Cineastas is the story of four film directors in Buenos Aires and of each of their cinematic visions. In the play, one director is told by a friend over a bottle of vodka, about Eisenstein’s theory of two ideas superimposed to create a third bigger idea. Mariano Pensotti’s latest work is based around this very concept. He superimposes the lives of four filmmakers on the ground level of his stage, with the films the filmmakers make on the second level of the stage, thereby creating a larger theatric-slash-cinematic hybrid. Creators are run alongside their creations to create a meta feast.
The cineastas (film directors) each have their own demons that they hope to confront through their movies. There is Gabriel who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and who must come to terms soon with his mortality. Mariela, an adopted child, is in search of her Russian roots, and must solve the behemoth problem of identity. Nadia is looking for the father she never got to know and Lucas struggles with ethics as he keeps getting promoted at a McDonalds.
Pensotti is known for his multi-narrative shows. Having attended, and consequently loved El Pasado Es Un Animal Grotesco at a previous PUSH year, my expectations were high for Cineastas. For El Pasado… a circular stage, divided into quarters, was rotated to switch scenes and storylines. Pensotti’s vision has since grown manifold and become increasingly ambitious. Now for Cineastas, we have two and sometimes three scenes overlapping at once. The show is packed with a large amount of detail. Each character has their everyday life played out with supporting characters, while their cinematic vision plays out simultaneously just “upstairs”. Add to this a witty voiceover that demands 90% of your attention if your Spanish is not the best. At times this over-embossing of scenes and conversations becomes hard to handle. One does not know where to look. Especially during instances when two scenes are being performed as loudly as the voiceover.
The actors work hard to keep up with the speed of the show. Their performances are impassioned. These actors switch characters at lightning speed, sometimes traversing the bi-level stage to do so. The dialogue is sharp and makes you wish you spoke fluent Spanish. The actors get a lot of laughs with banter that is not only comedic but also aesthetically entertaining, as it resembles a consonant heavy Spanish storm. The play also addresses political and artistic issues that are unique to Argentina, and Buenos Aires in particular. It explores the effects of reel life on real life, and vice versa. Filmmaking is stripped down to its basics- an (expensive) attempt to make sense of the world a film director lives in. The show is prop-heavy. Everything from a boat to balloons to crutches to a happy meal is employed to flesh out the stories. Production-wise Cineastas leaves no stone unturned, to a point where it feels like you might be watching a film.
Cineastas is an ambitious venture. It only makes sense for Pensotti to graduate his art to this new pinnacle of multi-narration. With almost eight stories being told in the play, and at least two of these occurring at any given time, it becomes a bit of a battle to follow every strand of information. Perhaps this a show that needs to be seen twice to be truly appreciated for every gem of witty detail. Cineastas really did push my boundaries as a theatre-goer. It challenged me to be a more alert spectator. I had to make an effort to catch as much as I could from every conversation, image and voiceover that came at bullet speed my way, by the minute.
Pensotti’s work gets grander and more intellectual every time. Cineastas does not disappoint in terms of his artistic trajectory. If you are looking for theatre that is a jam-packed overload for the senses, this is it.
-Prachi Kamble
(Printed with the permission of Fame Blog Canada where it was initially published).