Film Society Of Lincoln Center And Cinema Tropical Set Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema For January 7-10

We’ve just started a new year, but the wave of special film festivals and film series has already started. Barely two weekends into the month of January, and The Film Society Of Lincoln Center and partner Cinema Tropical have made the first truly must attend film series of 2016.

Entitled Neighboring Scenes, the pair has selected a handful of titles that highlight some of the latest and truly greatest cinematic achievements from Latin American filmmakers. Over the span of four days, with two North American, two U.S. and eight New York premieres among the lineup, Neighboring Scenes touches countries ranging from Mexico to Brazil, all while opening viewers to the true experimentation currently going on within the world of Latin American cinema.

From quiet meditations on modern class struggles to experimental neo-westerns, this lineup is small (12 in total) but the variety is wide, even in length with one film running 25 minutes with another clocking in at a startling 208 minutes. However, these all have one thing in common; they are of truly high quality. And here are the five films you need to keep an eye on most.

5. Alexfilm

Starting off this list is arguably the lineup’s most esoteric picture. Clocking in at only an hour in length, biologist-turned-film director Pablo Chavarria Gutierrez brings his latest picture, an experiment in storytelling not like anything you’ve seen. Ostensibly told entirely through voice over, this briskly paced but distinctly plaintive picture introduces us to a man who we discover is waiting on something of the highest importance.

We spend the day with him, watching him make food, paint and more or less flow from room to room in his home, only to reach a conclusion that turns the picture into something almost metaphysical. Likely to confound a few viewers, frustrate many more, Alexfilm will hopefully engross those willing to give themselves over to the odd rhythm of this small, intimate picture, one that is a perfect example of the type of experimental cinema being made throughout Latin American filmmaking.

4. Ixcanul

From Guatemala comes that country’s first Oscar submission, a new film from director Jayro Bustamente, which tells the story of Maria, a woman set to wed a gentleman many years her senior, a foreman on a local coffee plantation. She has caught the attention of a young man named Pepe, with whom she has sex, fostering a child. After the two make love, Pepe leaves for the US and dreams of wealth, leaving Maria not only to deal with bringing her child to term, but also the ramifications of this in her traditional home.

As we follow her throughout her pregnancy, things become complicated, and we watch as the battle between tradition and modernity play out. A beautifully composed, naturalistic feature from Bustamente, Ixcanul is a superb drama, one that may take on relatively familiar narrative beats, but does so with not only immense heart, but an originality found within its setting and central focus. Deeply moving, this look at one woman’s journey in a world where the tradition of her people and the modernity that surrounds them rarely play nice. Quiet and assured, this is bound to be a highlight of the series for most of those in attendance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug2534juBhA

3. A Monster With A Thousand Heads

From director Rodrigo Pla comes a film of, for and about our time. Taut, quiet and most importantly tense, this new thriller clocks in at a brisk 74 minutes and is a truly powerful picture. The film introduces us to Sonia, a wife and mother who is staring into a seemingly never ending personal abyss. Her terminally ill husband’s condition begins worsening, and in turn she decides to change her situation, taking things into her own hands.

With a gun and steel nerves, she attempts to break through to those insurance lackies who are denying her husband the treatment he needs to save his life, only to find that the bureaucracy is dense and knotted, turning this picture into one that may have thriller trappings (including a powerful final act) but has under its skin a pitch black sense of humor. A small scale, quiet motion picture, Monster is one of deep sociological import, and features a handful of truly great performances.

2. The Club

Arguably the biggest “get” of the lineup, Pablo Larrain’s latest film (following his Oscar nominee No) is an absolute masterwork. Telling the story of four former priests who live in proverbial exile in a small port city after being involved in a sexual misconduct case involving the Catholic Church, this award winning drama opens on what seems like a relatively low-key dog race, only to unfurl, becoming one of the most powerful explorations of sexual assault within the church we’ve seen on screen. When a fifth priest arrives only to take his own life after running into a victim he had assaulted, the film into a breathlessly assured meditation on faith and how one can never truly escape his or her past.

There are a handful of top notch sequences, particularly one involving an adult the recently-passed priest had assaulted in which he discusses the event with the group’s counselor, all of which helping to build a distinct and dark tone, one that builds to a fantastic final act. Larrain has been a rather controversial filmmaker in cinephile circles, but this is without a doubt his most assured and rich picture, blending some truly claustrophobic close ups (particularly in a few of the opening counseling sequences) with lyrically composed tracking shots that give us a sense of the world that these men inhabit. Told in dim yellows and hazey blues, Larrain’s picture is a gorgeous, troubling and emotionally layered film, and is the true headliner of this weekend-long series.

1. El Movimiento

Rounding out this list is a perfect bookend to the experimental drama Alexfilm, because the Opening Night film for this mini-festival is just as engaging an experiment, but with a much grander scope. From director Benjamin Naishtat comes the beautifully shot, black and white El Movimiento, a historical drama that subverts all expectations one has when those words are uttered. Staring Argentinian history squarely in its face, Naishtat tells the story of a militia leader during those moments prior to the nation’s unification. Quiet and sparsely composed, this gorgeous picture runs a brisk 70 minutes, and while the plot itself feels loosely connect at first, the film hangs together thanks to some truly superb performances and thoughtful direction that allows the stark atmosphere to take hold.

There’s a rough quality to the performances, making the detached direction and almost surreal use of black and white photography really pop off the frame. Viewers may take a moment to really jump into the flow of the film, but come the powerful and genuinely shocking second segment, not only are the aesthetic choices very clear and themes powerful assured but the tone is fully set and the viewer is thrust into a world on the brink. It’s exactly the type of cinematic experiment that makes the Latin American film scene one of the most vital today.