In the vein of Buñuel, Lucrecia Martel’s debut feature is a brilliant study of the Argentina’s decadent bourgeoisie. The movie grabbed me at its opening scene: as storm clouds gather above, wine glasses clink and the camera languishes on the rotting, obese flesh of the past-their-prime adults drunkenly stumbling around a swimming pool. All of a sudden, a woman falls on broken glass, but almost everyone around her is too sozzled to do anything about it. This may sound like a cliché, but the way Martel composes her frames and uses sound (noises such as gunshots and dogs barking are oftentimes heard but not seen) to scratch away at two families’ veneer makes it more than worth watching. Now I can’t wait for the upcoming release of The Holy Girl.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Home Vision Entertainment DVD
15 Apr 2005 3:53 PM | Submit Comment