Teen shoots himself and comedy ensues
“My previous films were not anchored in humour, but many people saw them as comedies. My new film Dos disparos (Two Gunshots) is a comedy, but perhaps it may not be taken as such. Despite of what you may think from reading the synopsis, it really is a comedy,” says Argentine filmmaker Martín Rejtman — widely and rightfully regarded as the spiritual father of the so-called New Argentine cinema whose debut film Rapado (shot in 1992, released in 1996) was a mordant exploration of the torpor affecting Argentine youth and their families, as well as a demonstration that a cinema capable of pushing aesthetic and narrative boundaries was possible in Argentina.
Then came the utterly witty and sometimes hilarious Silvia Prieto (1999), the story of a 27-yearl-old woman who becomes obsessed when she learns of another woman who shares her name. With Entrenamiento elemental para actores (2009), co-directed with theatre director Federico León, he explored the narrative modes, relationships and associations between theatre and cinema by examining an atypical drama class for children.
A few minutes into Dos disparos, after an energetic disco scene where 16-year-old Mariano (Rafael Federman) dances solo, we get to see an extreme act filmed quite casually: upon returning from a night out, Mariano finds a gun in the garage. Without thinking, as though driven by an impulse, he shoots himself twice. Once in the stomach and then in the head. But he survives. From then on, we are witnesses to how Mariano’s next of kin and acquaintances react and cope, in different ways, with the situation. Needless to say, none of them finds it remotely easy to understand Mariano’s acts and, for that matter, his everyday actions too — gunshots or not.
Arguably Rejtman’s most accomplished film to date, Dos disparos at times shares the cut-and-dried tone of Rapado, and at others, the engaging, infectious humour of Silvia Prieto . This time, the director’s keen eye for the mechanics of the absurd is focused on the underlying depression, on personal connections meant to be made and yet missed, and on dysfunctional behaviours that have turned into second nature. It’s also about a young teen drifting through a world where he seems to have no place to call his own. More often than not, Rejtman’s characters are certainly at odds with their surroundings.
But what makes Rejtman’s new film so compelling is that, however absurd, every element is there for a reason. Chance encounters, coincidences, nights at the disco, nonsensical conversations: they all add up to a moving depiction of seclusion and estrangement. Let alone the carefully constructed dialogue that deliberately resorts to clichés and commonplace and is uttered in unusual contexts. Paradoxically enough, it also sounds quite realistic at times. Which then again should come as no surprise, since the writer/director has always striven to give new meanings to how the spoken word is conveyed in cinema.
With more narrative sophistication than his previous outings, the tight script and outstanding acting ensemble draw a wondrously poignant portrait of paralysis and miscommunication in present-day Buenos Aires. And yet its unflinching view of the state of things here and now is subversively funny, as you’d expect from a very personal comedy. This is not to say that his depiction of an existentialist constant mood in generations of Argentines is any less serious because of its humour. On the contrary.
Dos disparos is also a smartly disguised drama that proves to be anguishing and barren. Or you may call it a dramatic comedy, if you will. In any case, it surely is one of the best local features released so far this year — if not the best.
Production notes
Dos disparos (Two Gunshots, Argentina, 2014). Written and directed by Martín Rejtman. With Susana Pampín, Rafael Federman, Benjamín Coelho. Cinematography: Lucio Bonelli. Editing: Martín Mainoli. Running time: 104 minutes.
