BRAVO ARGENTINA!!!!
EL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film!!!
I didn't see it yet but it was seen by 2,5 million Argentinians, a record in the country.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Holy Girl/La Nina Santa -Lucrecia Martel
Hello,
Today I want to write about the second movie by Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel.
The Holy Girl/La nina santa.
Lucrecia Martel, 2004
Argentina, 104 minutes
Lucrecia Martel writes and directs her movies. It's cinema d'auteur. The films are set on the North of Argentina where she's from. She was born in Salta and if you pay attention and know enough Spanish you can hear a slightly different accent that the Argentinian accent from Buenos Aires (porteno) usually heard in Argentinian movies.
This film is set in a crumbling Hotel Termas where a medical convention is being hosted.
As a child, Lucrecia used to stay with her parents in this hotel on winter vacations.
The film captures the lives of Amalia and Josefina, two teenagers who are best friends.
Amalia is the hotel owner's daughter. Her mother is played by Mercedes Moran, an actress that we encountered before on 'La Cienaga." She is a divorced woman who is very closed to her brother (Alejandro Urdapilleta.) They have an interesting relationship. Together they run the hotel as a pair of children-grown up adults.
The two girls attend Catholic groups and Catechism lessons. This is based on Lucrecia's life too. She used to attend these type of groups.
After an encounter with Doctor Jano (Carlos Belloso) Amalia will get in touch with her own sexuality and would like to deliver him from inappropriate behaviour.
Today I want to write about the second movie by Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel.
The Holy Girl/La nina santa.
Lucrecia Martel, 2004
Argentina, 104 minutes
Lucrecia Martel writes and directs her movies. It's cinema d'auteur. The films are set on the North of Argentina where she's from. She was born in Salta and if you pay attention and know enough Spanish you can hear a slightly different accent that the Argentinian accent from Buenos Aires (porteno) usually heard in Argentinian movies.
This film is set in a crumbling Hotel Termas where a medical convention is being hosted.
As a child, Lucrecia used to stay with her parents in this hotel on winter vacations.
The film captures the lives of Amalia and Josefina, two teenagers who are best friends.
Amalia is the hotel owner's daughter. Her mother is played by Mercedes Moran, an actress that we encountered before on 'La Cienaga." She is a divorced woman who is very closed to her brother (Alejandro Urdapilleta.) They have an interesting relationship. Together they run the hotel as a pair of children-grown up adults.
The two girls attend Catholic groups and Catechism lessons. This is based on Lucrecia's life too. She used to attend these type of groups.
After an encounter with Doctor Jano (Carlos Belloso) Amalia will get in touch with her own sexuality and would like to deliver him from inappropriate behaviour.
Monday, February 1, 2010
TOMAS ELOY MARTINEZ DIED
The great Argentinian writer Tomas Eloy Martinez died yesterday in Buenos Aires.
When my editor wrote me an e-mail telling me that Tomas Eloy Martinez had died I got goose bumps. He was one of my favorite novelists. He was also a well-known journalist writing for many newspapers. I tried to interview him last year for the Daily News/Hora Hispana after he published "Purgatorio" but I didn't succeed. I didn't know then, that he was not living in New Jersey anymore or teaching at Rutgers University. He was living again in Argentina and he was battling cancer.
His novels are translated into many languages, so i suggest that if you never have read " La Novela de Peron"/ "The Peron Novel" about Domingo Peron or "Santa Evita" about Evita Peron please go ahead and pick up a copy. You will not regret it. You will be immersed in the world of Peronism and Argentina's history by the hand of a great novelist and you won't be able to stop reading.
He met Peron and interviewed him so he used his tapes to create a portrait of a very controversial man who still has a big presence in Argentina.
"Santa Evita" is Evita's life before and after she died. Yes, you will not believe what happened to her body after she died. Sometimes life doesn't seem verosimil. The flames that Evita ignited didn't die with her and when she died her body was robbed and finished in different hands. If you want to know more about the real Evita, not the one in the Broadway show but the human being you have to read it.
Another book I enjoyed is "El Vuelo de la Reina" /"The Flight of the Queen".
When my editor wrote me an e-mail telling me that Tomas Eloy Martinez had died I got goose bumps. He was one of my favorite novelists. He was also a well-known journalist writing for many newspapers. I tried to interview him last year for the Daily News/Hora Hispana after he published "Purgatorio" but I didn't succeed. I didn't know then, that he was not living in New Jersey anymore or teaching at Rutgers University. He was living again in Argentina and he was battling cancer.
