NERUDA (2016) by Pablo Larrain

“The film emerges as not just the story of one man's politics and poetry, but of the mindset that it takes to be that poet-politician in the first place, and the willingness to understand the world in literary terms. That, on top of being a rollicking thriller that's enjoyable simply as brainy entertainment.” - Tim Brayton, Alternate Ending

“The production design is richly colored and stunningly filmed with a score that enhances and enlivens a well-paced and fascinating piece of conceptual film-making. It is a subversive and richly delicious treat.” – Belle McIntyre, Musée Magazine

“Neruda takes a lot of wild chances and, like the poet whose life acts as inspiration, it’s unwilling to play by the rules. Dizzily constructed and full of more life and meaning than most ‘real’biopics, it’s a risk worth taking.” - Benjamin Lee, The Guardian

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[Peter]

I realize that many of my recent picks have been Euro-centric, so for November, I have decided to get out of my comfort zone and embark on a cinematic vision quest to Chile, the geographical and artistic antipode to Europe. This month’s movies all have a grounding in the Latin American ethos of magic realism, where life is a heady mix of narrative quest and hallucinatory fever dream. We start our Chilean expedition with NERUDA, Pablo Larraín’s anti-biopic of Chile’s most revered poet, where the line between historical truth and modern mythology becomes blurred, if not outright irrelevant.

The following week, we will continue with THE COW WHO SANG A SONG INTO THE FUTURE, Francisca Alegria’s stunning meditation on loss and the path to redemption, shepherded throughout by an animistic Greek chorus and the as-promised bovine aria. And we will finish the month with ENDLESS POETRY, an autobiographical film by Alejandro Jodorowsky, who is one of cinema’s true masters of surrealism, and who suffuses this coming-of-age memoir with surprising warmth yet retains all the cinematic weirdness that you come to expect from the director of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN.

I hope you enjoy these movies, which not only provide unique glimpses into the artistic soul of Chile, but do so in a way that challenges our North American notions of what cinema can and should be.

You can watch NERUDA on Kanopy.

Happy viewing!