Recently Watched

So just thought I'd share a few opinions on stuff I've been watching and re-watching recently.
Here goes:

The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) - (2010. Argentina. Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Film)
I'm usually torn about watching Latin-American Cinema. Not because it isn't good, but because it all sort of runs in the same vein that has been going on for a long time. It is really hard to find fresh and good films coming out of this continent. I know that sounds harsh, but the stuff that is usually critically acclaimed and actually goes to international distribution (stuff like "Amores Perros" or "María Llena Eres de Gracia" or to use an Ecuadorian example, "Crónicas") fall into the Latin America is all full of sex and drugs and violence. And while that certainly is a cultural reality that is everpresent in our lives because it is more exposed to the public, it is certainly not a good descriptor of what contemporary Latin-American life is like. I tend to gravitate towards films that see and depict Latin-American life and our issues in a different, and fresh light. Which is why I truly love Tania Hermida's "Qué Tan Lejos" (Ecuador. 2006) as it is a road-trip film that shows Ecuadorians all of our ridiculous mannerisms and habits and cultural issues in a comedic way. It makes the viewer reflect on their identity through a heartfelt comedic setting. Likewise "Machuca" (Chile. 2004) views Chile's political turmoil during the coup d'estat that overthrew Allende and the instating of dictator Pinochet through the eyes of two young boys. An innovative point-of-view that not only really drives the intensity of that political transition home but also reflects on the political turmoil the rest of the continent continues to suffer until today. Finally, "Diarios de Motocicleta" (Argentina-UK-US-Germany-Chile-Peru-France. 2004) allows us to observe the transformation of Ernesto Guevara into the iconic revolutionary "Che". It complicates the image of Che and humanizes him, turning him from an icon for revolution into a living, breathing, human being that decides to make a change in the social order of the continent after witnessing the neocolonial social mess that has developed throughout the region after the Spanish crown left two centuries ago. It is a call to act on the things that need to be changed in our lifestyle, but also a call to reflect on the proper way to go about doing them - on thinking about what comes before and after the act of revolution.
With this in mind, I was a little weary about watching "El Secreto de Sus Ojos": the Argentinian film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film last year. I expected it to be something along the traditional line of Latin-American Cinema. In a way, it was, but at the same time it wasn't. The aspect of violence was there, but it served as a starting point for the film rather than a driving force. The story itself is very resonant of Spanish Cinema - in particular of Almodóvar's work (it reminded me of his first film "Tésis" in narrative construction) - and is slightly too long (at 130 minutes it pushes the length of time you want to spend watching what is essentially a sort of criminal law drama). Additionally, I was less than impressed with the cinematographer because of his odd frame compositions consisting of blocking most of the frame with an object that was usually out of focus in order to sort of claustrophobically enclose the face of a character or object of importance into the edge of the frame (usually in the top right corner). Usually this is done to inspire a sense of claustrophobia in the viewer, to enhance the feeling of entrapment (think about the enclosing frames in "Raise the Red Lantern" that at a micro level symbolize 4th Wife's entrapment in the marriage, the compound, and her own mind and at a macro level symbolize China's entrapment into its own ideals of radical change during the cultural revolution). However, the film is not about entrapment or claustrophobia - it is about one's inability to live without one's passions. This can be an entrapment, but for the characters in this story, that realization is what eventually helps them be liberated. The bizarre framing decisions might have made sense had the film started out with a claustrophobic frame and then progressed into a less obstructed one OR if the framing had help define the different mindsets of the characters in the flashback scenes or in the present. But there is no evidence to support that any of that really happened, so the odd framings are just odd framings. Odd framings that really got on my nerves an hour in. I think that might be something I picked up on though - as I watched this film with MJ and she didn't really notice it. So I guess it is 4 years of analyzing film at work...haha. Despite all of this, the narrative construction and the acting is excellent. It is one of the few films where I've seen flashbacks work in a non-cheesy way. One of the things about the narrative that I liked the most is that the flashbacks aren't quite flashbacks. They are the retelling of a case the main character worked on, but tailored into a narrative structure with fictitious elements because they are part of the novel he is working on. This structure raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of our memories and the way we recall things, the way we use non-fictional stories to create fictional ones, and the blurring of the line between reality and fiction (how fiction mirrors reality and reality mirrors fiction). So overall, a really excellent film, but not the freshest subject matter or approach to the subject matter. Which is ok. Some of the greatest films ever made are great because of their exceptional storytelling of a story that was perhaps not so exceptional to begin with ("The Godfather" was considered to be a cheap travel book that wasn't that fantastic, but the storytelling done in the films really transformed and gave importance to an otherwise unexceptional story).

Categories: film, Latin-American Cinema, The Secret in Their Eyes