No (2012) - Larraín's enthusiastic, fine film of Chile's 1988 No campaign

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Chilean Movie of the Year

The rainbow of the posters for Pablo Larraín's No doesn't signify a film about LGBT issues as could be thought but instead of a reality where marketing can color reality in a different color

After many year's hard dictatorship under General Pinochet, he issues a general election in 1988 to legitimize his rule. No follows one of the marketing men who work for the No campaign, which struggles to get the Chilean people to vote no to a continued future under Pinochet.

Gael García Bernal (Bad Education/La Mala Educatión (2004)) is very credible as the ad chief, and No provides an interesting look behind the scenes of the political ad campaign creation. Pedro Peirano (Old Cats (2010)) wrote the screenplay, based on the unpublished play El Plebescito by Antonio Skármeta (No Paso Nada (1980)), and Pablo Larraín (The Club/El Club (2015)) directed it.
The structure of the film is rather flat and consists for much of the time of characters who sit (and sometimes stand) and watch new segments on TV, along with us. On the positive side, No refrains from using clichés and insists on telling its story with a lightness and interest for the creative process behind the campaign, which is original.
The same can be said of the decision to shoot the film in 80s-faded video (technically called low definition 3/4 inch Sony U-matic magnetic tape), which is another curious detail about this fine film.

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Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 7.7 mil. $
= Uncertainty
[No was shown at various festivals around the world, including at Cannes where it won the Art Cinema Award. It got nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, losing to Michael Haneke's Amour (2012). It made 2.3 mil. $ (29.9 % of the total gross) in North America. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were its native Chile with 1.2 mil. $ (15.6 %) and France with 0.9 mil. $ (11.7 %). No is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of No?