Lesbian Love at “Neighboring Scenes”
Pair of LGBTQ fi lms at Latin American fi lm series
BY STEVE ERICKSON
“Neighboring Scenes,” the
annual series of Latin
American fi lms co-presented
by Lincoln Center
and Cinema Tropical, is celebrating
its sixth anniversary just before
Lincoln Center’s movie theaters
reopen on April 16. Although
the Brazilian-made “Bacurau” was
one of last year’s streaming success
stories, the pandemic seems
to have put a damper on US distribution
of subtitled movies. Series
like these remain vital given the
potential diffi culty of seeing intriguing
sounding titles like “Night
Vision,” a personal documentary
by a Chilean director about rape,
or “All the Dead Ones,” a historical
epic which shows how racism persisted
in Brazil after the abolition
of slavery. I was able to preview the
queer-adjacent “Los fantasmas”
and lesbian teen romance “One
in a Thousand.” Argentine director
Clarisa Navas’ “One in a Thousand”
captures a paradox of contemporary
teenage life. No adults
bother telling her characters that
they can’t stay up all night partying.
Yet the freedoms they enjoy,
including being open about their
gayness, are curtailed by their
own slut-shaming and surveillance
of each other, as well as the
fact that their actions can always
be fi lmed on phones and then traded
around.
Set in a housing project — the
“thousand” of the title — in a town
in Northern Argentina where horses
sometimes trot down the street,
it follows 17-year-old Iris (Sofi a Cabrera)
as she hears rumors about
Renata (Ana Carolina Garcia), a
girl she’s attracted to. Boys spread
stories that Renata is an HIV-positive
sex worker.
Over a leisurely paced two hours,
Navas lets her camera, which is often
handheld, stay with the characters
through long days trying to kill
time in crowded apartments. (The
busy sound design, which lets us
hear their neighbors’ arguments,
increases the claustrophobia.) The
lack of privacy is built in to the
Ana Carolina Garcia (left) with Sofi a Cabrera in “One in a Thousand.”
world of “One in a Thousand,” long
before Instagram ever existed. Iris
sits around with her cousins Dario
(Mauricio Vila) and Ale (Luis Molina).
All three seem to be queer to
some extent, but Iris still hesitates
to pursue a relationship with Renata.
Nevertheless, the fi lm fl irts
with the sensationalism of superfi
cially similar projects like Larry
Clark’s “Kids” or the TV series “Euphoria,”
but ultimately dodges it
to evoke a milieu of working-class
Argentine youth and suggest what
it’s like to be queer amongst it.
Meanwhile, Guatemalan director
Sebastian Lojo’s “Los fantasmas”
lights a fuse which takes an hour
to go off. Guatemala City is shown
as an alienating hotbed of violence,
full of heterosexuals who exploit
and rob gay men. While cinematographer
Vincenzo Marranghino
could get work using this as his
demo reel, the direction and script
keep the audience at arm’s length.
Hotel manager Carlos (Carlos
Morales) is introduced putting on
makeup to get in the ring as his
wrestler alter ego. However, the
athletic scene that follows does
not set the tone for the rest of “Los
fantasmas.” The fi lm is laconic
and detached from its characters.
Carlos employs a handsome young
man, Koki (Marvin Navas), to seduce
men so that he can steal from
them. Koki seems to be heterosexual,
having fathered a child with
Sofi a (Daniela Castillo).
By the end of “Los fantasmas,”
one can recall the story it conveys,
but the experience of watching it is
much different. While “Los fantasmas”
PHOTO LINCOLN CENTER.
isn’t primarily concerned with
narrative, it’s so unconcerned with
Carlos’ life as a wrestler that introducing
that thread was a waste.
The style is immersive at times,
using handheld close-ups, but
most often it tries to keep the spectator
away from any easy understanding.
When one of Koki’s robbery
victims tracks him down in
FILM
a bar and beats him up outside,
with the aid of a group of friends,
the camera remains locked down
in a static long shot inside. The
teeming bars and nightclubs are
brightly lit and oddly colored, suggesting
desperate signs of life in an
hostile environment.
In the last 15 minutes, Koki fi nally
makes his way out of Guatemala
City, and the fi lm develops some
breathing room. Its style, including
the use of a Korean rock ballad,
becomes far more lyrical. But
considering how long it took to feel
as though it was going anywhere
other than a familiar strain of festival
cinema, the ride amounts to
too little, too late. “Los fantasmas”
doesn’t come up with a reason why
we should care about a jerk whose
inner life it never really expresses.
“NEIGHBORING SCENES” |
Film at Lincoln Center | Filmlinc.org
| March 31st-April 12th
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