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DISCOVERY:
I saw this film in its world premiere at the 10th
Miami Film Festival in February, 1993. While watching Dark Side of
the Heart, I had a strong urge to write poetry. Then the desire gave
way to the feeling that to write was unnecessary, to live it would be
right. Like its predecessor, Man Facing Southeast, Dark Side is
symphonic, a romance full of swells and thoughtful passages. I received
the gift of renewed hope in humanity from this motion picture poem.
OPENING
SCENE:
A man enters a meeting of businessmen. He is arrogant and
cavalier. His exit is flamboyant.
PLOT:
An unpublished Argentine poet moonlights as an advertising copy
writer by day. His quest is to find a woman who can fly. He meets Ana,
a hooker, but not the cliché hooker with a heart of gold. But can she
fly?
His
best friends are a sculptor who creates giant phalluses and pudenda and
is jailed for it, and the owner of an outdoor bar & grill with a
philosophy of life.
PERIOD/LOCATION:
Modern day (1980s) Argentina.
A
DETAIL:
In one scene of Dark Side Oliverio meets his dead mother
incarnated as a cow in a pasture he is passing.
FINALE:
A man transformed by love, remains.
FILMOGRAPHY:
I wondered how much of Eliseo Subiela was in Oliverio. A poetic
film about a poet reveals a poetic film maker.
Eliseo
Subiela
Man Facing Southeast (1986) 108:00
Stars: Lorenzo Quinteros, Hugo Soto and
Ines Vernengo.
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