Writer / Scenario
“I carried a watermelon!”
- Baby (not in the corner)
Rejtman's Argentinian debut film Rapado (in English: Shaven) is a tight Chekhovian pattern story with a millimetered set of recurring elements that make a whole. The dialogue is flat, the camera is sensual and the faces still. Something's there, but hidden. A boy's bike and shoes gets stolen, and then he wanders around Buenos Aires barefoot, tries to get another one while constantly peddling fake money. With a heartbeating rhythm that's equally boring and full of drudgery, Rejtman creates a stale film that's actually brimming with life.
Sensual editing and a very tactile cinematography, with impressive and well chosen transitions, which are (maybe) even more creative than CMBYN. But the dragging, theatrical plotline with forced themes is hard to patch up and even Tilda Swinton's gifted acting can't suspend disbelief. Watch for poetic/stylistic reasons, it's Luca, so it's hot.
'Why should Africans, including African artists, only be able to read about their own works of art in books written by white men?'
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
So, I thought I'd hate this. But then I didn't.
Devaluating comments like 'It's egocentric' or 'a perfume ad' hit the nail on the head — with a sledgehammer. And then crush whatever the nail had to say. But it say it logically, instead of dramatically.
This movie is about men. And it dislikes them. What we see, is what they see instead of what Parthenope is. She's not real, and if you try to identify with her — treating…