, each brother reacts differently and his feelings are told in a very cinematographic and natural way, which makes the silences as important as the dialogues. The very common dysfunction of this family and the excellent performances achieve a great connection with the viewer, especially if they share culture.