Experimental Latin American Cinema: History and Aesthetics
by Cynthia Tompkins
University of Texas Press, 2013 Paper: 978-0-292-76209-1 | Cloth: 978-0-292-74415-8 | eISBN: 978-0-292-74416-5 Library of Congress Classification PN1993.5.L3T75 2013 Dewey Decimal Classification 791.43098
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
While there are numerous film studies that focus on one particular grouping of films—by nationality, by era, or by technique—here is the first single volume that incorporates all of the above, offering a broad overview of experimental Latin American film produced over the last twenty years.
Analyzing seventeen recent films by eleven different filmmakers from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru, Cynthia Tompkins uses a comparative approach that finds commonalities among the disparate works in terms of their influences, aesthetics, and techniques. Tompkins introduces each film first in its sociohistorical context before summarizing it and then subverting its canonical interpretation. Pivotal to her close readings of the films and their convergences as a collective cinema is Tompkins’s application of Deleuzian film theory and the concept of the time-image as it pertains to the treatment of time and repetition. Tompkins also explores such topics as the theme of decolonization, the consistent use of montage, paratactically structured narratives, and the fusion of documentary conventions and neorealism with drama. An invaluable contribution to any dialogue on the avant-garde in general and to filmmaking both in and out of Latin America, Experimental Latin American Cinema is also a welcome and insightful addition to Latin American studies as a whole.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Cynthia Tompkins, Professor of Spanish and Latin American Cultural Production at Arizona State University, was born and raised in Argentina. She is the author of Latin American Postmodernisms: Women Writers and Experimentation, as well as a significant number of refereed articles, and has translated and coedited numerous other publications.
REVIEWS
Tompkins’s book brings a serious engagement with Deleuzian cinematic theory to Latin American film studies. It has the potential of standing with the work of Stam, King, and Burton. Because Tompkins focuses on the avant-garde, her book is more specific in its scope than the work of these important scholars, and it deals with many filmmakers they do not discuss. The book’s often finely textured discussion of individual films is one of its outstanding contributions.
— Amy Kaminsky, Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and Professor of Global Studies, University of Minnesota; author of Argentina: Stories for a Nation
Clearly organized and thoroughly researched, the book boasts a useful scholarly apparatus.
— Choice
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction. Mise-en-Scène, a Seemingly International Staging
Part 1. A Neonoir Skew to the Action-Image
Chapter 1. A Shimmering Suture: Fabián Bielinsky's Epileptic El aura
Chapter 2. Slippery Criminal Pleasures: Intermediality and Voyeurism in Jorge Furtado's O homem que copiava
Chapter 3. Endless Quest: Chasing Sex, Lies, and Money at the Gates of Hell in Heitor Dhalia's O cheiro do ralo
Part 2. Road Movies
Chapter 4. The Paradoxical Effect of the Documentary: Walter Salles's Central do Brasil
Chapter 5. Twin Piques: The Double Discourse of Carlos Sorín's El camino de San Diego
Chapter 6. Orphans' Solidarity: María Victoria Menis's El cielito
Part 3. Drama
Chapter 7. Sculpting Time: Inés de Oliveira Cézar's Como pasan las horas
Chapter 8. The Past Engulfs the Present: Josué Méndez's Días de Santiago
Part 4. Experimental Auteurism
Chapter 9. Whether or Not to End One's Life: Carlos Reygadas's Japón
Chapter 10. Crime and Self-Inflicted Punishment: Carlos Reygadas's Batalla en el cielo
Part 5. Experimental Auteurism and Intertextuality
Chapter 11. The Miracle of Female Bonding in Patriarchal Society: Carlos Reygadas's Stellet licht (2008)
Chapter 12. Cyclical Scapegoating: Inés de Oliveira Cézar's Extranjera
Chapter 13. The Irrevocable Nature of Curses: Inés de Oliveira Cézar's El recuento de los daños
Chapter 14. Splintered Mirrors, Echoes, and Reverberations: Fernando Pérez Valdés's Madrigal
Part 6. Experimental Pseudo-Documentary
Chapter 15. Room with a View: Fernando Pérez Valdés's Suite Habana
Chapter 16. Life Is and Is Not: Paz Encina's Hamaca paraguaya
Experimental Latin American Cinema: History and Aesthetics
by Cynthia Tompkins
University of Texas Press, 2013 Paper: 978-0-292-76209-1 Cloth: 978-0-292-74415-8 eISBN: 978-0-292-74416-5
While there are numerous film studies that focus on one particular grouping of films—by nationality, by era, or by technique—here is the first single volume that incorporates all of the above, offering a broad overview of experimental Latin American film produced over the last twenty years.
