Saturday, March 26, 2011

Homero Aridjis - Perro espectral


Lo vi corriendo por el aire

en respuesta a la voz que lo llamaba en vida.

Todo era luz en las praderas de la tarde.

Todo era ausencia en los cuerpos presentes en la calle.

Su pelambre amarillo estaba descolorido;

sus orejas negras, transparentes.

A mi lado ya no emitía los ruidos

con que celebraba mi retorno después de las separaciones,

ni corría de un lado a otro para festejarme.

Jadeó su afecto y me extendió la pata.

Yo atravesé su pecho con la mano,

yo acaricié su hocico inconsistente;

sus mandíbulas estaban desencajadas

y sus ojos abiertos ciegos.

No se adonde se había ido desde aquella noche

en que lo dejé dormido a la puerta de mi cuarto

y al amanecer no lo encontré esperándome.

Venía de un lugar donde no hay comida

y para beber solo hay luz oscura.

Como a una sobra nadie

lo había llamado por su nombre.

Rápidamente nos reconocimos.

Le puse la correa roja en el cuello

y con la pata impalpable abrió la puerta.

Era hora de su paseo y salimos a la calle.

Pero en la esquina, nos desvanecimos.

(Los poemas solares, 2005)

Saturday, March 12, 2011

A tribute to María Félix as Doña Bárbara



I finished reading Rómulo Gallegos' (no relation to my wife, Beckie) Doña Bárbara this week and was interested to find out that, besides having a telenovela named after it, there is also a movie with famed Mexican actress María Félix staring as the "Devorador de hombres". I haven't had time to watch it yet (it is available on youtube here in 15 parts) but I did find this short tribute to her role in the previously named film. No dialogue, just music, with lots of great images. An interesting find if you have either read the novel or are a fan of Félix.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Ludo - Nature and the City

Ludo is a street artist / public interventionist (is this a word?) from Paris who combines images of nature and city/urbanization/technology in order to create new hybridized works of art. He explains this a little bit in the video at the end of this post.

These works take on greater significance as one thinks about the relationship between nature and city. Is city part of nature or is it an entirely separate entity? What impact does the city have on nature or vice versa? What is our role as humans in this relationship? Enjoy!








Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Missing


I came across this movie while at the public library last week. I'm a big fan of Costa-Gavras' work (The film Z in particular) and somehow missed this one. Missing (1982) is a film about an American reporter in Chile during the coup who goes missing and the subsequent search by his father (Jack Lemmon) and wife (Sissy Spacek). A promising premise but what carries the film is the acting. Great performances all around, especially by Lemmon and Spacek. Costa-Gavras isn't afraid of using political thrillers as a platform to address head-on, issues of corruption and dictatorships. He is successful because he is director first and activist second. He knows how to make a great film.

*Z and Missing are both available through the Criterion Collection.