.. historias minimas..

This afternoon was a very wet afternoon..very wet... so me and the dog sat on the setee and watched a Spanish-language film I got a couple of weeks ago, Historias Minimas.

It's an Argentinian film, and really just tells the intertwining stories of a couple of days in the lives of three people, each one on a sort on mini-quest.

Very little actually happens.... but it's a really lovely film in a way that is hard to describe. The landscapes are both beautiful and rather scary in their immensity. The lives of the characters seem so different to our lives here in the affluent west.

It's all about selection, and what the writer and director decide to show us, and how they show it to us. Perhaps it would be too slow for some, but as I say, me and the dog just lapped it up, no pun inteneded and there is plenty of Spanish in it.

Here's a review or two.....

REVIEW 1.....
Perhaps one of the less celebrated entries on Daniel Day-Lewis' cinematic CV is his role as an itinerant Irish dentist in Carlos Sorin's 1989 drama "Eversmile, New Jersey".

It's the same Sorin who has directed this road movie, which unfolds in the southern Argentinean region of Patagonia. "Historias Minimas" unpretentiously chronicles a trio of separate yet interweaving stories about ordinary people attempting to follow their dreams.

SPOILERS COMING UP IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THEM
The octogenarian Don Justo (Antonio Benedictti) has handed over the running of his grocery store to his son and daughter-in-law. Fading eyesight prevents him from driving, but he resolves to hitchhike to the distant town of San Julian, where somebody has spotted his beloved missing dog, Badface.

Elsewhere, an obsessive travelling salesman, Roberto (Javier Lombardo), is planning to surprise a young widow with the gift of a birthday cake for her kid. Unsure of the child's gender, the suitor decides to change the design of the present from the shape of a football to that of a turtle.

And in the third, less developed segment, the impoverished Maria (Javiera Bravo) is heading to the recording of television game show Multicoloured Casino with her baby, intent on gaining a prize.

END OF SPOILERS .....

Contrasting the epic Patagonian landscapes with the modesty of his characters' aspirations, Sorin has crafted an appealing portrait of this remote region, where television provides the inhabitants with their main link to the wider world.

Convincingly acted by the mainly non-professional cast, "Historias Minimas" is further proof of the diversity and strength of contemporary Argentinean cinema.

REVIEW 2


Historias Minimas
Minimalist road trip that reaps great reward. One for the character fans.
fullstarfullstarfullstarfullstaremptystar
Released in 2002, certified UK-15. Reviewed on 01 Sep 2003 by Craig Eastman
Historias Minimas image

It must be a right old pain in the arse when your economy takes the kind of tumble that results in a regression to the stone age. Ask the Argentinians. Imagine trying to do something that needs money, like making a film. Surprising then that Historias Minimas should emerge onto the international scene at all, even more so that it should be quite such a gem. Director Carlos Sorin has cooked up something of a blinder in this unassuming little tale that sets out to do nothing other than highlight a trio of amiable characters in their relatively mundane exploits. Utilising the increasingly tired mechanism of having three parallel stories intertwining at various points throughout the narrative, Historias... sidesteps all other conventions in favour of simply allowing the characters to drive the action.

SPOILER ALERT NUMBER 2 .........

The three main Patagonian protagonists each have their own reason for reaching the town of San Julian. Roberto (Javier Lombardo) is a middle-age salesman besotted with a young client. Eager to find love he is determined to deliver a custom made cake for her son's birthday. Don Justo Benedictis (Antonio Benedictti) is the elderly father of a general store owner who is tipped that his missing dog Badface has been spotted in San Julian. Abandoning his family in the night he sets off on foot along the highway to reclaim his old friend. Finally, Maria Flores (Javiera Bravo) is a poor young mother who earns the opportunity to win an expensive food processor on a tragically cheesy game show. With their wildly varying motives the three embark on their 200 mile journey, each story overlapping with the others at various intervals.

IT MIGHT NOT LOOK LIKE IT BUT MORE SPOILERS ARE UPCOMING....

Some light-hearted comic intermissions aside, that's really all there is to this. Were it not for the compelling performances from the uniformly excellent cast, Historias Minimas might have been something of an insomnia remedy. Flying in the face of all odds, however, it somehow succeeds in being one of the most quietly uplifting cinematic events since Amelie. Refreshingly, pretty much nothing bad happens to anyone, the odd misunderstanding aside. Roberto gets his date, Don Justo recovers his mutt and Maria gets the food processor. And that's it. Do any of them learn anything? Not that I noticed. Do any of them change as people because of their journey? Other than being a little happier, no. Should they have to? Of course not.
Historias Minimas image

SPOILERS FINISHED... you can read on fearlessly now....


In a world of exploding cars and heavy-handed emotional and spiritual metaphors, Historias... defiantly blows a raspberry at your literary whore of an English teacher and asks you to do nothing more than feel empathy for it's heroes of the mundane. In keeping with the minimalist ethos, the understated performances are underscored by Sorin's equally laconic direction. The Patagonian vistas do all the talking when the actors are off screen, the camera man for once being allowed to leave his equipment static and survey the beauty with his own eyes just like the rest of us. No sweeping pans or complex tracking shots; just consummately structured nature appreciation and a knack for sympathetic framing of our protagonists.


That there is little else I can say should not be interpreted as a condemnation. Rather that something so intriguing and involving can grow from something so essentially simple should be construed as an ode to the vision of the filmmakers and the natural beauty of the human condition. I like my excitement as much as the next man, but if everything so still and tranquil was as involving as this I'd be happy to forego bullet time any old day of the week.

Inexplicably satisfying, involving and rewarding, Historias Minimas is a testimony to the genius of quiet. No doubt the very notion will repel a great many cinema-goers, but if like this reviewer you find the greatest special effect to be the convincing and touching portrayal of an ordinary individual, you're going to take away a great deal more than the sum of this movie's parts. It will be criminally overlooked. Do yourself a favour and don't be so blind.

From my island of killer frogs I award this movie 4 out of 5 Disko Miniaturisation Units.

Director:
Carlos Sorin
Cast list:
Roberto (Javier Lombardo)
Don Justo Benedictis (Antonio Benedictti)
Maria Flores (Javiera Bravo)

So there you are... one worth getting... very affordable on amazon etc as well.

It's drying up so the dog and me will be out for a walk soon, but here is some music for you in the shape of Amaral with Perdóname.... this is a great live version, and there is a lovely official video ( the bridge one) which "they" won't let me use.... maybe sometime in the future I will be able to...



and here's those words...

Perdóname
por todos mis errores
por mis mil contradicciones
por las puertas que crucé
disculpame
por quererte igual que antes
por no poder callarme
ni siquiera hoy lo haré

Hay demasiados
corazones sin consuelo
es demasiado frío este momento
cuando siento que te pierdo

Entiéndeme
por todas mis locuras
fueron la mitad mas una
de las que te he visto hacer
discúlpame Letra de Perdoname - Amaral - Sitio de letras.com
si te duele lo que veo
demasiados buitres negros
tu eres demasiado bueno para ellos
tu eres demasiado bueno para ellos

Hay demasiados
corazones sin consuelo
es demasiado frío este momento
cuando siento que te pierdo

hay demasiados
corazones sin consuelo
es demasiado frío este momento

hay demasiados
corazones sin consuelo
es demasiado frío este momento
cuando siento que te pierdo.