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Directed by Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, The Headless Woman has earned rave reviews at the festival circuit. Touted as a psychological thriller, the film is about a seemingly happily married middle-aged woman, belonging to a wealthy family and who works as a dentist, hits something while driving on her way to her home. She suffers a slight injury to her head, and though she had actually hit a dog, she comes to believe she’d hit a human being. Though nothing much dramatic happens in this film, and, as one would expect, there aren’t any punch lines or twists in the tale either; the quiet tension that fills the air forms the very basis for the movie. Well, the film is largely uneventful, but it sure manages to keep one glued to the seemingly innocuous occurrences on the screen. The acting is naturalistic, and the lady in the role of the lady Veronica, whose blasé attitude and inability to look beyond herself (which could be an effect of her head injury) often borders of the irritating but which is entirely believable, delivers an effective performance. The film also has a socio-political angle to it, but which remains largely as an allegory and never too evident. The film’s genre might suggest otherwise, but the moments of cinematic inactivity are what define this film, its theme and the characters.
Director: Lucrecia Martel
Genre: Thriller/Psychological Thriller
Language: Spanish
Country: Argentina
Like the powerful German film The Lives of Others has often been known as the film that defeated Pan’s Labyrinth at the Oscars, Argentine film The Secret in Their Eyes too is often known as the film that upset the applecart of Oscar frontrunner The White Ribbon, often considered Haneke’s masterpiece. A lugubrious, but never uneventful, film, this Argentine movie is at once a somber character drama and a captivating crime procedural with enough mystery thrown in to keel the audience guessing. A retired advocate is planning to write a novel of a 1974 rape/murder case at Buenos Aires that didn’t just change his life, but also of those surrounding him. As he takes his plans to the lady judge he’s always been secretly in love with, elaborate flashbacks are used to chronicle the long-drawn and murky chain of events, leading finally to a totally unexpected dénouement. While on one hand the movie pictures a deplorable state filled with government corruption, red tape, bureaucracy and the likes, on the other it paints the various characters, not just the protagonist, but also the judge he’s smitten with, his loyal but garrulous friend, and the husband of the dead girl pining for vengeance, and the slimy guy who committed the crime, in minute details along with their fascinating interactions. The movie boasts of incredible, layered and restrained performances from its principal actors – Ricardo Darin as the terse but unrelenting protagonist is especially brilliant. Though the movie seem long to many, rest assured, it would keep one, for most of its length, at the edge of his seat thanks to the excellent storytelling.
Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Genre: Crime Drama/Thriller/Mystery/Police Procedural
Language: Spanish
Country: Argentina
Based on the autobiographical chronicles of the legendary Leftist revolutionary, Ernesto “Che” Guevera, this heartfelt and vibrant biopic deftly tells how Ernesto, a medical student, became Che, the icon of guerilla warfare. The road movie follows the historic motorcycle trip, undertaken by Che and his best friend Alberto Granado, on a vintage chopper, from their native Argentina to Peru. The movie has captured the breathtaking beauty and the despicable poverty in the South American countries in equal measures. What starts as a fun experience with no strings attached, turns into a life altering experience that transforms them into men. The trip presented in the movie ends at a leper colony at Peru, but we realize that the actual journey of Che has just begun. The incredible journey is made even more profoundly absorbing thanks in large parts to astonishing cinematography and terrific performances by the leads.
Director: Walter Salles Jr.
Genre: Drama/Road Movie/Buddy Film/Coming-of-Age/Docu-Fiction/Biopic
Language: Spanish
Country: Argentina/Brazil/Chile/Peru
