Neruda (2016)

December 7, 2019 6:08 PM

"Neruda... isn’t what you’d call a biopic in any conventional sense; it’s not even entirely clear to what extent it’s really about Pablo Neruda himself. Let’s say the film is about an idea of Neruda, and about the way that ideas about poets and political figures take root in people’s minds—not just in the minds of their admirers, but of their enemies too."

By Director Pablo Larraín
Writer Guillermo Calderón
And starring Gael García Bernal, Luis Gnecco, and Mercedes Morán

posted by latkes (2 comments total)

Watched a couple weeks ago and I find it lingering in this way only a few movies have - I think I am in love with Gnecco's Neruda and also Morán's Delia del Carril (I would have watched a whole movie about her). The slightly surreal and imaginary aspects made it feel more real than a conventional biopic ever does to me. I thought they showed Neruda's shitty aspects with honesty and without judgement. Bernal is always enjoyable and I liked how he gave his all to this imaginary figure. I may re-watch. It's on Netflix right now.
posted by latkes at 6:13 PM on December 7, 2019

Also after watching it I was struck with how everyone has lied to us Americans about how many of our heroic artists were communists. I mean, that sounds almost stupid - I know it - but seeing a non-US film about Picasso and Neruda and their group/contemporaries is a kind of shocking reminder of how these figures have had the red so washed out of them by American history making.
posted by latkes at 6:16 PM on December 7, 2019