Burman’s new film is about an emotionally distressed son in search of his absent father
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“It’s an army of volunteers organized into a circular net of givers and receivers, who in turn are also givers. People die and leave their belongings to the living, even if it’s just a few things. Maybe someone dies and leaves a prosthetic leg which somebody else needs — it has happened.”
“Each time someone dies, the apartment is emptied and absolutely everything is recycled, even the credits left in a cell phone — as you can see in the film,” says Argentine filmmaker Daniel Burman about Pele Yoetz, a Jewish aid foundation created and led by a man named Usher, and a central element in his new outing El rey del Once (The Tenth Man, English title), which participates in the Panorama section at the Berlin Film Festival.
Among other distinctions, Burman was a privileged guest at the festival back in 1998 when he presented his debut film Un crisantemo estalla en Cincoesquinas (A Chrysanthemum Bursts in Cincoesquinas), which received strong critical acclaim, and then in 2004 he won the Silver Bear for El abrazo partido (Lost Embrace). It now remains to be seen how El rey del Once — which represents both a comeback to his earlier films and also a new beginning — will do among other challenging features by accomplished directors such as Wayne Wang, Doris Dörrie, Andrew Neel, Ira Sachs, and Maximiliano Schonfeld.
Far from being a documentary on the foundation, and yet with a carefully constructed documentary feel in many central scenes, Burman’s new venture into a part of the close-knit Jewish community in Buenos Aires examines a somewhat unusual bond between Usher, an omniscient father, and Ariel (Alan Sabbagh), his adult son, an economist who has built a successful career in New York and a man who has always sought his father’s acknowledgment, presence and approval ever since he was a child. He believes he’s left his somewhat unsatisfying past behind, and yet when his distant father summons him back to Buenos Aires, Ariel realizes he is to face some unresolved issues that still trouble his emotional life.
El rey del once delves into Ariel’s dilemmas, those of today which originated in the past. You could say it’s a fact that sons need and want their parents to give them never-ending, exclusive love and attention, so the issue raised is how Ariel has developed emotionally, considering he has a father who gives everything to everyone to the point of neglecting his own family. And here lies one of Burman’s main concerns: the construction of fatherhood, which took centre stage in Lost Embrace, and to a lesser degree in Derecho de familia (Family Law, 2006) too.
Just like in these previous films, Burman eschews going for a psychological approach or an introspective one, and instead the emphasis is placed on Ariel’s behaviour, his actions and reactions, which speak more clearly of what goes on inside him than any interpretation of his psyche. And while Ariel revisits a family environment as well as his childhood longings, he also opens up his heart to Eva (Julieta Zylberberg), a young Orthodox Jewish girl who first befriends him and then falls for him — as he does for her.
But their interaction, unlike that of Ariel’s personal dilemmas with himself and his father, could use some more development since it tends to be more descriptive and anecdotal than anything else. Often, Eva comes across as an underused character — we know very little about her and she’s a somewhat generic character. You could also say that El rey del Once is also descriptive in other sequences other than those regarding the couple, and this doesn’t bring forward much substance to the drama. But in general this trip back home, its consequences, and its new appraisal of an uneasy childhood are ably depicted.
Also at the core is what Burman calls the mystery of good, which can be explored with one single question: why does somebody give something without expecting anything in return? Why do some people love someone without necessarily wanting retribution? The point is that the distinctiveness of the mystery of good is not really in the giving end, but in the receiving one. For necessity does have a subjective quality and this is something Usher is more than aware of as he acknowledges what the particular needs and wants of other people are. That’s why the mystery of love differs greatly from charity, where what matters the most is the giving end as the determinant of what others need.
In this sense, El rey del Once is both heartfelt and very precise, and never in a heavy-handed manner or a didactic one. After all, the issues addressed raise hard-to-answer questions rather than having easy and ready-to-use conclusions. With many subtleties here and there, Burman draws a portrayal that feels familiar and universal — even if it has very singular characteristics.
From a formal point of view, the unobtrusive camerawork is impeccable, the sound design perfectly establishes both an atmosphere and a sense of space, the performances are more than well tuned, and the editing is seamless when necessary and more brisk when the drama calls for it. With a contagious sense of humour and an emphatic gaze, El rey del Once proves to be as enjoyable as it is sensitive, a new step which differs a great deal from previous films and a desirable return to his most personal works. An effective rebirth, if you will.
Production notes
El Rey del Once (Argentina, 2016). Written and directed by Daniel Burman. With Alan Sabbagh, Julieta Zylberberg, Dan Breitman, Elisa Carricajo, Elvira Onetto, Adrián Stoppelman. Cinematography: Daniel Ortega. Editing: Andrés Tambornino. Art direction: Margarita Tambornino. Costume design: Roberta Pesci. Sound: Miguel Tennina, Catriel Vildosola. Produced by Daniel Burman, Diego Dubcovsky. Running time: 100 minutes.
@pablsuarez
