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Four directors that are actually six. Four films that could well be the 44 that are nominated. Chance, or causality, or just destiny, has meant that directors with the option to become the Spanish filmmaker of the year at the Goya Awards have made the same film.
They do not know. Moreover, they are convinced of their originality, their authorship and even their inviolability. And that is why they may go separately, each with their freshly ironed suit, to the gala held today in Malaga. This is the 34th edition of the Awards that the cinema gives itself. And there they will all be, each one, they believe, with a different film. However, as soon as one approaches, both Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro Amenábar and Óliver Laxe himself , not forgetting the three responsible for the infinite trench that are Aitor Arregui, Jon Garaño and José Mari Goenaga ; All of them, we say, share the same fixation for memory and the same obsession with cinema as the executor of time.
Pain and glory, of the first mentioned, speaks of the wound of a creator or, better, of all the wounds in the world of all artists. There is much regret and more so the doses of analgesic. While the war lasts, the second is a tape of the Civil War, but above all it is the almost surgical rigor of an attitude and manners, always violent, that are repeated. The case of What burns, of the third, is different and, despite this, indistinguishable. What it is about is a way of life, caught in the rigor of the rural and in the heart of the forest, which disappears. That is, what it is about memory and its twin brother, oblivion. And finally, the last one, that of the trio of Basques, is nothing more than the memory in living flesh of a moment in the history of recent Spain that still bleeds, a mole that lived hidden after the Civil War for more than three decades .
That is, one way or another, everything is time. Lost time, recovered time, time, and this is what counts, built in common . It is historical time and cinematic time. Are they all or not the same movie?
memory
We transfer the question to each of the directors. And everyone is surprised in their own way. Everyone is clear that memory goes through them and somehow makes sense to them. Because, as everyone recognizes, memory is also "inherent to the human being", as José Mari Goenaga, a social and moral requirement, points out. "Memory," begins Amenábar, "has to be intimately related to politics, especially in this country, so as not to repeat the worst of ourselves . For me it is important to return to the past. I have already made two historical films and two others dedicated especially to memory ».
Goenaga gives him the reason and to support the argument he takes hold not of the film he presents to the Goya, but of another: «In addition to The Infinite Trench , we have released this year a short film entitled Mateoren Ama (Mateo's mother) , based on a story by Iban Zaldua. Coincidentally, or not, this short film also speaks of memory from another perspective. In him, the protagonist is a son who is going to visit his mother with Alzheimer's and comes to say that when the mother loses her memory, not only does the mother disappear, but she also becomes part of the son. Because we are built by memory: from our own and from others. What happens to each of us is also extrapolated to society as a whole .
In this same sense, Almodóvar goes to the obvious: «Memory is a physical part of us. Memory does not mean revenge or adjustment of accounts. Memory is knowing who you are and who the previous generations were .
And what does the story of What Burns , a woman and her son, Benedict and Amador, lost in the middle of Galicia have to do with this same argument? «In my case , having filmed an 80-year-old shepherd with her three cows is a very political gesture : of all I could have filmed in the world, what I have chosen and wanted to film and protect are the gestures of these shepherds. But, eye, in the case of my film, memory is still present, and will be future. I look at the past that is in the present with a future perspective, ”replies Óliver Laxe to complete the coincidence (or was it causation?) And the round.
civil war
No one escapes that it is not only about remembering, like this in general, but about insistently doing it at a certain time. Of the five films nominated for best production of the year (the four already cited more Weathering, by Benito Zambrano ), three stand in the Civil War. And there is more, among the animated films, also Buñuel in the labyrinth of the turtles, by Salvador Simó , has fratricidal contention as a stage. Why? Why this recurrence? Why feed the topic that Spanish cinema is monothematic?
Just asked the question, a start. With the question, it would be said, that comes the affront. "Manido," says Amenábar; "Fallacy," Goenaga insists. They are both alluded directly and it is fair that theirs be the immediate response. " It is a topic that can be dismantled by taking a quick look at the figures: here what abounds are family comedies, " says the director of While the war lasts with a clarity of Unamuno himself. «Another common place is that filmmakers live on subsidies. They are arguments to discredit our cinema, an otherwise very typical tradition of our cainism. World War II, the Holocaust, Vietnam ... have marked Hollywood cinema. It is logical that some of us want to explore the most traumatic event of our recent past . A good story, if it has not been told before, is necessary, wherever it comes from.
