Everything took way too long. (Review by
Pranesh Maharaj)
Directed
by Eduardo Villanueva, produced in Mexico in 2013 in Spanish with English
subtitles, Penumbra was one of the
films on the recent Durban International Film Festival.
Described
as “a window into the life of a poor and aged couple waiting for death in the
sparsely populated border area between the Mexican coastal provinces of Jalisco
and Colima”, the film was nominated for the Tiger Award at Rotterdam this year.
I
didn’t expect to see the frolicking of Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas. Nor
did I expect a fat figure under a sombrero sitting against a wall with a half-drunk
rum bottle clutched in his fist. I expected art. I got that; but it took too
long. Way too long. All of this could have been done sooner.
I
have learnt not to run after the word ‘nominated’. I also want to caution the
festival’s management against accepting films on the basis that they are
foreign with nothing more to go on. This was, amidst other drama*, my fourth
nightmare of the festival.
Yawns
are contagious and any research into that subject should use this film to
induce it. Yes, it was very real. Yes, the characters were believable. But you
discover all that in the first few minutes of the film. I was impressed with
the start. The gentle pan across the room as the main character readied himself
for the day. I didn’t expect the cinematographer to hold any shots longer than
that. Audience members trickled out slowly.
Oh,
he finally shoots the buck in the end. – Pranesh Maharaj
(*Pranesh
Maharaj’s vehicle was broken into in the parking lot of Suncoast Casino while
he was reviewing a film and his laptop and IPad were stolen.)
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