Man Facing Southeast
Man Facing Southeast | |
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Directed by | Eliseo Subiela |
Written by | Eliseo Subiela |
Produced by |
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Starring | Lorenzo Quinteros Hugo Soto |
Cinematography | Ricardo de Angelis |
Edited by | Luis César d'Angiolillo |
Music by | |
Production company | Cinequanon Pictures |
Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | Argentina |
Language | Spanish |
Budget | $600,000 |
Box office | $1.5 million |
Man Facing Southeast (
The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the
The themes and story of the 2001 American film K-PAX share a strong resemblance with Man Facing Southeast, and the former has been referenced or claimed as an uncredited remake of the latter.[3]
In a survey of the 100 greatest films of Argentine cinema carried out by the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken in 2000, the film reached the 10th position.[4] In a new version of the survey organized in 2022 by the specialized magazines La vida útil, Taipei and La tierra quema, presented at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the film reached the 40th position.[5] Also in 2022, the film was included in Spanish magazine Fotogramas's list of the 20 best Argentine films of all time.[6]
Plot
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (February 2022) |
The staff and patients go about their daily business at Buenos Aires'
Julio Denis is a highly professional, lonely man, whose recent divorce left him jaded towards his life and work. Since his wife remarried, he settles for weekly outings with his two children and grainy home movies of happier times, which he views every night. Rantés, who starts noticing the emotionally wounded Dr. Denis, is as interested in his troubles as the doctor is in Rantés, "the first patient in a long time" that has interested him at all. Believing that Rantés' claim of being a "projected hologram" is an allusion to
Rantés is no ordinary man, though. Having a
Surprising everyone, Rantés is visited by an attractive young lady, Beatriz (Inés Vernengo). She and Rantés clearly know each other and Dr. Denis hopes she can shed light on his mysterious patient's identity. Dr. Denis introduces himself to Beatriz and quickly becomes attracted to her. She tells Denis of Rantés' work among children in a slum, where they met while working for an evangelical mission, and especially his devotion to a young child with superior musical abilities; beyond that, she knows him as a "very good man" whom she is only casually acquainted with. Dr. Denis is charmed by the woman and asks Rantés about her. He responds that she is very special and "a Saint".
Beatriz invites both of them to an outdoor classical concert. During the concert, captivated by the music, Rantés asks Beatriz to dance. The audience finds this amusing and exciting, and some of them decide to follow suit and also dance. Rantés becomes even more entranced by the music as the orchestra plays Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He eventually persuades the conductor to let him take the baton for the symphony's iconic Ode to Joy, which confuses the musicians, leading to their refusing to play with him. After a few false starts with Rantés trying to conduct the orchestra, the musicians eventually decide to play as Rantés conducts them. The audience is even more amused and excited by the situation while concurrently at the asylum, the patients start to get excited and agitated and then parade the ground in a state of joy, and eventually into the town where the concert is being held. The police arrive and are about to remove Rantés from the conducting podium when the actual conductor convinces them to not remove Rantés. Rantés finishes and is arrested.
Confronted by the hospital's angry Director (David Edery), Dr. Denis is less concerned for his job than he is for his impetuous friend, whom the director orders closely monitored and strictly medicated. Dr. Denis fears this could kill Rantés' unique personality and intellect. The director is unsympathetic and states: "Instead of making the police blotter, Rantés ends up in the front page next time: LUNATIC ORDERS MILITARY ATTACK", to which Denis quickly retorts (referring to the Malvinas/Falklands War): "That already happened, and I doubt Rantés had anything to do with it!".
Affected by the medication, Rantés broods and becomes rebellious. He seems tormented by Dr. Denis' lack of involvement, asking, "Doctor, why have you abandoned me?". He is also more upset by the mistreatment of other patients. After escaping again, he demands to see the director about the awful quality of the asylum's food, but is turned away. His complaints are also rejected by the local newspaper. Dr. Denis believes that Rantés is disillusioned with mankind and may never recover, but continues the treatment. Denis convinces Beatriz to meet at his home, where they become passionate about each other and have sex. Then she confides to the doctor that she is an alien projection, like Rantés, but assures him that she now feels emotion and can love him. Denis is livid and angrily throws her out of his home while accusing her of being a lunatic "like Rantés".
