By Roger Costa
Neighboring Scenes, the effervescent NYC Film Festival dedicated to New Latin American Cinema, has become the city’s main platform to showcase emerging filmmakers, whose cinematic experiences have a universal voice that echoes everywhere. Promoted by Film Society of Lincoln Center and co-presented with Cinema Tropical, the 2018 edition (running thru Sunday) brings a sensational selection that often depicts, in different circumstances, modern people in search of a place (physical, emotional) to call their own.
GABRIEL AND THE MOUNTAIN
Visually stunning and vigorously sharp, this Cannes-winner is Brazilian filmmaker Fellipe Barbosa’s most accomplished film to date. It tells the true story of a hipster adventurer, researching poverty and exploring the depths of Africa’s Natural life, who died while venturing the highest places there. Told through the memories of people who knew him, such as his girlfriend, and locals who guided him, it gives compelling insights on his personality and dedication to his cause/adventure. João Pedro Zappa personifies the protagonist with exciting energy, while Barbosa looks at topics of the young generation, romance and responsibility, social and economical issues with captivating enthusiasm.
THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL
Blending doc and dramatization, Alejo Moguillansky’s lyrical, poetical, bright account on the power of music, and its distinguished unifying force, brings together a single mother, an elderly piano teacher, and a maestro, all involved in the creative process of an Opera adaptation. Behind the preparations, lies the mystery of the title-girl, a mystical figure seen through a few testimonies, and elegant experimental imagery. The extremely talented actors deliver naturally absorbing chemistry, in this magical urban fable filled with wonderful sounds.
ALANIS
A heartwarming, truthfully sincere drama following the troubles of a prostitute fighting for her rights after she gets kicked out of her flat along with her infant. Prolific Argentinian director Anahí Berneri infuses rage, passion, despair and abandon within the structure of this powerfully raw, Neo-realism influenced unique work. Becoming part of an investigation on the controversial sex-business, she fiercely defies societal standards, rivals and authorities, and though she’s totally vulnerable and dominated by her working habits, she battles for the simple right to be. Named Best Film at Havana Film Festival, it’s a fascinating and haunting analysis on surviving on your own.
LIGHTNING FALLS BEHIND
A coming-of-age, dark, offbeat dramedy examining this generation’s perspectives and lifestyle, director Julio Hernández Cordón follows the adventures of two female friends living recklessly in Costa Rica while relying on their upper class status, with extremely accuracy. After finding a cadaver inside a car, and getting involved on the macabre investigation, the girls just take advantage of their youth, as members of a motorcycle club, exploring the radical joy, the landscape, and the bodies. The result is a timely analysis on freedom, misbehavior and guilty.
REY
Mystical figures into the jungle are met by “the king with hands of water” in this surrealistic, dazzling fable, presenting the life-changing adventures of a Frenchman exploring South American Volcanic lands divided by indigenous tribes. Award-winning Chilean director Niles Atallah’s sophomore feature is an amazingly inventive compilation of trippy images, Gothic aesthetic, Avant Garde, various filming styles, including including homage to the silent-era, Super-8 and saturated colors, structured into a dreamy atmosphere as the protagonist recounts how he survived the jungle. A triumphant, visionary work.
ANTONIO, ONE, TWO, THREE
A reinvention of Dostoevsky’s White Nights, Brazilian director Leonardo Mouramateus’s feature debut affectingly combines elements of Nouvelle Vague and screwball comedy. A Portuguese intellectual bohemian guy crashes at his friend’s place, only to meet a sensual Brazilian tourist with whom he explores the nights of Lisbon. Filled with charismatic performances and philosophical dialogs, it’s a beautiful and insightful look at this generation’s expectations for love.
BEAUTIES OF THE NIGHT
Provocative, nostalgic and uplifting, María José Cuevas’s emotionally-charged doc looks at the lives of the popular showgirls, dancers and performers who reached stardom on Mexico’s national TV. Named Best Documentary at both Morelia and Palm Springs Film Festivals, it collects honest testimonies and memories from these fabulous women, their multi-task talent, passion and vanity, influences and mutual dependence on the stage, romantic troubles, loneliness, illness and transformations. Conceiving her debut with over-the-top results, Cuevas is definitely a promising filmmaker.
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