Piñero’s Plata Quemada film adaptation.

Piñero’s film adaptation of he novel Plata Quemada as previously stated in my last post is loyal to historic events. Plata Quemada originally is a fiction novel that borrows from real events. At points the novel strays and follows the path of a fiction novel by creating a world that resembles our own. Something that fascinates me from both movie and novel but mostly the movie is the fact that it follows to cold-blooded killers through their journey. A physical journey to escape the authorities and it is during the escape the characters embark on another journey that is guided by their emotions and in the end it is a journey to find themselves. What is truly amazing is that these insane characters where real at one point. Taking into account that the movie follows history closer than the novel it is safe to say this couple of lunatics really did run from the cops in an epic standoff.

What is not believable is the romance between the two protagonists. This is where the movie just sites the novel. The romance is not the driving plot in the actually work of literature, however in the movie the romance plays a large role in the narration of the story or it is the one plot that is reoccurring. This is neither good or bad, it’s a stylistic choice and approach on the director’s behalf. Though it does not change much of the story it finds a balance of some sort between action and romance. At points in the movie all you get is this romantic story that shadows every other aspect of the plot. It gets to the point where the escape from the cops and living hidden away from society seems like something every couple gay or straight should do. We don’t get the feeling that these men are running for their lives instead we get the feeling that these two men really love each other and have to struggle with whatever problems they have in their relationship, whether it be that Nene is confused or that Angel wont have sex.

The choices made in the movie for good or worse they work, the faithfulness to history works also and the focus on the romance helps the story become a movie that anyone can understand. Can we do without the romance? Perhaps, the film would be just like the novel. One thing you cannot do away with is the tension between the various characters, whether sexual or not there is tension between all the characters that propel the drama that make for such a story. I wont run off anytime soon and read every historical text searching for the real Nene and Angel so to that extent I have to take the novels word that it is faithful to the real standoff in turn I would have to believe that the movie is in fact historically accurate.

Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1985 film adaptation.

          

The 1985 film adaptation of Kiss of the Spider woman is not a great one; in fact I completely disliked it. Something is lost in the translation from literature to film, in this film however what is lost is too great to look past. Director Hector Babenco took a risk in bringing the fiction novel to the big screen, as I stated before the novel has a completely different approach at narrating the story from point A to point B with only dialogue. The movie did not convey this method of narration even if for the most part all we saw was the men in the cell talking.

The character of Molina guides the movie in its entirety; in fact the only character that stands out in the film is Molina’s. This was a great fault as both characters in the novel were supposed to be equally as passionate even while being exact opposites. Valentin’s character is too passive and not aggressive enough to convey the image of a revolutionary leader. At times the movie is too theatrical, in other words corny. The actors were too dramatic when the novel was not a dramatic novel. Even so, you should watch the movie just for the sake of watching it the novel is a complicated one to follow, as the use of dialogue is the guiding light in the narrative. Perhaps it is this that kept the movie from being a great one.

On Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow-Up.”

Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow-up” appeals to our senses and the human psyche. With an expertise touch, Antonioni is able to guide our senses with much ease and is able to control our reactions to the movie. Intentional or not, Michelangelo Antonioni creates a work of cinematic art, while not a faithful adaptation to Julio Cortazar’s short story it is inspired by the it to some degree. The movie captures the unpredictable and sometimes even random nature of the piece Cortazar wrote. As I stated before the movie “Blow-up” is inspired by one of Julio Cortazar’s most recognized works of literature. Having been inspired by the short story, the movie does not have to be that faithful to the original work of literature, in a way it is a movie that makes several; references to Cortazar’s story, and it does not have to follow the original every minute.

What Michelangelo Antonioni is able to do with his film is capture what made Cortazar’s short story so interesting. The unpredictable nature of events that lead to a climax and leave us without resolve at the very end to the point where we don’t really know if all that has happened in the main characters life has been a reality or a dream. By witnessing Cortazar’s characters re-created in real time, we get to actually see them other than imagining them and their personalities. We are able to see the photographer who is very much out of touch with peoples feelings and emotions, as he has total and complete disregard for what others may feel, in contrast with the the characters who surround him who appear to just simply care more than our grumpy protagonist.

In the end the movie “Blow-up” is Michelangelo Antonioni’s interpretation of Cortazar’s short story he really does not have to be all that faithful to the story and I respect that aspect of the movie. I watched with much anticipation to see what it would all lead to and greatly enjoyed watching Antonioni’s take on a very good short story. In the end, at least to me the movie blow-up is a great experience and in closing the movie is as unpredictable if not more so than the original work of literature art that Julio Cortazar created for us all to obsess over in order to understand, and figure out what is it that really happens to our protagonist. On another note, the music Michelangelo Antonioni uses in the movie is very psychedelic and a reflection of the times. Along with this type of music, the colors used throughout the movie are also very much a reflection of the times and psychedelic. I am lead to believe that Michelangelo Antonioni did this in order to set the tone of the movie, a story and events that are not impossible at all, but very improbable. The colors and music help blend all these elements together and this is one of the ways our senses are guided.

Sometimes reality is the strangest fantasy of all...

Julio Cortazar has a way of creating a story that is closely intertwined with magical realism.  With an acute sense of the human mind, Cortazar uses a psychological approach at narration in his short stories. “Blow-up” in its English translation, is a short story amongst a collection of mind-bending short stories, each a psychedelic experience with an intricate nature in its own right. The appeal behind Julio Cortazar’s novel as well as his short stories is the way each work has its own character, the stories themselves are the character. Julio Cortazar in his many work can narrate a story with multiple points of views, and have them change back and forth simultaneously and cohesively. Hopscotch being the main example. The film Blow-up, A Michelangelo Antonioni film is an adaptation of Cortazar’s works, focuses on the short story “Blow-up”. An erotic film that won the best picture award in the year 1966, is a tale of free love and youth in post-modern London. A world of parties’ sex, fashion and music, the main goal is to disorient the mind, a trip.

Of course the main inspiration of Antonioni’s film was the collection of short stories by Julio Cortazar and in some aspect the film is able capture the essence of Julio Cortazar’s works. “Blow-up” can be consider Cortazar’s most notorious short story, and despite the amount of articles written on “Blow-up” it has remained to this day a controversial work of literature art. There are certain aspects of the story that keep the audience guessing still today. For example the tentativeness of the person narrating the story or the shift from first to third person narrators to name a few. These are aspect of Cortazar’s work that makes it appealing especially to the younger generations of readers and writers. Where Julio Cortazar is most successful is in his grammatical approach to narration. With great ease the words flow together, and constantly. In some ways what makes a Julio Cortazar narrative so appealing to the eyes is the language, and of course the situations. I recommend watching Michelangelo Antonioni’s film adaptation of “Blow-up” for the full experience of Julio Cortazar’s most notorious and entertaining work of literature art.