(This is a series of brief unedited descriptions of films in the festival I found time to write about. There are MANY other great films playing at the fest but I only have time to write about these few.)
The Argentine films this year have been just stunning. One that really stood out for me early in the process was PROPER EYES. This narrative film is about two young women who are trying to make a documentary. They want to interview the many women that wait outside of the local prison every day hoping to meet with one of the inmates. The filmmakers try to talk to the women outside the prison but almost all of them are unwilling to share their stories. Finally one woman agrees to help them with their film if in return one of the young filmmakers will go into the prison and visit with her son.
From this jumping off point the film unfolds. One thing that is so impressive about the film in my opinion was the dramatic de-glorification of crime. It's difficult to make a cinematic work about criminals and have them become so transparent that they remove all glamour from breaking the law. What also is surprising in the film is that it never goes where it is expected to go. I thought this was going to be reminiscent of FORBIDDEN LIE$ and OPERATION FILMMAKER, the allure of a doc filmmaker getting duped by their subject and the fun in watching that downfall, yet the ending is something much more emotionally complex than that....
PROPER EYES plays AFI FEST Monday, November 3rd at 9:40pm
No comments:
Post a Comment