Seen at...
You'll Never Be Alone
Original Title
Nunca vas a estar solo- Director: Alex Anwandter
- Writer: Alex Anwandter
- Producer: Alex Anwandter; Isabel Orellana Guarello
CGiii Comment
How can you love a film that is so painful to watch?
How can you love a film that will split opinion with its challenging conclusion?
Broken bodies, broken minds, broken dreams, broken systems and broken hearts...all play out against the backdrop of Chile's doing great - for some, not all.
This is the definition of a hate crime...the violence is unbearable. The violence is wrought by the familiar...by neighbours, by a lover!
The aftermath concentrates on the other victim...the father of the beaten. His slow and excruciating disintegration into desolation. A decent man who hits a brick wall [face-on] with every turn he takes. There is no respite from [t]his despair.
Alex Anwandter has created a soundscape rather than a landscape for this story...he demands much from his audience (some would argue, too much). There are mighty metaphors, scathing injustices and muted messages...but, the final nail in the coffin is the lack of a [tangible & comforting] resolution. This - indeed - is nomansland.
Refer to the title for closure...instead of saying 'WTF' at the ending...think long and hard about it!
A mesmerising, polarising, traumatic debut...a mighty achievement for a runtime of just 80 minutes!
Trailer...
Trailer Español - Nunca vas a estar solo / EN SALAS DE TODO CHILE - 10 DE NOVIEMBRE from Araucaria Cine on Vimeo.
The(ir) Blurb...
Introverted Juan, manager of a mannequin factory, lives alone with his eighteen-year-old gay son, Pablo. Whilst Pablo blithely studies dance, Juan is hoping that, after twenty-five years at the firm, his boss will consider him for a partnership. When Pablo is badly wounded in a brutal homophobic attack which sees him hospitalised, his father realises just how far they have become estranged. A lack of witnesses and expensive medical bills force Juan to leave the quiet stability of his life for good and reposition himself in a world where there is discrimination. Time and again his efforts come to nought, until one night on the streets of Santiago he makes up his own rules in order to save his son.
In March 2012 the murder of an openly gay Chilean man, Daniel Zamudio, by neo-Nazis, shocked the whole of Latin America. This incident inspired Alex Anwandter to make his impressively multi-layered debut. Demonstrating great sensitivity, he traces in the figure of the reclusive father the enormous pressure that exists to adhere to the fixed norms of masculinity – only to dissolve these norms in Pablo’s dream of living a life that is vibrantly queer.
Cast & Characters
Antonia Zegers;
Sergio Hernandez as Juan;
Gabriela Hernandez as Lucy;
Andrew Bargsted as Pablo;
Edgardo Bruna as Bruno;
Astrid Roldan as Mari