MIFF Session #2 THE HYPERBOREANS

An actor and psychologist, Antonia attempts to make sense of the life and politics of Chilean figure Miguel Serrano who began his adulthood as a Marxist but turned to fascism and spent his public life exploring what he was convinced was its mystical aspects. Antonia begins by apologising for the thieves who stole the film that was made of this and explains that she must begin again with the means she has at her disposal.

She walks through sets variously realistic and symbolic where flat marionettes appear as characters in the tale of Serrano whose influence guided Pinochet. At first, this intentionally fanciful approach strikes as cute but it isn't long before we can see the point of it in expediting the story and, through a fluidity of roles and personae, giving us a solid idea of the point of it. There is a lot of theatre on screen as props and backdrops act as editing devices as well as scenery and the tension is sustained between an often naturalistic performance by Antonia Geissen and the grotesque figures she interacts with. There is a lot of Brecht in the presentation.

Anyone who made it all the way through Beau is Afraid will not be surprised to find that filmmakers Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña contributed a great deal to the middle section with the theatre troupe and puppetry. I found myself happy to comprehend enough to keep following and allowing a lot of it to pass by and then at the end of the modest running time, when the extraordinary effort of this stark cinetheatre all but turned into a Guy Maddin movie, I felt rewarded. The final word is given to Antonia and her marionette as they take turns in the same space to bid us farewell.

It's films like this that make me treasure MIFF, the strange and expanding worlds of filmmakers who dare to remind us that cinema is a blank wall until you shoot shadows at it and all the creature comforts of classical Hollywood are only one offering. This one is not for everyone (those it's not for would argue that it's not for anyone) but it was for me.