Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...'Fuerza Bruta: Look Up' (created in Argentina by Diqui James and executed in Chicago with seamless precision and fluidity) uses some of the same techniques and vocabulary as Cirque and Blue Man. Women and water appear together in Cirque's Vegas show “Zumanity,” and the fabric-filled tactile moments in “Fuerza Bruta” recall the audience-surfing paper in Blue Man. But De La Guarda does its set pieces in a very distinctive urban way. In the most arresting image of this show, a man plagued by a rapidly moving treadmill finally smashes triumphantly through a wall of white cardboard boxes. There are several other such images — mostly driven by dehumanizing machinery — of office-like persons letting loose."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...However you choose to describe it, "Fuerza Bruta: Look Up" (and your neck does take a beating), the 65-minute spectacle, devised by Argentinean theater maestro Diqui James, seems to evoke a thrill in audiences. Suffice it to say that if you enjoy standing in a crowd, watching wind machines blow in artificial fog and litter, have a taste for techno-pop music that can alter your heartbeat and can be dazzled easily by an ensemble of 10 fearless acrobat-dancer-gymnast types cavorting at breakneck speed on a variety of surfaces (and giving the illusion of live animation), this is the show for you."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Four women writhe on a kind of clear-bottomed Slip 'n Slide hung overhead. There's smoke, light flashes, and loud noises. This spectacle from Argentinian director Diqui James is an action movie without the exposition. A commercial without a product. A circus without genuine skills. It's pornography without sex acts. A rave without chaos. It's cool, inventive, and perfectly soulless."
Copley News Service - Recommended
"... As I gazed at the audience around me on opening night, I saw nothing but smiles of pleasure from the younger customers. This was their thing—kinetic, relentless, continuous head banging. And it’s difficult not to get caught up in the sheer intensity of the sound-and-light fireworks swirling above and around the patrons. The stage is supposed to hold up to 880 customers and the sweaty intimacy of the crowd definitely enhances the entertainment experience. There is a “we are all in this together” camaraderie that comes from patrons feeling they are part of the show and not just passive spectators."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...In short, attending "Fuerza Bruta: Look Up" is like going to a really exotic (and expensive) techno club where the music happens to get interrupted by crazy spectacles every night."
Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended
"...Don’t expect exposition or explanation. Just free your mind, gather your friends, put on your dancing shoes and get to Fuerza Bruta: Look Up before this brilliantly creative crazy train leaves the station!"
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...
We suspect we might have enjoyed the spectacle more if it hadn’t been quite as crowded as it was on press night; despite the “promenade” setting, we were packed too densely to really be able to roam for a new perspective. And if you’re not within palming distance of the overhead pool, well, that element loses its allure pretty quickly."
ShowBizChicago - Recommended
"...The sequences touch and tingle the fancy as the ensemble dispenses several acts with peerless aesthetic. Yet amidst the pounding score (composed by Gaby Kerpel) and sweating wind machines one hungers for a balance between marvel and content, an equation solely achieved in Buzzo’s portion. The viscera often astounds, yet a feast for the mind- as well as the body- may ultimately be needed to complete the meal. But the missing ingredient is hardly enough to spoil the spree."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Somewhat Recommended
"...Impressive and amazing, yes, but for all its forced and frenetic activity “Fuerza Bruta” remains a curiously passive experience, the audience reacting and the performers overacting with an almost stereotypically Argentinian excess. (Where’s a slow tango when you need it?) There’s a strange disconnect between their anarchy and our comparatively subdued observation. Yes, this is cutting-edge craziness wedded to a flurry of special effects that are astonishingly original and beautifully dreamlike. But there’s nothing here that’s all that dramatically different from “Stomp.” Call it “Splash” but don’t assume that “Fuerza Bruta” is the last word in interactive meta-theater for the tragically hip."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Dance music blaring, strobe lights flashing, neon straws glowing… and that’s preshow in the theatre lobby. Broadway in Chicago and Ozono Producciones presents Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, the Argentina-born performance art phenomenon. The experience starts in the lobby at the Auditorium Theatre. Converted to a nightclub lounge, the lobby, equipped with a bar, couches and empanadas, opens an hour before show time to (literally) build up the buzz for the main event."
