In the last tribute that the Film Academy paid to Rafael Azcona, Antonio Giménez-Rico took the microphone and from the height of his voice, at the same time doctoral, deep and Valladolid by adoption (although from Burgos by birth) he defined the screenwriter of screenwriters and
Plácido's
screenwriter
as
"a great story builder."
Who knows if the definition of his collaborator (and screenwriter) in
Soldadito español
(1988) did not include a careful and ironic self-portrait.
You always aspire to look like your friends.
This Friday he died at the age of 82
the film director who, indeed, if something defined him was his ability to adapt to the story told and make the very construction of what was narrated his own with skill and wisdom.
Miguel Delibes'
faithful adapter
up to three times with
Las ratas
(1997);
The disputed vote of Mr. Cayo
(1986), and Family
portrait,
(1976, according to the novel
My idolized son Sisí
);
cult director thanks to the sour reading of the backroom of the Transition in
Dressed in Blue
(1983), indefatigable talkative in Garci's program and even
president of the Academy
of the beginning from 1988 to 1992. All that was in addition to a ferocious cinephile .
And perfect story builder.
He always said that he had a chance that he never even thought of becoming a film director.
Having been born far from Madrid where everything happened when he wanted something to happen in his life, he was convinced that it condemned him.
And that his for the cinema was more than hobby, simple delirium.
And so on until one fine day he crossed paths with the Azcona from before.
He went to see
Placido
precisely
and realized that it was possible to make a close, fun and even critical cinema despite everything, despite the censorship and despite the Spain of the 60s where, despite the lukewarm openings, everything continued to weigh .
So he plucked up his courage and ended up being honored by Antonio Mercero in 1963 as a step prior to becoming an assistant director and, one step later, director.
And there it stayed.
His early works such as
El Bone
(1967) and
El Cronicón
(1969) wanted to be acid comedies with a parodic tone ready to muddy El Cid Campeador and the Catholic Monarchs themselves.
Too early and too bold.
The gentlemen in black cut their losses and Giménez-Rico understood the not so indirect: from then on, dramas.
Soon he would gain fame and prestige as a good adapter, to carry out orders with personality and taste, to tell stories as they should be told and, above all, to build them.
Jarrapellejos
(1987), as written by
Felipe Trigo
, or
First and Last Love
(2002), according to
Torcuato Luca de Tena
, are, together with the already mentioned adaptations of Delibes, a good example of his hand for conciseness and job.
He boasted of it, of striving to make his own, to give his own style to a style already given, to show off in commissions for the show off of others.
He also did TV and there is the
Plinio
series
or his reading of
Viaje a la Alcarria
among many other productions.
And always pending to make with his voice that of others sounds clear.
She only rebelled once against her self-imposed fate and the result was
Dressed in Blue
.
He described her thus to Diego Galán: "In the years of the Transition, transvestites proliferated and there was a place in Madrid, Centauro, where everyone went to have a drink and see the imitations of
Lola Flores or the Pantoja
that they made. I thought that with the scarcity of work then, the decision to become a woman would complicate their life even more, and I decided to make a movie. I contacted them and was surprised that they opened up sincerely and told me about their lives, so I decided that it was better make a documentary and have them tell it themselves. We shot cheaply for a long time and the result was so successful that it has become a cult film ... About 10 years later the producers suggested that I do a sequel, but when I came back to see us I found very pathetic stories, tragic even, and I decided not to do it. "
What gives is a memorable film of shadows and illuminated bodies that still portrays us with the same harsh and cruel clarity that Giménez-Rico himself once believed he saw in
Plácido
.
D.E.P
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
movie theater
culture
Cinema 'I'm not here', the film that eats Netflix's algorithms
Political storm in Gijón for a "paid" report that "ridicules" its film festival
LiteratureThe Intimacy of Chantal Akerman
See links of interest
Holidays 2021
Athletic Club - Levante
Real Madrid-Valencia Basket
Baskonia-Joventut, live
RB Leipzig - FC Augsburg
Bologna - Benevento