After Rantés starts becoming catatonic, the Director decides to give him electroshock treatment without notifying Denis. Rantés doesn't endure anesthesia and dies from a heart attack. The rest of the patients don't believe in Rantés' death, as they all hope that he has only gone back to his ship for some time. From then on the patients keep waiting for Rantés to return and take them away to his planet. At the same time Denis, now filled with doubts and regrets about Rantés' life and his relationship with him, quietly waits for Beatriz, who is away indefinitely, to return to him.
Cast
- Lorenzo Quinteros as Dr. Julio Denis.
- Hugo Soto as Rantés.
- Inés Vernengo as Beatriz Dick.
- Cristina Scaramuzza as Nurse.
- Tomás Voth as Young Suicidal Man.
- David Edery as Hospital Director.
- Rúbens Correa as Dr. Prieto.
Release and reception
A modest box-office draw when released in Argentina in April 1987, Man Facing Southeast received wider acclaim upon its video release later that year. The Secretary of Culture (now the Ministry of Culture) submitted it for consideration to the
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 86% based on reviews from 7 critics, with an average rating of 8.3 out of 10.[7]
K-PAX controversy and influence
Little known outside Argentina, Man Facing Southeast received wider exposure upon the 2001 release of Universal Pictures' K-PAX, whose similarity to the Argentine title (whose author and director, Eliseo Subiela, was not credited) was unmistakable to film enthusiasts and critics, among them Robert Koehler of Variety and Bob Strauss of the Los Angeles Times, both of whom expressed surprise at K-PAX author Gene Brewer's contention that Man Facing Southeast was unfamiliar to him.
Film critics at MSNBC, for their part, commented that "both films are quite similar, though Man Facing Southeast is more ingenious and enigmatic".
Other critics have highlighted the metaphoric value of Rantés, himself, whose miraculous powers, concern for the poor, frank criticism of human hypocrisy and willingness to subject himself to what amounts to torture create a character with a clear parallel in Christianity.[10]
The 1993 American drama film Mr. Jones, directed by Mike Figgis and starring Richard Gere and Lena Olin, was partially inspired in Man Facing Southeast: in the film's story, Gere's character is a manic-depressive patient in a psychiatric institution, and in one scene the character abruptly jumps the stage at a classical music concert and conducts the orchestra. This scene was directly taken from Man Facing Southeast by Gere's own admission during an interview for Televisión Española, where he stated that the concert scene was "a homage to an Argentine film called 'Hombre mirando al Sudeste'".[11]
See also
- Bioy Casares, Adolfo. The Invention of Morel. (short novel; 1940)
- List of submissions to the 60th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Argentine submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Notes
- Membrez, Nancy J. (ed.) The Cinematic Art of Eliseo Subiela, Argentine Filmmaker. Lewiston, NY: Mellen Press, 2007.
References
- ^ Canby, Vincent (13 March 1987). "FILM: FROM ARGENTINA, 'MAN FACING SOUTHEAST'". The New York Times.
- ^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- ^ Man Facing Southeast (Hombre Mirando al Sudeste) Moria: Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review at Wayback Machine
- ^ "Las 100 mejores del periodo 1933-1999 del Cine Argentino". La Mirada Cautiva (3). Buenos Aires: Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken: 6–14. 2000. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022 – via Encuesta de cine argentino 2022 on Google Drive.
- ^ "Top 100" (in Spanish). Encuesta de cine argentino 2022. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- ^ Borrull, Mariona (17 July 2022). "Las 20 mejores películas argentinas de la historia". Fotogramas (in Spanish). Madrid: Hearst España. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
- ^ "Man Facing Southeast". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ Mi marciano favorito/My favourite Martian Clarín, 11/3/2001 (in Spanish)
- ^ Reviews for Man Facing Southeast IMDb
- ^ AllMovie
- La Nación(in Spanish)
External links
- Man Facing Southeast at IMDb
- Man Facing Southeast at AllMovie
- Man Facing Southeast at Rotten Tomatoes
- Man Facing Southeast at Cinenacional.com (in Spanish)