Absent

Marco Berger is one of those rare beings, a voice in queer cinema, who wants to be heard upon the conscientious and stereotypical musings of homosexual cinema.

His latest work, Absent, inverts the teacher and pupil dynamic of seduction.  In this case it is the pupil, Martin (Javier de Pietro) acts upon or teases the reactions of his swimming teacher, Sebastian (Carlos Echevarria).

Martin is much like a femme fatale, a person who will not stop at anything until he has crossed the unholy line - and once that line is crossed there is not turning back.  As the twists and turns occur, so the expectation of desire and lust is lost, as regret and loneliness takes hold.  Martin can still grow into a man, whilst for Sebastian a career and reputation can lay in tatters.

The real-time first half of the film is shot quite brilliantly, using the naturalism and testosterone filled air of a male changing room to good effect; however, the effect is somewhat lost once the changing room is left for the outside world, so to speak.

Whilst the professional Echevarria delivers a soulful performance as the emotionally fraught teacher, the newcomer de Pietro, shows himself to be a novice and does not quite convince on the basis of this performance.

However, there is a smoothness about Tomas Perez Silva's cinematography - yet for me the film was not as definely told as a German counterpart, Sasha another piece of queer cinema which dealt with the proceedings with a bit more tongue in cheek and had an all around better resolution.

Yet, Berger (who also edited and wrote the screenplay) remains a distinct Argentinian auteur to watch out for in the coming years and works.

Absent is released by Network Releasing on DVD and is out now.

Las acacias

Following in the footsteps of fellow Argentinian directors - Lisandro Alonso, Pablo Trapero - to garner critical acclaim with a debut feature (Las acacias won the Sutherland Award for Best First Film at the London Film Festival in 2011), Pablo Giorgelli's debut receives a home entertainment release today on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Giorgelli co-wrote the script with Salvador Roselli (who also authored Bombon el perro (2004)), tells the slight story of truck driver Ruben (German de Silva) who delivers lumber from Paraguay to Buenos Aires.  He is informed by his boss he must transport a young mother Jacinta (Hebe Duarte) and her five month old son also.

Little is informed or given to us of the two actors pasts, so we are told details about them as they learn about each other.  The film refuses to leave the confines of the truck cab, not allowing location photography to overshadow the human story being told here.

Giorgelli was given the gift of De Silva, a professional actor, who uses his presence and nobility (not to dissimilar to the same acacias' he transports), to tell you more when very little is said.  Duarte is an untrained actor but her striking, alluring face makes you want to know more about her.

In the same vein as his contemporaries, in terms of physical restraint and keeping narrative clues close to his chest Giorgelli portrays the blossoming of a beautiful friendship taking place between two strangers; Ruben never got to know his son that was taken away from him, so the connection between the five month old child, allows us and him to see how good of a father he could become or could have been.

Neither flashy, nor boring the film is another creative exponent of the cinematic explosion occuring right now in Argentina and surrounding South American countries with so much good viable work being released and viewed - a willingness to put individuals first with universal storylines about loneliness, isolation, love and companionship.

Las Acacias is released on DVD by Verve Pictures on Monday 9th April
My thanks to Rabbit Publicity for the disc

Liverpool

I remember when I went to the London Film Festival in 2009, and there was a lot of talk about a small film from Argentina called Liverpool.  I remember being a little struck by the title seeing as it is the hometown of my mother and wanting to see it, yet being unable to.

I always remember the title and now thanks to Second Run DVD, (who specialise in auteur cinema from third world countries and directors who fail to get home entertainment release) Lisandro Alonso's fourth feature film is gaining a DVD release in the UK having failed to garner a distributor in this country.

In the same vein of his previous work, it follows a lonely soul on a journey of discovery.  In this case, a sailor, Farrel, leaves his ship and begins a lengthy journey to wintry Tierra del Fuego’s interior, to an isolated village and family that he hasn’t seen in years. We gradually piece together his relationship with the people and community he finds there on a journey that looks familiar to him. From the opening sequences on Farrel’s ship, to the spectacular harshness of his destination, Alonso is meticulous in mapping the sights and sounds of the landscape and Farrel’s personal journey into the past.

Alonso's influences of film are far reaching from that of fellow Argentinian and South American luminaries to that of the mythology of American cinema and the cowboy in the Westerns. 

Alonso can be noted as nothing but courageous in his narrative storytelling, in a film where you are asked to invest a lot of time with one character Alonso does this amazingly brash about turn in the story as our focus must switch to someone else.  As the previous character exits, it reminded me of Alan Ladd as Shane in the synonymous film who walks off into the sunset, seemingly never to return - the mythology and convention of the western can be seen in the small town, the wanderer as a lonesome figure and the journey as a rite of passage and possible redemption (as with John Wayne in The Searchers).

Whilst it is a trying experience at times due to the facet of slow cinema in which this piece of cinema can sit next to the work Bela Tarr; it is nonetheless a rewarding watch should you stick with it.

The DVD is presented in a brand new director-approved anamorphic digital transfer and also includes Untitled (Letter for Serra) / Sin título (Carta para Serra) – a new short film by
Lisandro Alonso, available for the first time anywhere on DVD.

The work of Lisandro Alonso is part of Slow Cinema Weekend as part of the AV Festival in Newcastle, Liverpool is screening on Sunday 11th March

Liverpool is released on DVD from Second Run for £12.99 and is 82 minutes long with Spanish subtitles