Malaventura

An Axolote, Circo, Labofilms presentation in colaboration with CCC, Bamboo Audiovisual, Zamora Films, KI Visual. Produced by Milko Luis Coronel, Michel Lipkes, Paula Astorga. Directed by Michel Lipkes. Script, Fernando del Razo, Lipkes. Based on an idea by Lipkes.With: Isaac Lopez, Reynaldo Gavino, Cynthia, Jose Alfredo "El parajito" Martinez, Graciela Castillo, Manuel Valderrama.An senior citizens man's final day alive in Mexico City is made from intensity and rigor by filmmaker Michel Lipkes inside the properly titled "Malaventura." Lipkes' debut feature intensely flies the flag in the "slow cinema" movement, now especially strong among youthful Latin American and Asian company company directors. An absolute absurdist attitude leavens this existential journey, in which the old man's programs and dreams create a destabilizing effect. Result should search for a warm welcome around the standard fest circuit. Recent Mexican films for instance Carlos Reygadas' "Fight in Paradise" and Nicolas Pereda's "Perpetuum Mobile" required round the Mexico City megalopolis as both character and staging area, however it might be contended that Lipkes takes this notion a stride further in "Malaventura." In sequence after sequence, the old guy (as he's recognized in credits, carried out with rough majesty by non-professional actor Isaac Lopez) is noticed in respite from the city's streets, plazas and public spaces. He's an archetype from the guy frequently seen, but more often overlooked. The opening nine-minute shot locations that some guy within the humble apartment, after an very slow fade-in while he stimulates, does his morning chores and can get ready to visit out, his actions counterpointed arrestingly by composer Galo Duran's disturbing music, abetted by Alejandro p Icaza's and Jose Miguel Enriquez's uncompromising appear design. It's probably purposely your camera sights the old guy from the kind of "Ozu position," the lower position that was a signature of Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu, whose several films in regards to the senior citizens in addition to their diminishing away echo here. As he's seen walking lower his neighborhood streets, the man is dwarfed by his environs, and sounds (just like a destitute guy saying the lyrics in the Mexican national anthem, or possibly a police vehicle) undertake sinister qualities. Lipkes frames the spots round the old man's models -- a subway vehicle, a park, a taco stand -- as stages which occurrences, findings or nonverbal trades occur. The taco-stand action signifies "Malaventura" doesn't take itself grimly seriously, since the stand owner (Reynaldo Gavino) sometimes seems, and heard, dicing up every imaginable part of a cow, one of the film's several particulars in the city's unique and sometimes amusing textures. It may be eventually apparent -- even though impatient can offer up eventually, during a pic getting a brief 66-minute running time -- the film will unwind since the some guy does, following him through his mundane, sometimes lovely, sometimes inexplicable actions. He's carrying out work, it calculates, selling balloons in the park, but even that's colored with the perils of the city. More disturbing are sojourns with a porn cinema that plays as if from the creepy '70s flashback, additionally to moments when the some guy appears to own lost his bearings altogether. A great-sleazy bar in which a guy constantly re-recites only one poem plays like the ultimate stalemate for people with no future. The finale is less surprising (nor intended as) than an all-natural last a part of a volitile manner, through which, tellingly, the presence of God is nowhere nearby. Credits list the film's widescreen process while using cheeky invented term "Chamagoscope," Lipkes' joke on some local experts who've labelled his together with other youthful Mexican cineastes' films as "Chamago cinema," slang for "dirty cinema." Video lensing by Gerardo Barroso artfully stresses graininess and desaturated colors, whether in blinding daylight or sepulchral evening. Duran's music genuinely worms its distance towards the subconscious.Camera (color, widescreen, DV), Gerardo Barroso editors, Lipkes, Leon Felipe Gonzalez music, Galo Duran production designer, Nohemi Gonzalez set decorator, Fernando Barroso costume designer, Gonzalez appear (Dolby Digital), Federico Gonzalez appear designers, Alejandro p Icaza, Jose Miguel Enriquez re-recording mixer, Alejandro p Icaza digital effects supervisor, Jose Luis Salazar assistant director, Maria Fernanda p la Peza casting, Adrian Arce. Examined at Morelia Film Festival (competing), March. 21, 2011. Running time: 66 MIN. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com