Mariano Luque : 2012
The dappled sunlight on the forest floor, the sound of birdsong, the two-person tent, the air of general lethargy. Then, a sudden shift in mood, the first reddening bloom of what will soon be a black eye. Summer is in full swing in the verdant natural surroundings near the northern Argentinean town of Salsipuedes and Rafa and Carmen's camping trip is about to be punctuated by a visit from her mother and sister. Yet while her mother is quick to apply her magic cream to cover up Carmen's swelling eye, there's no easy way of lifting the pall it has already cast over proceedings. These are the signs that the couple is not a couple, that there is no equality between them. The man wields more power. The woman is trapped. We see them on holiday and we imagine them in everyday life. Carmen and Rafa are the embodiment of yet another institutionalised social failure. The film conjures up an atmosphere at once suffocating and serene, suffusing the day and night spent in this troubled couple's company with the constant, yet unrealised threat of violence. It reveals the gestures, hiding games and actions the family has learnt to conceal with cynicism, resignation and indolence. Mariano Luque's debut feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2012.
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