elizabeth.matthews

Las Buenas Hierbas directed by Maria Novaro repeats a theme becoming somewhat commonplace in contemporary cinema: the relationship between mother and daughter, especially when daughtering has to become mothering. This film is untidy, certainly, but also lyrical and persuasive, with competent and convincing acting in the principal roles. The director has structured the script into chapters, with pauses between characterized by semi-still, semi-animated images from ancient herbal dictionaries, lending a historical and intellectual air to the story which matches the personality, fast deteriorating, of the mother. Woven into the main plot which describes in a number of both brilliantly scripted and improvised scenes how "young" sufferers from Alzheimers disease tend to fail fast, are several subplots dealing with a neighbor's desperate regret that she was unable to shield her granddaughter, portrayed as a ghostly permanent quinceanera, from murder; the daughter Dalia (beautifully played by Ursula Pruneda)and her casual affair with a very young acquaintance -- which seems irrelevant, except perhaps to emphasize her natural vitality, her lack of scruples despite her interest in the socio-political world around (emphasized also through the critical broadcasts at the independent radio station where she works). One might argue for a tighter script and more stringent editing; but the delicacy and forcefulness of the central characterizations reveal an unfortunate truth that will affect more and more of us -- especially women, especially daughters, as we age.

"Pos-Mortem" won the 2nd Coral at the 2010 Havana film Festival, as well as acting prizes for two of the protagonists. It is a slow film, certainly, but builds up public and private tensions into a state of near-hysteria: violent scenes are suddenly deconstructed with moments of black humor -- clever and believable while upturning the viewers' anxiety. The political moment, the most dire in modern Chilean history, inserted into the dailiness of a job at a general hospital autopsy lab and morgue, shows both inexplicable social tragedy and, almost horribly, how familiarity with violent death almost, almost, breeds contempt. The quiet camera and murky grey lighting allow squarish, static settings to open slowly onto their meaning and context -- individual and historical; and the somewhat unsympathetic but not unappealing protagonist shows his true alienation and self-interest in a splendidly dark, comic finale. A clever, funny film with strong reminders of how the blackest history can repeat itself.