argia.eus
INPRIMATU
Closing the blinds to avoid rain
  • We were talking about getting boredom or not, in case it was best to take action: it should be done by will and not by forbearance. The wind and the rain have not helped too much on this very turbulent day that almost Kursaal has been flying out over the course of its history. We will have to lay off the panels and red carpets until next year. The last time I heard the Covid-19 security measures, I greeted them quietly. We may not hear these notes again at the festival. Maybe.
Ainhoa Gutiérrez del Pozo 2020ko irailaren 26a

The second feature of Pamplona’s film Imanol Rayo, Hil kanpaiak, has been presented in the New Directors section. The appearance of a skull on a farmland will alter all the neighbors; the next day, the owner will appear dead and the bones will disappear. The following succession of murders will confirm the current place of rabies in the past. Watch Gorrotxategi is a film based on Azkune's 33 ezkil play, which makes Cluedo a game with elements of the field.

The two brothers who do not speak and the clashes over the house are part of the traditional Basque family. As this film progresses and goes back in time, we built what had already happened, and the weight they still have. The report made with few interviews works as a piece to unite and places each one in the role of divinity. As you will stress again and again, most of the facts will be attributed to the "lack of a foal" of the owner of the house, who does not look like a Basque patriarch, putting the instability of his father, who will repent all his life. The work, which is contextualized in the game of power between brothers and under popular pressure, will reflect on the difference between traditional hyperbole and justice and vengeance. Although it can predict what will happen in some cases, it maintains the task with good tension from the first moment to the end of the explosion.

I am keen to know what the director says about all this. Le sel des larmes has competed in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section and has been led by Philippe Garrel. The black and white film has loving relationships with a man and a relationship with his father. Following the latter’s dream, he will move to a well-known university of crafts and fine arts in Paris to study, highlighting the changes this entails in his sentimental life.

The use of the notion of time is free, for better and for worse, which makes the film special. Black and black images give the argument the tone of an era, while scenes, mobiles and other elements give today. This could suggest that the affective sexual intercourse maintained by the protegonist man with three women also has a tint of the past and that this influences current relationships. However, this premise is not clear and would be too problematic to be defended. The director shows the successful Don Juan who makes women suffer, being the only person in love with him his father. Cowardly for taking care of the mistakes made with their partners, the film shows strong alliances between men and a lack of respect for women. Anyone who wants to reflect on human behavior generates a lot of distrust when it comes to creating characters, as weak, silly and dependent women vs. strong, dreamer and brave men. Although he wishes to criticize in this regard, the use of the naked women's bodies he presents under any pretext does not explain any other attitude. Nor does the cheap racist scene he creates in the center of the film help, which has nothing to do with it. Garrel's work, which talks about tears of salt, creates apathy, and reminds me of the morb that the exposure of women's suffering can produce in men.

The work Urtzen by Telmo ESNAL, which received the Lurra Prize from the Greenpeace organization at the San Sebastian Film Festival, is about water and salt. Esnal has a job recovered during the confinement, based on the work of Pablo Azkue entitled UR, the sea giant. In it, like Patricio Guzmán, establishes connections with a concept in the different foci that create a mutual relationship.

Some passages from the day to day confinement of Esnal are a leg of the project in which we see learning Slovenian, dancing or talking on the phone. On the other hand, the book UR recited by Iraia Elias shows passages over the seas, wells and other beautiful images of Euskal Herria. Finally, there are presentations and interviews on climate change, Covid-19 and the future, which try to give meaning to the two previous pillars. The synopsis presented the work as a collage, and that finding a whole in part is what it really has. The exhibition of personal intimacy has not been a common practice in Basque cinema, nor has the attempt to conceptually relate themes been the most used genre. In addition, it is the first time in this Festival that I see inside the Covid-19 painting; the confinement was so fruitful for creation in other areas (music, bertsolarism, drawing...) that they would also appear in the movies, and perhaps more will come, but this has been the first time for me. A courageous work, which despite some problems, is positive to keep thinking about our closest cinema. We have had it for a year!