By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
| Viola (Argentina/USA; 65 min.)
directed by: Matías Piñeiro starring: CMaria Villar; Romina Paula; Agustina Muñoz; Elisa Carricajo; Gabriela Saidón; Laura Paredes; Julia Martinez Rubio; Esteban Gagliardi; Julián Tello; Alessio Rigo de Righi; Pablo Sigal; Alberto Ajaka |
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| Kyle says: “VIOLA inspired as much discussion as it did confusion, and one of the reasons is audience inclination to view it as a deconstruction of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ and to look for markers. This is a mistake: I know, because I made it. Prodigiously gifted ‘New Wave’ Argentine director Matías Piñeiro explained that he is making a series of films based on female characters in Shakespeare. ROSALINDA (2011) was derived from ‘As You Like It’ and preceded VIOLA; ISABELLA will be based on ‘Measure for Measure’ and the project currently titled in English THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE is inspired by ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ and the title character will be played by a man. The title character is not the Shakespearean Viola; it is a young woman who with her partner makes pirated CDs and DVDs and delivers them by bicycle around contemporary Buenos Aires. Of equal prominence is a production based on scenes from various Shakespeare plays in rehearsal and performance by young actresses who also live the roles they play. Romantic scenes in the plays become the same in the film. As the musical recording at the end highlights, performances become scenes from everyday life and vice versa, extending into all the arts. Director Piñeiro explained his structural overview as relationship breakup, performance, backstage scene, another breakup, and another performance. His idea of theatre as a taking off point of investigation into reality becomes an examination into cinema. Ultimately the various strands of character, narrative, relationships, art, and conversation are woven into a coherent unity. This is not a film for the idle passage of time (even at its barely an hour running time), nor is it the kind of Shakespeare adaptation exemplified by the mesmerizing CAESAR MUST DIE, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, and screened at the 2012 New York Film Festival. But if you have interest in new directions being taken by current Argentine cinema, VIOLA offers a worthwhile journey. In the program note identifying characteristics of Piñeiro’s style, these words may help to clarify whether this film is for you: ‘serpentine camera movements, slippages of language, an elliptical narrative, and a playful confusion of reality and artifice.’ 3 cats “Seen Wednesday, March 27, 2013, New Directors/New Films at the Walter |
Viola