Here’s what I said about a month ago, when I saw both La Cienega and her latest film, The Headless Woman:
http://www.theauteurs.com/topics/5131/comments?page=1#comment_162120
I liked La Cienaga a lot and have been meaning to purchase it so I can watch it again. Martel is a fascinating director with a very unique eye for unconventional storytelling.
I think it’s one of the best 3 films of the decade and is one of the great “childhood debuts” in cinema along with Zero for Conduct, 400 Blows, L’Enfance nue, and My Childhood. Like I said in my review, “Lucrecia Martel is the Cassavetes/Renoir of her time and place. She builds her entire narrative on the near-abstraction of faces and bodies (like Cassavetes) all tied up in the tender spaces of Renoir.”
Fredo:
Just a thought: this site is structured so that Martel’s page has at the lower right links to forum topics – if one links from there, others can reference your thread – so I missed your thread b/c I went to the Martel page first
defies narrative and dramatic structure ……. it’s hard for me not to be mesmerized by her ability as a filmmaker
Jarmusch does the same thing:
His films often eschew traditional narrative structure, lacking clear plot progression and focusing more on mood and character development
—wiki (btw, wiki is a reference point – I had to know about Jarmusch first.)
So what does Martel add to that style of filmmaking?
Gringo: ha ! the gringo referenced in the film is the one who fixes their problems
entire narrative on the near-abstraction of faces and bodies (like Cassavetes) all tied up in the tender spaces of Renoir
Many of the faces were deformed – the tender spaces were intentionally random i.e. not built up by a narrative
One of which gave me a warm fuzzy relief: when the kid didn’t shoot the girl in the woods – he was definitely thinking about it….
1 a gestalt such that the film achieved the essence of its full embodiment
yes, the tight script, characterizations and scenic are clearly noticeable yet don’t lead to caricature or parody
2 were the limits of the medium pushed
the lack of dramatic arc leading from A to C through B has been done (?)but she does push it to the edge
3 We don’t know and this uncertainty is our strength. It’s what drives us to say things over and over again differently, more tellingly, more precisely
Diretcor Krzysztof Zanussi
She complies with Zanussi’s ethos – she was different, more telling, more precise
Giving La Cienaga 9/10
Robert W Peabody III
I’m about to watch this and I first read her nihilist director’s statement.
She is not disposed of the romantic notion that nature represents harmony.
Not only is the perception of harmony in nature part of a romantic epic narrative (myth) but it is scientific fact.
I watched The Holy Girl yesterday and I liked the idea the teenage know-nothing relativists can take power from adult hypocrites.