La Leon (2006/Water Bearer DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Film: C+

 

 

An interesting if short and somewhat predictable exercise in boldness, Writer/Director Santigo Otheguy’s La Leon (2006) is about a gay loner named Alvaro stuck in an oppressive Argentina who gets together with other men he can find who are visiting and interested while he does his best to work and survive.  He has a homophobic nemesis El Turu who is closeted and hates him, yet might be more interested than him and his sexuality than might otherwise be.

 

At times, this is so quiet and so darkly visual that you will think of David Lynch in a few moments, but it is too short at 85 minutes to really deliver more than it does.  A strategy is that Otheguy is trying to convey Alvaro’s isolated life and be region specific considering how oppressive Argentina is.  Therefore, it does work at times, but could have said and done more.  For what is here, it is an ambitious attempt to tell a story and state of life, which it succeeds at just enough to be taken seriously.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is in black and white, is a bit soft and though composition is decent, the master supplied is a bit flawed in the detail department.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has limited Pro Logic surrounds and sounds like a mixdown from 5.1.  A Spanish trailer is also included.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo