Film writer Wendy Gosselin continues reporting from this year’s BAFICI Festival, picking six Latin American films – five Argentine and one Brazilian – that come highly recommended.
'Los Salvajes' a story of adolescents escaping from a juvenile detention center, directed by Alejandro Fadel.
Los Salvajes
Director: Alejandro Fadel
Los Salvajes is a dense, troubling film that follows a group of five adolescents (Gaucho and his brother Simon, Grace, Monzón and Demián) as they break out of a juvenile detention centre and head for the hills. Gaucho, the leader, plans to take the group on the six-day trek to his godfather’s house. “We can all live there together, like a family,” Gaucho promises. Idyllic though that sounds, this group of young people has no morals and very few codes of conduct, which quickly unravel whenever a whim, desire or feeling of anger surfaces. Far from any signs of civilization, they struggle against nature and each other to survive, slaughtering animals and cutting down whatever stands in their path. There is a certain poetry within this crude reality: Demián holding a transistor radio up to the sky, trying to find some music amidst the static; Simón donning the head of a wild boar he has slaughtered, or Grace trying futilely to wash away her menstrual blood in the river. Ultimately, however, the film offers little except this florid depiction of savagery.
La Araña Vampiro
La Araña Vampiro
Director: Gabriel Medina
In the mid-20th century, ailing Argentines were prescribed restful stays in Córdoba, where the fresh mountain air was expected to restore them to health. In Gabriel Medina’s second feature-length film, ‘La Araña Vampiro‘, a father takes his downcast and neurotic son Jerónimo to the province, hoping to reconnect with him in the quiet countryside. The trip takes a sharp turn when the teenager is bitten by the fatal “vampire spider”, as it is known by the locals. Abandoning his father, Jerónimo takes up with Ruiz, a ruddy and taciturn woodsman, who agrees to lead him into the sierras to search for the antidote. A feverish Jerónimo and increasingly unpredictable Ruiz are soon stumbling through a devastated wasteland; the earth thunders beneath them as dynamite explodes in the distance. “They’re ripping apart the mountain,” slurs Ruiz, lurching forward. The landscape turns increasingly skewed and bleak with his apocalyptic rambling; meanwhile, Jerónimo’s spider bite continues to spread. Will the two find the elusive and terrifying antidote? Medina forges a new world out of this parched and rocky wilderness. This is definitely one of the top films of this year’s BAFICI.
In 'Masterplan' everything doesn't go according to plan.
Masterplan
Director: Diego and Pablo Levy
What if you gave a friend your credit card, let him buy you everything you needed for your new apartment, and then called the credit card company and reported it stolen? This is the ‘Masterplan’, which quickly runs amok, forcing the protagonist, Mariano, to abandon his beloved Siam Di Tella 1500 (the pride and joy of Argentine car manufacturing from the late 1950s and 1960s) by the railroad tracks and report it as stolen as well. The constant questions about the incident from his girlfriend, future parents-in-law, co-workers and pesky credit card company investigator soon begin to take their toll on Mariano, who starts to blame his restlessness and foul mood on the stolen vehicle. Comic relief is provided by Andrés, a homeless man who “occupies” the abandoned car and decides to call it home (played brilliantly by one of the “stars” of the Levys’ 2011 documentary ‘Novias, Madrinas, 15 años’). This is a funny, tender story, and in the end, Mariano gets advice from the most unexpected source. Stick around for the credits to see the hilarious dance by Andrés Calabria!
17 Monumentos
17 Monumentos
Director: Jonathan Perel
In all of Argentina, there are just 17 monuments commemorating the locations where clandestine detention centres operated during the last military dictatorship (1976-1983). They are all based on the same architectural plan, which we are shown at the beginning of the film. Perel films each of them for around three minutes. In these static shots, Justice, Truth, Memory—the words that appear on the monument’s three pillars—are burned into your retina. You cannot help but imagine the evil that occurred at each of these now quiet spots. But if the purpose of a monument is to commemorate, do these actually serve their purpose? Little action occurs near these monuments. A cat creeps by one (ludicrously placed nearly on top of a bust of Don Quijote); cars blaze by others, shrouding them for a moment in dust. Perel’s film—though difficult to sit through—poses the important question of what memory is and how it is constructed.
Production still from the making of 'El Ultimo Elvis'
El Último Elvis
Director: Armando Bo
In this stellar debut by Armando Bo, we meet an Elvis impersonator, Carlos Gutiérrez, who goes to great lengths to uphold his image as Elvis: his daughter is named Lisa Marie, he insists on calling his ex-wife Priscilla, he pops pills and downs peanut butter and banana sandwiches. In fact, he seems as out of touch with reality as Elvis himself near the end of his life. But Gutiérrez’s daily life —the talent agency full of other impersonators where payments are always late, the junk yard of abandoned refrigerators where he takes a break after his day job, the apocalyptic landscapes of the outskirts of Buenos Aires—is infinitely more sordid than Elvis’ ever was. Gutiérrez is played by first-time actor (and real-life Elvis impersonator) John McInery, who pours out his heart and soul in every song. In one beautiful scene, only the stage is in focus, and the flashing lights surrounding it make us think we are in Las Vegas; when the camera angle shifts, though, we see that our “Elvis” is actually playing at a bingo club on the outskirts of the city. ‘El Último Elvis’ poses the question of authenticity and imitation, and how far someone will actually go to become their hero or heroine. Ultimately, Gutiérrez will see his Elvis through to the very end.
As Cançoes
As Cançoes
Director: Eduardo Coutinho
Music pervades our lives, piping into our consciousness and remaining long after a moment has past. The songs we have sung (or which were sung to us) are small testaments that put other’s lyrics to our emotions. This is what Brazilian director Eduardo Coutinho explores in this splendid film. He approaches the topic in a simple and straightforward way, inviting his interviewees to enter a theatre, take a seat and sing for him their most cherished song. Before, after and sometimes in between singing, they tell the story of how this particular song came into their lives and then stayed on with them forever. Coutinho is always off screen; we only hear his voice, and his interventions are generally limited to bringing our protagonists back when they get lost in a memory. The stories are touching and even extraordinary; one of the men concludes that this world “is not big enough to hold all of my happiness.” A joyous film of song.
