REVIEWS
EUROPEAN FILM MARKET 2011 PERSPECTIVE CANADA
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CURLING Denis Côté
FATHERS & SONS Carl Bessai
Production Nihilproductions Sales Doc & Film International
13.02 11:15 CinemaxX 2
HOW TO BOIL A FROG Jon Cooksey
Production Raven West Films Sales Shoreline Entertainment
13.02 16:15 CinemaxX 17
THE MAN OF A THOUSAND SONGS William D. MacGillivray
FORUM
Production Fools Bay Entertainment Sales Horizon Motion Pictures
13.02 14:30 tomorrow
BERLINALE (FORUM) FAMILIAR GROUNDS EN TERRAINS CONNUS Stéphane Lafleur 19:30 (F) CinemaxX 4* F: Français *: German sub
FATHERS & SONS Carl Bessai 14:15 Marriott 2
HIDDEN 3D M.R. 09:30 Astor
HOW TO BOIL A FROG Jon Cooksey 11:00 CinemaxX 17
SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS Ed Gass-Donnelly 14:30 CinemaxX 17
THE BAIT / L’APPAT Yves Simoneau 14:00 Parliament
THE SALESMAN / LE VENDEUR Sébastien Pilote 11:30 CinemaxX 2
WRECKED Michael Greenspan 17:15 CinemaxX 2
CinemaxX 17
Production Get Set Films, Picture Plant Sales Picture Plant
13.02 09:00 CinemaxX 19
Arg. 2011. 90mins Director/screenplay/ editor Marco Berger Production companies Oh My Gomez! International sales Rendez-vous Pictures,
www.rendezvouspictures. com Producer Mariano Contreras Executive producers Pablo Ingercher, Tomas Perez Silva Cinematography Tomas Perez Silva Production designer Paula Lombardi Music Pedro Irusta Main cast Carlos Echevarria, Javier de Pietro, Antonella Costa, Rocio Pavon, Alejandro Barbera
Absent REVIEWED BY JONATHAN ROMNEY
A same-sex attraction between a swimming teacher and one of his adolescent charges is turned into an initially compelling for- bidden relationship thriller in young Argentinian director Marco Berger’s second feature Absent (Ausente). The film goes off the boil in its stretched second half, however, and is a little too in love with its quirky soundtrack and odd sound design, full of muffled passages of dialogue and buzzing undertones, but this is still an impressive example of directorial control on a shoestring budget from a new Argentinian auteur to watch. Despite the theme and the way the camera voyeuristically
caresses the young male body, this is by no means a GLBT niche product — though it will inevitably travel on the gay and lesbian festival circuit after its Berlin Forum debut. However, though it could theoretically score some arthouse action, the film’s lack of plot development and slightly downbeat, airless view of desire is unlikely to turn on many distributors outside of its home territory. Perhaps the film’s greatest achievement is in the writing and
casting of the two leads and the always authentic perform- ances of the actors chosen to play them — Carlos Echevarria as Sebastian, the teacher who is clearly keeping a tight lid on his attraction towards his young male students, and Javier de Pie- tro as Martin, the outwardly shy but inwardly self-assured 16 year-old who actively pursues the older man. The first 50 minutes almost constitute a film in themselves. It
is played almost in real time, as we see Martin checking out Sebastian in the locker room, and feigning an eye injury so he can have the teacher ferry him to the hospital for a check-up (eyes are a recurring theme: glances are exchanged but rarely meet, and the eyes of others — judging or mocking, perhaps — torture Sebastian in the film’s second half). The tension is well managed by Berger, as Martin first lies
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about living with his grandmother, who is conveniently out because he was supposed to spend the night with a friend he cannot contact… and in the end Sebastian offers to put Martin up in his own apartment, just for one night. It is a surprise to discover Sebastian has a girlfriend, Mariana (Costa), but not to discover she is not around. Berger has a real feel for cutting, setting up an uneasy rhythm
of closed and open spaces, of light and dark scenes, that under- scores the instability and strangeness of a world transformed by suppressed desire.
n 18 Screen International in Berlin February 13, 2011
CLIENT : Telefilm Canada PUBLICATION Screen
TEXTES
No ANNONCE Screen - half page DATE DIR. ARTISTIQUE DATE
DATE 13 février 2011 SERVICE CLIENT DATE
TITRE DATE
DIMENSIONS
CANADA - EUROPEAN FILM MARKET 2011 DIR. PRODUCTION
CLIENT
Communications bleublancrouge COULEUR
107 mm X 304 mm DATE
INITIALES STUDIO
AM
07-02-11 DATE
VERSION 1
0 No
CORR.
APPRO- BATION
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