Title: The Critic (El Crítico)
Year: 2013
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Hernán Guerschuny
Writer: Hernán Guerschuny
Runtime: 98min
Cast: Rafael
Spregelburd, Dolores Fonzi, Ignacio Rogers, Telma Crisanti, Blanca Lewin
Produc.:
Haciendo, Lagarto Cine, Storyboard Media
Argentinean movies never cease to
amaze me. It´s not to tear down the local stuff, because we have good things,
but I must admit that our neighbors, with whom we´re so much compared to, and
to whom is said we look alike, in this they are ahead of us and The Critic is
another example.
Debutant
writer-director Hernán Guerschuny (of whom I hope to see more) starts up by
talking precisely about cinema, and in a way that would appeal to both, the
mass audience and the more selected.
Victor Telles
(Rafael Spregelburd) is in this movie, a critic of those, very close minded,
whose appreciations of the cinematographic language believe to be unique and
indisputable, and who are unable to respect others opinions. Telles belongs to
those who know by heart the audiovisual codes, with so much seen, tool with
which he destroys everything he sees. Telles says to be an intermediary between
public and movies, to avoid viewers having to see a lot of junk. Which doesn´t
imply that the viewer should like this filter, or that Telles´s opinion, much
more than sacred, isn´t just one more.
The Critic is
partly about our way of seeing movies and it´s director shows several
viewpoints. I would say that he prefers to take elements from each of them.
A voice-over in
French serves us as the introducer. It is supposed to be Telles speaking,
choosing not to use his own language, although it´s not him who we hear. Each
time the voice reappears will always be in this language. To this, Telles, a
follower of the New Wave current, externalizes this fanaticism, using it with his
ex partner, an action taken from Breathless (1960), but completely mistaking
the place, person and circumstances. Same as the voice-over, it represents
another allusion to the times of Goddard, director idolized by many and hated
by others.
In another
scene, with Telles and his niece Agatha (Telma Crisanti) sitting at a table,
the girl makes him see what she says to be an experimental short film. Telles
fixes his lenses in his attitude of bug-headed critic, to better capture the
registry of a setting where nothing is happening. Then, they both see as
someone enters the frame, and Agatha smiles because his uncle has fallen in the
joke, realizing that, that´s the building´s security camera. The director has intelligently
teased the "real cinema" lovers, what any critic with a brain should
humbly acknowledge.
It is there
actually, a real cinema and one that isn´t? What is it or should cinema be, to
begin with? Art or entertainment? A way
of transmitting a message? Or perhaps, all of this together? That´s of what
we´re spoken about, although without being a fundamentalist stance towards an
option.
Telles discussing
with Agatha on the miss use of kisses in the romantic genre, or saying how is that
cinema´s being long dead, are moments of reflection. On a cinema that´s
precisely far from dead, when Guerschuny himself makes use of a language,
theoretically overused, but that works for him.
After our
unfriendly and demanding critic falls for Sofia (Dolores Fonzi), part of his
perception begins to change, feeling that his emotions are being touched by a
girl who enjoys movies without so much analyzing. Telles lives in the flesh that
stage of meetings and understandings, typical of that genre that he himself
rejects, and which Guerschuny does parody to. Telles is suddenly capable of
empathizing with characters in bad movies, or to express himself in a hyper
cheesy way, with that girl he doesn´t want to see leave.
In his role as a
"movie terrorist", as he´s called by his boss (an expression I
loved), he´s a victim of the laughter and hatred of people, who don´t
understand how this guy doesn´t like any movies.
Even Leonardo
Sbaraglia´s little appearance is a resource that contributes to the narrative,
while paying tribute to the art of filming itself.
The Critic has
then, a bit for everyone. Romance, comedy, parody and up to some madness, as
the director reflects and entertains alike.
My rating: 7/10
