Mar del Plata International Film Festval, the last days.


In Competition

In the last days, we have been able to watch movies coming from Japan, Peru, Croatia, Italy and Iceland. The Domingo last two movies of the Official Competition has been projected. On one hand, “The Blue Light", of Yukio Ningawa, coming from Japan. The movie tries on a family drama where a son kills his father, with the purpose of to come undone of him and to liberate to his family of the anguish that this causes them. The film didn't convince the specialized critics a lot, but in some spectators it caused a great impression. The other movie was “Paper dove", of the Peruvian Fabrizio Aguilar. It is the first film of the director. The film in spite of not having had very good critical, it is interesting from the Latin American perspective, remembering to films like “Sangre de condor", of Jorge Sanjinés, or so many others of that call “New Latin American cinema". The movie meditates on those movies, and it dares to grant another look to the matter: the conflict between guerillas fighters and the Fascist government is shown here from a humanist ideology or moralist, and non politics. It is the Latin American film that up to now has exhibited the Festival.
On Monday, on the other hand, was presented a movie like “Konjanik” of the Croatian Branco Ivanda. Contrary to the films that they come being projected in the mark of the Festival, this movie, of a great production, almost at level of Hollywood, shows us a history of love set in the XVII century, in the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire where the characters change religion for different circumstances. Up to now, the film is, according to the “Newspaper of the Festival", the criticized better movie and accepted by the media. On the other hand, on same Monday, another of the most interesting movies was presented that has given us this Festival, in the Official Section, in Competition. It is the Italian “I like to work (mobbing) ", of Francesca Comencini. In some sense, the film reminds us to "Human resources "; the movie tell us the problem of a single mother that has a daughter to which doesn't pay a lot of attention to dedicate its time to the work tries. The character is moved of his work position, passing of belonging to the administration office to be a simple caretaker of the photocopier. The drama tell us then, the cultural conflict of having to take care of a girl and in turn duty to work, to be able to live. The drama transforms from the economic thing to the existential thing. It is together with “Paper dove", another serious candidate to a prize Astor.
The other three presented movies, they are “Cold light", of the Icelandic Hilmar Oddson. The film treats a psychological drama, of a man that was marked when in its childhood it lost to its family. On the other hand "Gone", of the German Zoltan Paul, a history of passion, love and death that it relates us the history of a writer that looks for to be related with a publisher, with which it cross a series of events that they are happened between the reality and the literary fiction.
In today's day, Wednesday, it was presented the Brazilian “The Other side of the street", of Marcos Bernstein. The film resembles each other to the famous “Rear Window", although it outlines the problem of the old people. An old woman goes through her window like a man kills his wife, and she will try to be able to discover the murder to such a point that will be involved sentimentally with the murderer, questioning to accuse him or to stop to be in solitude.

Out of competition:

“El abrazo partido” of Daniel Burman that won a prize recently in Berlin, was projected at a full room. It was presented by the same director and actor of the film that noticed: "the film doesn't maybe like in Argentina like in Germany, the Germans sometimes like things that to us not."


By Fernando Madedo
For Filmfestivals