CHRONICLES OF A WANDERING SAINT Reviewed by Lisa Naiberg
This is a leisurely, quirky and poignant comedy, suffused with magical realism, which revels in its defiance of expectations.
Rita, a pious, elderly church janitor in a rural Argentine town, strives to distinguish herself in the eyes of the local priest. Upon discovering in the church basement, a neglected statue of the town’s patron saint – long thought to have disappeared − she resolves to stage a “miracle” that will earn her recognition. Her devoted husband, Norberto, is her initially unwitting accomplice in smuggling the icon of Saint Rita into their modest home, to refurbish it before it suddenly “reappears” in the chapel. Rita’s continual rebuffing of Norberto’s touching, romantic overtures in her obsessive quest for acknowledgment is one of the film’s many subtle ironies.
At a certain juncture, the anticipated narrative thread is radically upended. This results at first in perplexity on the part of both Rita and the viewers. As she becomes reoriented, we too soon find ourselves contemplating the words uttered earlier by Norberto: “Are we what we think we are?”
Tomas Gomes Bustillo’s masterful intermingling of sly humour, empathy and adroit critique is balanced by lyrical and astonishing visual effects. Immersed in a simultaneously real and surreal world of flickering streetlamps, “express prayer,” thwarted grand gestures, and a guardian angel who smokes cigarettes and carries a plastic shopping bag, we are challenged to consider our own powers of observation. Are we oblivious to the beauty in our lives? Might our efforts be misdirected? .
Surprising to the very end, Chronicles of a Wandering Saint is an enchanting and resounding achievement.
OCTOPUS SKIN Reviewed by Lisa Naiberg
Octopus Skin
Awards
San Sebastián International Film Festival
2022 Nominee Horizons Award
Ana Cristina Barragán
Sumptuous, mesmerizing photography immerses viewers in the seascape and wildlife surrounding fourteen-year-old fraternal twins Iris and Ariel, their older sister, and their often-inattentive mother. .
The twins’ languorous – though not entirely untroubled − existence on a remote island serves to sharpen their curiosity about the outside world; despite their mother’s warnings, they accept a boat ride to the mainland from a stranger. The shopping mall’s glass elevator and the city’s downtown nightlife prove revelations that whet Iris’s appetite for further exploration. Shortly after Iris’s return to the island, she sneaks away again, to fulfill a secret mission.
The sharp contrasts between the pristine natural world and “civilized” society; innocence and experience; seclusion and attachment invite the audience to reflect upon how various forces shape one’s perception and desires. Octopuses can taste what they touch; as an impressionable adolescent with finely honed senses, Iris absorbs and grapples with new sensations. Her ability to adapt substantially to a newfound milieu is reminiscent of the octopus’s capacity for camouflage.
Upon her return home, a rift occurs between Iris and the brother with whom she has always shared an extraordinary intimacy. This is one of several narrative elements deliberately left unresolved by the film’s end.