It is enough to pay attention to the action we repeat in order to understand its meaning. A few days ago, I enjoyed an exceptional film in a cinema where there were only two people. What happened, I wondered, that decades after consuming this wonderful spectacle, we have come to this? And of course, the answers emerge amid the flood of memories. I have been a regular follower of the cinematographic art since childhood and I could describe the screening rooms of quiet Guayaquil, the kind of films we watched from the sixties onwards, the customs of the community that listened to the national anthem in the cinema when it was a civil day.

You have to accept that going to the movies – always two at screenings at two, six and eight in the evening – is the ultimate entertainment. Maybe the parties were above or they were driving down the boulevard. The programs always had an audience and were divided between the lunette and the gallery, with very modest costs. The neighborhood cinema was an important place and the tenants of one of those buildings had it as a central point of our interests. I consumed Mexican, Argentinian cinema and, of course, that which came from Hollywood, with an early penchant for drama. “Life lies in problems”, it was said, and I believed in it at the right time.

Lydia Tár, the role that could bring Cate Blanchett a third Oscar: who is it?

When technology filled our domestic life with screens, audiovisual stories were installed forever, stealing from us, yes, the rite of presence in a huge room – the curtain opened in front of the projections -, rubbing elbows in the dark and frequent emotional vibrations at the expense of the imaginative transfer provided by images. . I won’t deny the comfort of what is known as “home theater” in terms of screen size. But when I really want to appreciate the art that this movement has achieved through the repetition of figures, I go into the room and give myself to a wave of emotions. I give the film a good concentration, an attentive ear, an agile eye, I try to understand that the soundtrack is manipulating me, that the framing and the position of the camera situate me, that the colors are yellowish brown, the darkness is greenish, faded. blues – create a mood. And watching movies requires prior information and subsequent critical analysis. We give you all this.

Where are the people of Guayaquil who would have to watch this tape in suspense, I exclaimed…?

For these reasons, the dedicated function tar, by Todd Field and starring the huge Cate Blanchet, in one of her most memorable roles, got two viewers, I was amazed. Where are the people from Guayaquil who should watch this tape, I exclaimed, to recreate Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, to understand what ego and vanity can do to a classical music star, to admit that you can’t play with people at will. seeing them as subjects of admiration and opportunism? The video confirms that patriarchy is a system that is maintained based on a model of behavior and that this model can be well embodied by a woman.

I know I have to repeat the film because many dialogues require reflection, because Bach’s defense gives extraordinary arguments, because the pride of talent and success builds and destroys a man. (OR)