“Clorindo Testa” by Mariano Llinás

The Argentinian Director Mariano Llinás returns to the fray with Clorind Head a “documentary” that ends up proving to be one of the most interesting meta-cinematic proposals of recent years. A film constantly wandering adrift, seeking to define itself, experiencing the different paths that open before it, always under the watchful eye of Llinás’s obsessions.

Director of The flower He begins the film by defining point by point what he does not want his film to become. It is not a play about Clorindo Testa, nor is it a film about his father Julio Llinás, it is a film about a book by Clorindo Testa written by Julio Llinás. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tries to impose these dogmas on himself, he ends up failing miserably. The work cannot avoid running away from either Clorindo or Julio, but it does manage to be many other things. A film about broken friendships, about the history of the Argentine homeland through its architectural landscape, about poetry, literature, about parent-child relationships, about the interpretation of what art is and should be, about the irrepressible need to buy a cocktail shaker; but above all it is a film that reflects on what a film is and how a film can be built.

At this stage, after the mammoth audiovisual piece what is The flowerLittle else remains to be thanked for the work of one of the filmmakers with the best exploited confidence and creative freedom on the current film scene.. But it is worth giving thanks for a film that despite going into the goal, with all the clichés and derivatives in which these works usually fall, has managed to build a tender, personal and above all hilarious film.

Clorind Head (Mariano Llinás, 2022) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️