Best International Film Reviews: Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela

by Cláudio Alves

Sometimes, it feels as if Latin-American cinema is doomed to be forever underappreciated. Earlier this month, the Sight & Sound list notably ignored films from the Americas beyond US-made pictures. At the Oscars, the situation isn't much better. Since 2010, one can only find six Latin-American nominees out of sixty in Best International Film. (Sadly, the problem persists, though Argentina, 1985 and Bardo both might make the shortlist this year.) In no way does this reflect the realities of international cinema or even the quality of Latin submissions for the 95th Academy Awards. There are plenty of outstanding achievements to appreciate once you look beyond the buzzy titles…

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Interview: 'Mars One' director on Brazilian politics, representation, and hope

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Gabriel Martins' Oscar submission Mars One tells the story of a working class Brazilian family on the brink of the election of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. The family is composed of a father working at a high-rise, a mother dealing with trauma, a daughter on the verge of coming out to her family, and a young boy who dreams of going to Mars. The film is a beautifully restrained examination of contemporary Brazil through the lens of class, race, and gender.

Mars One is Brazil's contender for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. In our interview, writer/director Gabriel Martins discusses the development of his film coinciding with the rise of Bolsonaro's divisive politics, how the long-gestating journey of the film helped him shape the final output, and how recent developments in Brazilian cinema have given him hope...

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International Oscars: Mexico's finalists and more submission titles

by Nathaniel R

THE HOLE IN THE FENCE

Mexico has chosen their Oscar submission finalist list. We'd do a whole huge post on it but we suspect by the time we did they'd have named their winner and despite divisive reviews thus far we suspect they won't be able to resist sending Iñarritu again. As it stands now they're looking at three films we've already reviewed here at TFE: Alejandro G Iñarritu's Bardo (False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths), Lorenz Vigas' very dark father/son drama The Box, and Joaquin del Paso's allegorical summer camp drama The Hole in the Fence. The other two they're looking at are the sexual drama Nudo Mixteco by Angeles Cruz and the thriller Presencias by Luis Mandoki. Among those filmmakers Inarritu (Biutiful, Amores Perros) and Mandoki (Innocent Voices) have represented Mexico before while Vigas's debut film, the gay drama From Afar, was sent to represent Venezuela in its year.

But that's not all. We now know which films Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Turkey,and Uganda  are submitting. Details after the jump...  

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Venice at Home – Day 4: Politics & Portraiture

by Cláudio Alves

With the fourth day of festivities, conversations about who's a contender for the Golden Lion start to blossom here and there. While the critical response hasn't been unanimous, Laura Poitras' All the Beauty and the Bloodshed could be a future prizewinner. Speaking of Venetian trophies, the last time Andrea Pallaoro competed, Charlotte Rampling won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. His new film, Monica, has elicited muted responses, but hope is everlasting for its impressive cast led by Trace Lysette and Patricia Clarkson. Finally, Argentina, 1985 reunites director Santiago Mitre with actor Ricardo Darín for a prestigious historical drama that will get its streaming premiere on Amazon Prime Video this October.

For this project's purpose, let's remember when Poitras met Snowden, when Pallaoro led Rampling to Venice gold, and Mitre's first time directing Darín… 

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Review: The Great Movement

by Cláudio Alves

In 2016, Bolivian director Kiro Russo took his first feature to Locarno, where the Jury for the Golden Peacock presented him with a special Centenary Award for Best Debut Film. Dark Skull was an exercise in modern Neorealism, reinventing that movement from Italian cinema to a Latin American setting and deep-rooted specificity. More in line with the operatic myth of Visconti's La Terra Trema than with De Sica's urban melodramas, the film followed Elder's return to his desolate hometown upon his father's death. With the patriarch fallen, the son takes on his work, going into the mines like those before him. Those shadowy realms become the entrails of a cavernous titan through the gaze of Russo's camera, the industrial work shattered into a nightmare by mad editing, expressionist sound.

Underrated and under-discussed, Dark Skull was a tremendous triumph, and The Great Movement follows in its steps. Only this time, instead of Italian and German influence, Russo seems to be exploring the possibilities of Soviet montage and social realism, retrofitted as a new cinema for a new world…

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