Analyzing seventeen recent films by eleven different filmmakers from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru, Cynthia Tompkins uses a comparative approach that finds commonalities among the disparate works in terms of their influences, aesthetics, and techniques. Tompkins introduces each film first in its sociohistorical context before summarizing it and then subverting its canonical interpretation. Pivotal to her close readings of the films and their convergences as a collective cinema is Tompkins’s application of Deleuzian film theory and the concept of the time-image as it pertains to the treatment of time and repetition. Tompkins also explores such topics as the theme of decolonization, the consistent use of montage, paratactically structured narratives, and the fusion of documentary conventions and neorealism with drama. An invaluable contribution to any dialogue on the avant-garde in general and to filmmaking both in and out of Latin America, Experimental Latin American Cinema is also a welcome and insightful addition to Latin American studies as a whole.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Cynthia Tompkins, Professor of Spanish and Latin American Cultural Production at Arizona State University, was born and raised in Argentina. She is the author of Latin American Postmodernisms: Women Writers and Experimentation, as well as a significant number of refereed articles, and has translated and coedited numerous other publications.
REVIEWS
Tompkins’s book brings a serious engagement with Deleuzian cinematic theory to Latin American film studies. It has the potential of standing with the work of Stam, King, and Burton. Because Tompkins focuses on the avant-garde, her book is more specific in its scope than the work of these important scholars, and it deals with many filmmakers they do not discuss. The book’s often finely textured discussion of individual films is one of its outstanding contributions.
— Amy Kaminsky, Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and Professor of Global Studies, University of Minnesota; author of Argentina: Stories for a Nation
Clearly organized and thoroughly researched, the book boasts a useful scholarly apparatus.
— Choice
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction. Mise-en-Scène, a Seemingly International Staging
Part 1. A Neonoir Skew to the Action-Image
Chapter 1. A Shimmering Suture: Fabián Bielinsky's Epileptic El aura
Chapter 2. Slippery Criminal Pleasures: Intermediality and Voyeurism in Jorge Furtado's O homem que copiava
Chapter 3. Endless Quest: Chasing Sex, Lies, and Money at the Gates of Hell in Heitor Dhalia's O cheiro do ralo
Part 2. Road Movies
Chapter 4. The Paradoxical Effect of the Documentary: Walter Salles's Central do Brasil
Chapter 5. Twin Piques: The Double Discourse of Carlos Sorín's El camino de San Diego
Chapter 6. Orphans' Solidarity: María Victoria Menis's El cielito
Part 3. Drama
Chapter 7. Sculpting Time: Inés de Oliveira Cézar's Como pasan las horas
Chapter 8. The Past Engulfs the Present: Josué Méndez's Días de Santiago
Part 4. Experimental Auteurism
Chapter 9. Whether or Not to End One's Life: Carlos Reygadas's Japón
Chapter 10. Crime and Self-Inflicted Punishment: Carlos Reygadas's Batalla en el cielo
Part 5. Experimental Auteurism and Intertextuality
Chapter 11. The Miracle of Female Bonding in Patriarchal Society: Carlos Reygadas's Stellet licht (2008)
Chapter 12. Cyclical Scapegoating: Inés de Oliveira Cézar's Extranjera
Chapter 13. The Irrevocable Nature of Curses: Inés de Oliveira Cézar's El recuento de los daños
Chapter 14. Splintered Mirrors, Echoes, and Reverberations: Fernando Pérez Valdés's Madrigal
Part 6. Experimental Pseudo-Documentary
Chapter 15. Room with a View: Fernando Pérez Valdés's Suite Habana
Chapter 16. Life Is and Is Not: Paz Encina's Hamaca paraguaya
Conclusion: Possible Futures
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC