A documentary on the most unpredictable of film-makers is as beautifully baffling as its subject, while a study of Venezuelan society has supernatural overtones
In case the recent completion – I hesitate to say “resolution” – of Twin Peaks has left a hole in your life the approximate shape and size of David Lynch’s soft-serve quiff, the DVD release of David Lynch: The Art Life (Thunderbird, 15) could not have been more cannily timed. Ostensibly a documentary about the aberrant auteur’s creative process, Jon Nguyen’s film is nothing so prosaic. Instead, it’s a wayward, stream-of-consciousness tour of a mind that knows no process, as related and embellished by the man himself, drolly revelling in formative anecdotes and dream fragments. Lynch’s ventures into fine art, as opposed to film, are the springboard for these musings, but it’s all of a piece, betraying the same fascinating, febrile imagination; it...
In case the recent completion – I hesitate to say “resolution” – of Twin Peaks has left a hole in your life the approximate shape and size of David Lynch’s soft-serve quiff, the DVD release of David Lynch: The Art Life (Thunderbird, 15) could not have been more cannily timed. Ostensibly a documentary about the aberrant auteur’s creative process, Jon Nguyen’s film is nothing so prosaic. Instead, it’s a wayward, stream-of-consciousness tour of a mind that knows no process, as related and embellished by the man himself, drolly revelling in formative anecdotes and dream fragments. Lynch’s ventures into fine art, as opposed to film, are the springboard for these musings, but it’s all of a piece, betraying the same fascinating, febrile imagination; it...
- 9/10/2017
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
The country’s economic crisis gives an edge to this hybrid documentary
This Venezuelan debut is the kind of production you often hear disparagingly described as a “small film”, but a restricted canvas can make for maximum intimacy. It is a quietly compelling item that appears to be part documentary, part realist fiction, with a faint edge of dream-like ghostliness. La Soledad, meaning “solitude”, is the name of a rambling house in Caracas – once magnificent, now dilapidated – formerly lived in by the family of director Jorge Thielen Armand. It is now inhabited by a working-class family – tenacious José, his wife, young daughter and infirm grandmother – but they may soon have to leave because the owners intend to sell the place.
Everyone, poor and relatively wealthy, is affected by Venezuela’s economic crisis, which shows its effects in food queues, empty supermarket shelves and an atmosphere of danger; one of José...
This Venezuelan debut is the kind of production you often hear disparagingly described as a “small film”, but a restricted canvas can make for maximum intimacy. It is a quietly compelling item that appears to be part documentary, part realist fiction, with a faint edge of dream-like ghostliness. La Soledad, meaning “solitude”, is the name of a rambling house in Caracas – once magnificent, now dilapidated – formerly lived in by the family of director Jorge Thielen Armand. It is now inhabited by a working-class family – tenacious José, his wife, young daughter and infirm grandmother – but they may soon have to leave because the owners intend to sell the place.
Everyone, poor and relatively wealthy, is affected by Venezuela’s economic crisis, which shows its effects in food queues, empty supermarket shelves and an atmosphere of danger; one of José...
- 8/20/2017
- by Jonathan Romney
- The Guardian - Film News
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Jorge Thielen Armand's La Soledad (2016) will be showing August 19 - 24 at the Ica in London, and playing on Mubi from September 1 - October 1, 2017 in the United Kingdom. “One might regard architecture as history arrested in stone.”—A. L. Rowse, The Use of HistoryI. End of Home. End of History.In Jorge Thielen Armand’s La Soledad, the home holds many histories. Belonging to the filmmaker’s great-grandparents, this home, dubbed ‘The Solitude’ by its original owners, is an ancient mansion that, in its dereliction, displays its years like folds in the skin. Each crack creeping down the wall, straggling weed searching up through the paving, or unidentifiable stain spreading across the wallpaper layers the building with historical information; each tiny mark made tells a small part of a larger, continuing story. From the start of his film about this place,...
- 8/18/2017
- MUBI
MaryAnn’s quick take… An extraordinary blend of documentary and fiction, a strikingly intimate, humane tale of a family, a house, and a nation. Like nothing you’ve seen before. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
It’s a rare thing, and one to give a film lover goosebumps: to discover a movie that truly isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen before. There have been other movies that blend documentary and narrative storytelling, but not many, and none so beautiful as this one. La Soledad, the extraordinary feature debut of Venezuelan filmmaker Jorge Thielen Armand, is a strikingly intimate and humane tale that is simultaneously about a house, a family, a city, and a nation.
The once-grand, now crumbling villa called La Soledad seems to exist in a mystical realm…
Armand’s great-grandparents owned the once-grand,...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
It’s a rare thing, and one to give a film lover goosebumps: to discover a movie that truly isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen before. There have been other movies that blend documentary and narrative storytelling, but not many, and none so beautiful as this one. La Soledad, the extraordinary feature debut of Venezuelan filmmaker Jorge Thielen Armand, is a strikingly intimate and humane tale that is simultaneously about a house, a family, a city, and a nation.
The once-grand, now crumbling villa called La Soledad seems to exist in a mystical realm…
Armand’s great-grandparents owned the once-grand,...
- 8/18/2017
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
From documentary classic Grey Gardens to Venezuelan movie La Soledad, the use of derelict buildings is about more than eerie window dressing
Online, they call it “ruin porn”: a 2010s photography trend that has inspired gallery exhibitions, clickbaity listicles and academic theses with titles such as The Anxiety of Decline. Yet cinema’s fascination with disused buildings, like the one in the new Venezuelan feature by Jorge Thielen Armand goes much deeper. The dreamy La Soledad manages to be as confrontational and vitally political as a slasher flick set in those unoccupied properties near Grenfell Tower would be.
Related: Love and squalor: how Grey Gardens changed the documentary genre
Continue reading...
Online, they call it “ruin porn”: a 2010s photography trend that has inspired gallery exhibitions, clickbaity listicles and academic theses with titles such as The Anxiety of Decline. Yet cinema’s fascination with disused buildings, like the one in the new Venezuelan feature by Jorge Thielen Armand goes much deeper. The dreamy La Soledad manages to be as confrontational and vitally political as a slasher flick set in those unoccupied properties near Grenfell Tower would be.
Related: Love and squalor: how Grey Gardens changed the documentary genre
Continue reading...
- 8/14/2017
- by Ellen E Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
“La Soledad” captures the current social and economic situation in Venezuela. The film follows the story of Jose, a young father who has lived with his family in an abandoned mansion. He discovers that the house will soon be demolished and the land will be sold. Check out the exclusive trailer below.
Read More: An Unlikely Hero Is Tasked With Preventing Iran From Going Nuclear in ‘Patriot’ – Trailer
In a desperate attempt to save his family from becoming homeless, Jose begins to search for a treasure that is rumored to be buried in the house. In his search, Jose realizes that the mansion might be hunted with spirits.
“La Soledad” is the debut feature film for The Venezuelan filmmaker Jorge Thielen Armand, who accomplished a fictive narrative with documentary components. It was screened at the 2016 Venice Film Festival and will have its North American premiere at the Miami Film Festival,...
Read More: An Unlikely Hero Is Tasked With Preventing Iran From Going Nuclear in ‘Patriot’ – Trailer
In a desperate attempt to save his family from becoming homeless, Jose begins to search for a treasure that is rumored to be buried in the house. In his search, Jose realizes that the mansion might be hunted with spirits.
“La Soledad” is the debut feature film for The Venezuelan filmmaker Jorge Thielen Armand, who accomplished a fictive narrative with documentary components. It was screened at the 2016 Venice Film Festival and will have its North American premiere at the Miami Film Festival,...
- 2/9/2017
- by Yoselin Acevedo
- Indiewire
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