No te mueras sin decirme adónde vas

Leopoldo, (Dario Grandinetti), is a timid man in his 40s who toils away in his spare time on unsuccessful inventions. His latest project: a machine to record dreams while people sleep for later playback.

Leopoldo's life is not a happy one. The owner of a failing movie theater in Buenos Aires, he has trouble making ends meet and may soon lose his business. He long-suffering wife Susana, (Monica Galan), is unable to have children, which puts more pressure on an already strained marriage. And it doesn't help matters that Leopoldo behaves eccentrically in public places, conducting conversations with a potted plant carried everywhere as a companion.

On day Rachel, (Mariana Arias), appears. Dressed in the styles of the 1880s, she tells Leopoldo – the only person who can see her -- that she is a reincarnated spirit and they have met and loved each other in different lives during the previous 300 years. The story that follows is an odd, sometimes slow, though rewarding fantasy about life, dreams, and reincarnation. Strongly recommended.

8/10

No te Mueras sin Decirme Adónde Vas is a very interesting movie which deals with a lot of science fiction which is not really seen much in Argentine movies, which are most usually very realistic in nature. The fact that there is a robot in the movie, invented by one of the main characters, is not far-reaching compared to the appearances of ghosts, or spirits, which we also see throughout. The use of the technology invented in the movie seems to be the way by which the two inventors find love. On the one hand, Leopoldo clearly falls in love with the lady which he consistently begins to see from the moment she appears in his dream recorder machine. This love goes so far as to improve Leopoldo's relationship with his own wife. A similar occurrence is also observed in the life of Leopoldo's friend, Oscar. After seeing the girl once loved in a dream recorded by the recently invented machine, Oscar ends up reuniting with her. The movie ends up bringing up questions of reincarnation and the ability to become a new man or woman at different stages in one's life.

Leopoldo invents a rare stuff that he calls "dreams machine". Using that, he accidentally meets with his eternal love. This is the fantastic story of a couple able to love each other, even facing the death itself. Excellent photography and intelligent performings to demonstrate that reincarnation is more than a chance. Pedro Aznar's score goes deeper enough to create the timeless atmosphere for this tale. This film is one of Subiela's typical stories, and tries to find an answer to the human being's bigger question.

Do not be afraid. Death is not the end. It's just the path between flesh and soul.

Orthodox religion teaches that man has just one life in which to merit his eternal reward or damnation. Yet today approximately one in four Americans and many Eastern religions believe in reincarnation, the idea that repeated rebirth in human bodies continues until the soul has reached a state of perfection. In his 1995 film, Don't Die Without Telling Me Where You're Going, Argentine director Eliseo Subiela (Man Facing Southeast) uses the idea of reincarnation to tell a touching story about the enduring power of love. Adapted from a novel by Uruguayan writer Hermenegildo Sabat, the film is fantasy, but the emotions dealt with are very real.

Leopoldo (Dario Grandinetti), like his father, is a projectionist at the local cinema. His dream, however, is to become an inventor. With the help of his friend Oscar (Oscar Martinez), who has invented a robot in the image of famous tango singer Carlos Gardel, Leopoldo creates a machine that can record a person's dreams and play them back later on a videotape.

The film opens in New Jersey in the year 1885. Thomas Edison's assistant is saying good bye to his wife who has just passed away. We are then transported to modern day Buenos Aires where Leopoldo has recorded a dream in which he feels overwhelmed with love for a woman he does not know. He has been married to Susana (Monica Galin) for twenty years, but his love has become mechanical. Amazingly, the next day he sees the woman (Marianna Arias) in his dreams standing outside his theater. She explains that her name is Rachel and that she was married to Leopoldo, then named William, over one hundred years ago. She also tells the astonished projectionist that they have reincarnated together many times throughout the centuries in different roles. Like the angels in Wings of Desire, she is a spirit whom Leopoldo can see and talk with but cannot touch. He longs to hold and kiss her but the laws of the universe prevent this.

Fears begin to arise about his mental health when he is seen talking to himself as though someone were standing next to him. Leopoldo's love for Rachel only deepens, however, and both must struggle to overcome their deepest fears, Rachel to accept life, Leopoldo to accept death. Enhanced by the music of Franz Schubert and a lovely original score by Pedro Aznar, Don't Die Without Telling Me Where You're Going is a deeply felt meditation on love, death, and spirituality. In lesser hands, it could have become mawkish and unconvincing, yet Mr. Subiela is a true poet, and in spite of some initial resistance, I was moved by this sensitive work.

Eliseo Subiela has created a movie which appeals to all audiences throughout the world. Everyone, no matter your race, age, background, can relate to the themes of life, death, and the unknown. He is trying to get across the idea that the life we live here on earth may not be as black and white as we believe or as dictated by religious ideals. Subiela uses visual imagery which the untrained eye may pass over, but at second glance, Subiela's vision is obvious. He uses the black and white tiled floor as an indicator into the psyche of his protagonist Leopoldo. As Leopoldo and Rachel are meeting for the first time, they end up in the lobby of the movie theater. The floor is a sea of black and white, starkly contrasted tiles. Subiela is showing us that Leopoldo, at this point, is stuck in the boxed ideal that nothing happens after death, we just cease to exist. He walks away from their conversation confused and watches as she walks across a crowded street, while cars drive through her body. Our eyes are drawn to the crosswalk which is black asphalt with white lines, but the lines are not complete and are not the same stark contrast of white and black; we begin to see some shades of gray. Leopoldo is open to his relationship with Rachel and learning more about where she came from and how she is able to be apart of his world as a spirit from another. Near the end of the movie, Leopoldo is visited by Pablo, again our eyes are drawn to the floor. The floor is the same black and white tile as the movie theater, but this tile is not brightly colored. The tile is dirty, broken, and is not the perfect black and white pattern. Subiela shows us through the use of color and pattern, how the protagonist is transformed through his encounters that will forever change his vision of the relationships in his life and how the cycle of life is so much more than birth, life, and death.