SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

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

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

samiamten first things first. this is a movie, not a documentary. if you don't know the difference, you shouldn't be involved with a website like this. i have read a lot of comments about how much this movie sucked. i have only this to say. it obviously stuck with people long enough to get online and write a "review" about it. it's always easy to tear a movie apart for what you didn't like about it. i feel sorry for the people who do that though. watching movies is much more enjoyable if you look for things you do like about them. this movie has more than a few redeeming qualities that have been blatantly overlooked in some pretty hateful rants. just to let you in on a few... 1 - the accents aren't perfect. get over it. once you move on you'll listen to what they are saying and not how they sound when they're saying it. there is some pretty clever and realistic dialogue in this movie. 2 - leonor varela is wonderful in this movie. i saw that some were accusing her of overacting the role. i just want to clarify that she is portraying an actress from a small village in spain. and actress playing an actress would seem like overacting to the people who didn't catch that. 3 - the overall message, while maybe elementary in tone, is a good one.americano deserves at least one watch before it is attacked. it was very enjoyable. not great, but certainly not bad.

mjsantoro What Drivel ! How could anybody consider this movie anything but amateur film making at it's worst. I've seen better home movies. No story, no content, no start or finish, just utter nonsense. The best part of this movie were the closing credits, and the relief that you feel when this garbage finally comes to an end. The only reason I sat and suffered through the entire ordeal, was due to the possibility of encountering the good part, based on earlier reviews. The good part never arrives, and you realize that your time has been wasted. My advice is to save this movie for some late night when you have insomnia, and prefer not taking a drink or medication, since this movie will put you right to sleep.

Jeremiah Lewis Writer/Director Kevin Noland's debut feature, Americano, starts out large and loud, with a birds-eye view of a Spanish crowd packed into a plaza like conquistadors on a gold-bound ship. It is the annual Pamplona running of the bulls festival, and the anticipation and jubilation rise on the air in a celebration of the very Spanish tradition that culminates in a series of duels between matadors and their bull partners. Americano is rife with metaphor, utilizing both Spanish festival traditions and the surrounding land and cityscapes to hammer home the theme of finding oneself at the crux of a life changing moment.Joshua Jackson plays Chris, a twenty-something whose days at the festival are the last before returning to the States for a career in a possibly lucrative, but soul-deadening office. With his two friends Ryan (Timm Sharp) and Michelle (Ruthanna Hopper) in tow, the three are in high festival mood when Chris' backpack is stolen. Suddenly, the future looks even closer, and Chris begins having doubts about going back to the States. Here, I feel alive he writes in his journal, as he participates in the mad dash running of the bulls, escaping into the stadium where the bright sunshine overwhelms Chris in his ecstasy (no matter that the film was overexposed for that particular scene...the sentiment is there).At a curious ex-pat bar owned and operated by an eccentric (Dennis Hopper) who shouts bizarre and cryptic sayings like "Be very wary of the con...the Ameri-con...Americano!", Chris meets the vivacious Adela (Leonor Varela), a beautiful actress who takes to his plight and invites them all to her villa, set in the wide sweeping vista of an Iberian paradise. Here Chris really takes to heart his impending future and begins to question what he wants out of life. His friends too, begin to see cracks in their own self-built wall of security, and suddenly their lives have become a bit more complicated.If the plot sounds hazy and indistinct, that's because it is, but not to its detriment. While a bit more structure might be helpful to create a sense of the whole, Americano dwells not on the outward events, but on the inward spirit and thought of its characters. Using Hemmingway's The Sun Also Rises as Chris' guidebook and the film's thematic conceit, Kevin Noland displays no urgency in presenting his vision of the anxieties and enthusiasm of young adulthood, its trials, its secrets, and its ambivalence. We aren't given easy answers, but the questions posed are introspective, to be taken in softly and quietly, with a sincerity of expectation for seeking out what's right and real and true.In the end, Americano is a finely tuned, though technically flawed in some respects, film with fine performances from Joshua Jackson and Dennis Hopper, though the revelation is Leonor Varela, who injects her character with a sense of the sublime, an earthy angel with a taste for the dangerous and exotic, but not without a sense of home. Timm Sharp supplies some good comedic moments, and though understated and slightly old for the part, Ruthanna Hopper shows she's a capable actress. Noland's direction is subtle. The film suffers from a few technical problems, including poor ADR sync and a few scenes where footage appears overexposed. However, these should not be cause to miss a wonderful debut from an ambitious and talented writer and director.

dynamitellama AMERICANO is the story of three Americans spending their last "free" days traveling in Europe. They only have a few more days before they return to the States to start their jobs, pay their debts, and enter the "real world". Reminiscent of THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES and THE PUFFY CHAIR, AMERICANO is about discovering the individual. Chris (McKinley) has a good job lined up but is reticent about returning after meeting the enigmatic Riccardo and beautiful Adella. Ryan and Michelle inspect the depths of their relationship. With a beautiful score, the film puts us into the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Chris and Ryan and filled with excitement and anticipation; Chris is inspired by Hemingway, ready to jot this adventure down in his journal. Fate appears in the form of the disappearance of his backpack, and now his plans start to fall apart. Upon meeting the local Adella and being urged to live his life, not the on expected by him, by Riccardo, Chris begins not only a pursuit of Adella but of his own soul and character. Ryan and Michelle, as they begin to near their return to the real world, begin to question their own lives together and what is real vs. simple contentment. The music is extraordinary. While it is a little tough to believe these actors are post-college age, the acting is top-notch for an indie film. The romantic scenes between Chris and Adella are exquisite.