He who is one of those responsible for the infinite trench supports him: «The worst of all is that this lie has spread so much that the film industry itself has ended up believing it ... The Civil War is an issue that has treated in Spanish cinema. A lot? Little bit? I believe that it has always been treated that a creator has felt the need to develop a story around the subject. If more or less films arise on this subject, it does not respond to a cold and calculated strategy, but to something more unconscious ; an unconscious that is individual but also collective, and that is no stranger to everything that happens in our environment. In some arguments, sometimes it seems that society is on the one hand and filmmakers on the other, when filmmakers are part of that society.
Neither Almodóvar nor Laxe miss the opportunity to propose theirs. For the first, who long ago was a producer in addition to the documentary on historical memory The silence of others , «the truth is that the face of shame and sadness falls when you see how the exiles of war and of the dictatorship How can it not be necessary to remember it in the cinema or anywhere? And Laxe, one step further, proposes to make more films on the subject, more than the Civil War. « Have you made a film about the Civil War that accuses both sides? With humor, or with love. Has a film been made about the contest that religes both sides beyond pain and guilt? ... If we have not reached that point, it still has to take a long time until they stop making films about the Civil War ».
the role of cinema
And at this point, it is time to ask yourself about the true role of cinema, of culture, perhaps, between so much memory and forgetfulness, between so much memory and political forgetfulness. Do we live the end of an era? Has cinema lost its central role in culture? The most visceral is Laxe: «The problem is that the audience focuses on the same films. They will not watch the most serene movies, those that are not designed solely to excite. The movie theaters are full of people over 50. From there on down everyone is masturbating at home with series, moaning like zombies for another chapter . The whole problem of cinema is born and ends there, in the quality and responsibility of the works. If you feed people badly, the only thing their taste buds will want is that kind of adulterated and sweetened food. They may be very rich, but are they good for your health?
Amenábar, more possible or less irritated (as you wish), is convinced that the change is real and forever. "Internet," he says by pulling manual, "everything has changed." The processes are now immediate and that speed has been transferred to the public. We want everything and we want it now ». And he continues: « The cinema, not only the Spanish, has seen how the average productions of serious themes, that is, the dramas, lost their space . Therefore, if as a creator you want to bet on something other than comedy or blockbuster , financing is increasingly difficult ». And a coda, in line with what his colleague commented: «Meanwhile, the spectators quench their thirst for dramas by engaging in the series. But that is another story...". Or maybe the same. Aitor Arregui, co-director of The Infinite Trench , stops at the paradox that the closer the end seems to be, the more movies and series are produced. «Right now everyone in the sector has a job. How does that match the supposed disappearance of cinema? ”He asks. And does not respond.
Almodóvar, who has repeatedly expressed himself by the necessary claim of cinema in the cinema and that, in his own way, all his last film is nothing more than that, he lets himself be carried away by what he has been saying since he was president of the jury in Cannes and, against Netflix, he put it together. “It is clear that the platforms intend to change the model of watching movies and, in some cases, with younger viewers, they have succeeded. But I don't think moviegoers faint. The day there are no moviegoers the cinema will have died. Susan Sontag already said it, worried about the appearance of the domestic screens and the danger that this meant for the cinema: 'If the cinema can resurrect, it will only be thanks to the birth of a new kind of love for him'. I hope that this new love for cinema will come true, ”he says. And that said, and about the place in general that cinema as art should occupy in society, is in favor of an idea that is less novel. By radical. " Just as natural reserves are created and created to protect something unique and necessary, the creation of cultural reserves should be favored for the good of all ." The speaker does it from the most absolute militancy. «Without asking anything because I have always done what I wanted to do. I do not know how to do another thing. I remember that to make the law of desire a friend pawned his house. I have always believed in cinema and I have done it completely, ”he insists.