His novels are translated into many languages, so i suggest that if you never have read " La Novela de Peron"/ "The Peron Novel" about Domingo Peron or "Santa Evita" about Evita Peron please go ahead and pick up a copy. You will not regret it. You will be immersed in the world of Peronism and Argentina's history by the hand of a great novelist and you won't be able to stop reading.
He met Peron and interviewed him so he used his tapes to create a portrait of a very controversial man who still has a big presence in Argentina.
"Santa Evita" is Evita's life before and after she died. Yes, you will not believe what happened to her body after she died. Sometimes life doesn't seem verosimil. The flames that Evita ignited didn't die with her and when she died her body was robbed and finished in different hands. If you want to know more about the real Evita, not the one in the Broadway show but the human being you have to read it.
Another book I enjoyed is "El Vuelo de la Reina" /"The Flight of the Queen".
Monday, January 25, 2010
Repertorio Espanol, NYC
As you know New York City offers many opportunities to experience Latino culture.
One kept secret is Repertorio Espanol, the leading Spanish theatre in the city which presents plays by Jorge Amado (Dona Flor and sus dos maridos), Mario Vargas Llosa (Pantaleon y las Visitadoras), classics like the works of Federico Garcia Lorca or Cervantes or plays by emerging Latino playwrights.
During January the theater is offering a$ 10 discount to some plays. The plays are performed in Spanish with English translation.
One kept secret is Repertorio Espanol, the leading Spanish theatre in the city which presents plays by Jorge Amado (Dona Flor and sus dos maridos), Mario Vargas Llosa (Pantaleon y las Visitadoras), classics like the works of Federico Garcia Lorca or Cervantes or plays by emerging Latino playwrights.
During January the theater is offering a$ 10 discount to some plays. The plays are performed in Spanish with English translation.
The Off Broadway Theatre is located at 138 East, 27 Street near Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.
For more information go to: www.repertorio.org or call: 212-225-9920.
The Aura/ El Aura, Argentina
Hello,
Let's talk about the film:
The Aura/El Aura
Argentina, 2006
As I already wrote about Nine Queens, I want to share with you another film by Argentinian director Fabian Bielinsky.
Ricardo Darin, the same actor who appeared in Nine Queens, is Espinoza, a taxidermist who suffers random bouts of epilepsy.
Before the attacks he gets an aura. He also has a photographic memory and he dreams about using it in a major robbery.
He will have the opportunity during a trip to the south, to Patagonia.
A fast thriller, Argentinian style.
Unfortunately the last movie made by Bielinsky who died in his forties.
Let's talk about the film:
The Aura/El Aura
Argentina, 2006
As I already wrote about Nine Queens, I want to share with you another film by Argentinian director Fabian Bielinsky.
Ricardo Darin, the same actor who appeared in Nine Queens, is Espinoza, a taxidermist who suffers random bouts of epilepsy.
Before the attacks he gets an aura. He also has a photographic memory and he dreams about using it in a major robbery.
He will have the opportunity during a trip to the south, to Patagonia.
A fast thriller, Argentinian style.
Unfortunately the last movie made by Bielinsky who died in his forties.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Gabriel Orozco at MOMA
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART ORGANIZES THE FIRST MAJOR MUSEUM RETROSPECTIVE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTIST GABRIEL OROZCO
Hello,
Although I write mostly about Latin American films in this blog, I decided to incorporate worthwhile exhibitions and shows by Latin American artists as well.
Don't miss Gabriel Orozco's exhibition at MOMA!
Let's face it...not everyday a Latin American artist -in this case a Mexican- gets a major retrospective of his wok in one of the best American museums.
I am following his career since I first encountered his work: "My hands are my Heart", 1991: two photos of himself holding a piece of clay shaped as a heart with the imprints of his fingers. I bought the postcard and still is on a shelf in my bedroom.
You can visit this exhibition with your children. I think kids will enjoy the grey whale turned sculpture hanging up in the second floor. Pay attention to the graphite drawings. They are astounding. "Mobile Matrix" is on view for the first time outside Mexico.
The exhibition runs from December 13, 2009 until March 1, 2010 in the second floor and the sixth floor.
According to the Museum of Modern Art:
It is the first major museum retrospective of the artist Gabriel Orozco (Mexican, b. 1962), who since the early 1990s has forged a career marked by continuing innovation and has become one of the leading artists of his generation. This midcareer retrospective examines two decades of Orozco’s career in an exhibition of some 80 works, revealing how the artist roams freely and fluently among drawing, photography, sculpture, installation, and painting to create a heterogeneous body of objects that resists categorization. Works in the exhibition come from international public and private collections, including the collection of The Museum of Modern Art. Gabriel Orozco is organized by Ann Temkin, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, with Paulina Pobocha, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art. It will be on view in The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art Gallery, sixth floor.
