Here is as close to perfect as I can imagine.
When I clicked on this film on Hulu (translated as Sidewalls), I just expected it to be another film that I would stop watching after 30 seconds.
It vaguely looked like it had Eva Green in it.
Or Natalie Portman.
Thank God it doesn’t.
Instead, it stars Pilar López de Ayala as Mariana and Javier Drolas as Martin.
Indeed, this is the second Argentine film I’ve found which borders on sheer perfection.
The other is El Crítico (which followed two years later in 2013).
It’s true.
Both these films are introspective and self-reflective.
In Medianeras, this is more subtle.
Martin carries around three Tati films in his backpack (the topmost [visible] one being Playtime).
But all of this is academic.
What is important to say is that Medianeras is a cosmic, transcendent romance for the 21st century.
The composition is taut.
The cinematography is deft.
The montage is formidable.
But equally, the writing by director Gustavo Taretto is pristine.
You can look him up.
He’s a big, bushy-bearded 53-year-old.
But I highly admire the mind which came up with this film.
And the eye which brought it to life.
Pilar López de Ayala is magical here.
So many beautiful touches of storytelling.
Sure.
Taretto owes a small debt to Jeunet’s Amélie, but it is ever so small.
Indeed, it is mostly the music (the precious, tick-tock minimalism of the harp) and a pair of sequences involving humorous litanies.
The latter is achieved through copious edits of visual images to match the speaker’s rather cumbersome list(s).
It makes sense.
Amélie was a huge hit on the international stage just ten years prior to Medianeras.
And it too was an excellent film.
So Taretto has borrowed from a source which also indicates his good taste.
But our director has gone much further than merely borrowing.
He has created his own coherent language.
There are amazing sequences with Pilar López de Ayala in her apartment as her next-door neighbor wades through Beethoven and Chopin on a hoisted piano.
It is such that Mariana’s isolated life becomes a sort of postmodern ballet.
Sans dancing.
More brooding than anything.
Playing.
But, above all, being lonely.
And that is what drives this home.
We have a lonely man.
And a lonely woman (Ornette).
And paths which cross.
It’s not just sexual tension, but philosophical tension.
We really don’t know if these two perfect lovers will ever meet.
They are so dangerously close to colliding.
Like electrons.
We want these characters to live forever.
And they do.
In that they are composed of real life foibles.
As both watch Woody Allen in the dark.
And cry.
[as I cry watching them]
And both turn up Daniel Johnston singing “True Love Will Find You in the End”.
As I live with my parents.
[as the late-Daniel Johnston lived with his]
I think.
But I do know this.
That the sidewall in Austin has said, “Hi, how are you?” for so long.
And I am stuck in San Antonio.
Probably a much shittier city than Buenos Aires.
No doubt.
But so achingly-close to my old haunts in Austin.
And I don’t know if I will ever see them again.
Because life is hard.
And my life is generally shit.
“Working” at Starbucks.
Soon enough.
Again.
Not sure.
If my fiancée is dying.
And I am weeping.
Because I can relate to Martin and Mariana.
I can’t sleep.
It is 5 a.m. and I am writing a movie review which probably no one will read.
But I am happy in a strange way.
Because I found a film that reflects my life and makes me feel like all of my romantic longings and eccentricities are not for nothing.
So thank you, Gustavo.
Amazing film!!!
-PD
paulydeathwish 