'online' platforms
For some time now, every time in a conversation between filmmakers someone pronounces the word Netflix, something happens. And not always good. Or directly bad. After all, the payment chain has managed to revolve around all the controversies, all the solutions and each one of the Apocalypse. The first to speak, and even break the conversation itself, is Laxe. He declares himself "without hesitation" radically against everything that has to do with the chain. And he continues: «Many things can be said, but there is a question that seems to me capital and is the most important, almost the only one: Are movies better since there is Netflix? And the answer is also clear to me, and even to those who defend Netflix: it is a radical and gigantic no . The movies are worse. And a clear proof of this is that whenever one is in a debate of these, the one who tries to defend the cultural responsibility of Netflix cites Rome, of Alfonso Cuarón . It seems quite symptomatic to me that we only cite one of the thousands of films that this company has produced in a decade. And besides, and there is the most serious contradiction, a film of monumental images clearly designed for a movie theater ».
Without going so far, the shadow of the same doubt goes through the appreciation of each director. There are four, but they could be 44,000. Amenábar is limited to not understanding. On the one hand the role of the series and the future of cinema outside the theaters ... « The case of author films financed by the platforms that only pass testimonially through the rooms is for me the great contradiction that our sector is experiencing . The question I ask myself is ... what is the real interest behind this financing? Looking for and fostering talent, creative freedom, taking risks in quality projects that other studies reject? Or are we facing a mere washing of corporate image while what is important is the avalanche of stories to the weight, made quickly and running so that the client remains hooked? Maybe there is some algorithm out there with the answer ». The algorithm We have arrived.
For Almodóvar, the matter leaves few options. His position has been clear for a long time. «I would not call Cuarón or Scorsese's attitude of surrender their collaboration with Netflix. Of course I would never dare to judge them. I find it difficult to think that Scorsese, the greatest and most qualified defender of the integrity of the films, classic or current, renounces that his is not seen on a screen . The situation we live in is so new that we cannot say that the battle is lost.
The people of La trenche are missing ... for contributing their opinion and their intervention is placed in the middle between the radicality of Laxe, the amazement of Amenábar and dry prudence, let's call it the Manchego. It is Jon Garaño who speaks: «There has been much talk that only Netflix wanted to produce Scorsese The Irishman; that if it were not for the audiovisual content platform it could never have been done. And that alone explains how the picture is. In commercial cinema it seems that there is no room for such films and therefore it seems phenomenal that Netflix bet on them. The only really regrettable thing is that no major wanted to produce Scorsese the movie ... ». And it continues in relation to the way of watching the films: « I like that the two possibilities coexist. Of course, I would like Netflix, Amazon, HBO or whatever platform always gave us the option of being able to watch their movies in the cinema , but if not, I am content to be able to watch them. The important thing is that films like The Irish or the Story of a Marriage continue to be produced ». I said four directors and all possible options. Or not.
the memory of the cinema
Anyway, it is the cinema. And his memory. And here everyone is unbearable. Each treasures his own memory. All are different and yet they crave the same.
Almodóvar remains in his thirteen. In Madrigalejo he saw Splendor in the grass , by Elia Kazan, and felt clearly that this film was talking about him, about the need to flee the confinement of a repressive and voracious society. Amenábar blushes: «Well, I'm going to fan the paradox. One of my most impressive cinematic memories is with 14 or 15 years watching on VHS the astral journey of 2001, an odyssey of space . My television was shabby and small, but I was hypnotized.
Laxe prefers to stay close. The movie that has made him think the most is recent. What's more, it has just been released. He talks about The Wild Goose Lake , by Diao Yinan. «It is an opera in images, an authentic symphony of colors, movements, faces, lights ... A subtle and heartbreaking portrait of the low Chinese backgrounds. Watching that on a TV would be like having a Guernica poster-calendar in your kitchen ».
And finally, Aitor surprises us with his precision: «On September 1, 1989, in the Astoria Cinemas of Donostia, after months waiting for the premiere of Indiana Jones and the last crusade , I was in the queue of the cinema for hours at Although there was no point in doing so, because they opened the box office an hour earlier and there were not so many people. But only the thrill of catching a good spot on the same day of the premiere outweighed everything else. It had to be that day, the next day I returned to my town because the holidays were over, where the movies arrived months after the premiere in cities and go to know when I could see it. I bought the ticket, sat in the armchair and started the movie. There they began to parade first River Phoenix incarnating a young Indy, then Harrison Ford. And later Sean Connery. At that time, I would give the pause and stay to live in that pass of Astoria 3 all my life. Different memories, the same movie. Four directors, Goya himself.
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