For more information go to: www.moma.org
Hello,
Although I write mostly about Latin American films in this blog, I decided to incorporate worthwhile exhibitions and shows by Latin American artists as well.
Don't miss Gabriel Orozco's exhibition at MOMA!
Let's face it...not everyday a Latin American artist -in this case a Mexican- gets a major retrospective of his wok in one of the best American museums.
I am following his career since I first encountered his work: "My hands are my Heart", 1991: two photos of himself holding a piece of clay shaped as a heart with the imprints of his fingers. I bought the postcard and still is on a shelf in my bedroom.
You can visit this exhibition with your children. I think kids will enjoy the grey whale turned sculpture hanging up in the second floor. Pay attention to the graphite drawings. They are astounding. "Mobile Matrix" is on view for the first time outside Mexico.
The exhibition runs from December 13, 2009 until March 1, 2010 in the second floor and the sixth floor.
According to the Museum of Modern Art:
It is the first major museum retrospective of the artist Gabriel Orozco (Mexican, b. 1962), who since the early 1990s has forged a career marked by continuing innovation and has become one of the leading artists of his generation. This midcareer retrospective examines two decades of Orozco’s career in an exhibition of some 80 works, revealing how the artist roams freely and fluently among drawing, photography, sculpture, installation, and painting to create a heterogeneous body of objects that resists categorization. Works in the exhibition come from international public and private collections, including the collection of The Museum of Modern Art. Gabriel Orozco is organized by Ann Temkin, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, with Paulina Pobocha, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art. It will be on view in The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art Gallery, sixth floor.
For more information go to: www.moma.org
Thursday, January 7, 2010
From Argentina- La Cienaga/The Swamp
Hello,
La Cienaga/The Swamp won the first place as the Best Latin American movie of the decade on a survey organized by Cinema Tropical. Please check my previous post "Survey" for more details about the poll.
Director Lucrecia Martel portraits the lives of two women and their families during a hot summer in the North of Argentina. Martel was born in Salta and I like the fact that she sets her movies in this province, instead of Buenos Aires.
As I have family in Tucuman, the province next to Salta I have visited the region several times and I suggest that if you ever have a chance to travel to Argentina you do too. In Spanish Salta is called "Salta la linda" because it's a very pretty place.
The landscape is very different from urban Buenos Aires, the food is amazing...how to forget the empanadas saltenas and the humitas...
People have a different accent (if you know Spanish pay attention!) Even the sense of time is not alike... Because of the summer heat, stores close around noon and reopen many hours after. City dwellers go home to take a "siesta", a nap.
In this movie Graciela Borges -a very well known Argentinian actress- plays Mecha, an alcoholic and mother of four teenagers who is afraid to finish her days lying in bed for years as her mother once did, but doesn't do too much to avoid that fate. Her husband doesn't help her too much to improve the situation. The movie follows her family and her cousin's (the great Mercedes Moran) during a hot summer that seem endless and that revolves around a pool...
La Cienaga/The Swamp
Argentina, 2001
1 hour.40 min
La Cienaga/The Swamp won the first place as the Best Latin American movie of the decade on a survey organized by Cinema Tropical. Please check my previous post "Survey" for more details about the poll.
Director Lucrecia Martel portraits the lives of two women and their families during a hot summer in the North of Argentina. Martel was born in Salta and I like the fact that she sets her movies in this province, instead of Buenos Aires.
As I have family in Tucuman, the province next to Salta I have visited the region several times and I suggest that if you ever have a chance to travel to Argentina you do too. In Spanish Salta is called "Salta la linda" because it's a very pretty place.
The landscape is very different from urban Buenos Aires, the food is amazing...how to forget the empanadas saltenas and the humitas...
People have a different accent (if you know Spanish pay attention!) Even the sense of time is not alike... Because of the summer heat, stores close around noon and reopen many hours after. City dwellers go home to take a "siesta", a nap.
In this movie Graciela Borges -a very well known Argentinian actress- plays Mecha, an alcoholic and mother of four teenagers who is afraid to finish her days lying in bed for years as her mother once did, but doesn't do too much to avoid that fate. Her husband doesn't help her too much to improve the situation. The movie follows her family and her cousin's (the great Mercedes Moran) during a hot summer that seem endless and that revolves around a pool...
La Cienaga/The Swamp
Argentina, 2001
1 hour.40 min
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)