In the context of the self-chosen status of Croatia as a cultural colony whose multiplexes are not eager to accept any film titles that do not belong to the Hollywood mainstream and European (and of course Hollywood) escapism, and considering the fact that film fans can be delighted if the repertoire of the movie theatres includes one of the laureates of the three biggest film festivals, when it comes to Chilean films, the situation is not so weak. In recent times we have had the chance to see two new films by Pablo Larraín, even though one was made in American co-production and devoted to a typical American story (Jackie), the other was nevertheless focused on one of the symbols of Chileanske culture and love of freedom (Neruda), those more informed will know of the cult multi-media artist Alejandro Jodorowski, and to them Antonio Skármeta does not represent merely an important literary but also a film figure. In addition the program of the national television will rarely screen some films by the more or less well-known filmmakers from the “land of opposites” whose cinema has been dominated by films directed by Pablo’s namesake Ricardo Larraín (The Frontier), Gonzálo Justinian (Amnesia) and the exiled Miguel Littín (Allende in his Maze) as well as the late Raúl Ruiz (Mysteries of Lisbon) in the last three decades. However, Chilean cinema is still “terra incognita” for the Croatian audience and programs such as this one in Tuškanac Cinema are thus even more important and valuable.

Film fans who wish to see something different from the templated film repertoire in regular film theatres, this new program of Chilean films offers three interesting titles. Two of them focus on existential problems and the protagonists’ everyday life that is full of anxiety. In the first case they are presented from a serious recourse of layered psychological observations, and in the second from a dominantly humorous and ironical viewpoint that playfully and partly in an engaged manner portrays the everyday life of a modern middle-aged woman who is in danger of getting run over by time. The third film is a war drama with a fairly conventional plot and a sufficiently suggestive and intriguing execution. The protagonist of the more serious and anxious of the two first films, psychological drama Andrés lee y escribe directed and co-written by Daniel Peralta, is the thirty-two year old Andrés Centeno. He works in a factory and in the beginning of the film we find him in a hospital from which he runs away without any consultation with the doctors and goes home. Andrés is introverted, quiet and somewhat timid young man who is seriously troubled by something. His condition gets worse when he starts to feel inexplicable pain in his stomach and chest and has to pay a visit to the hospital and several doctors. However, nobody knows what his problem is because he has no concrete symptoms. During his lonely life interspersed with occasional sexual intercourses with an attractive girl, his situation gets worse. His friend and colleague Benjamin, a family man who, according to his taste in films, books and video games, is stuck in the 1980’s, also cannot seem to help Andrés in dealing with his existential discomfort. Peralta portrays Andrés’ closure in intimacy and greater loneliness in a confident, quiet and slow manner, while justifiably relying on the fact that his protagonist is an interesting character as well as on the diversity of his emotional and psychological states. Subtly he examines the deeper layers of the young man’s psyche until he finally meets the student of medicine, Dominga, who is in many respects similar to the main character.

Co-screenwriter and director Nicolás López takes an ironical and humorous recourse in portrayal of the existential problems of the temperamental middle aged Pia Vargas who is troubled by her irresponsible painter husband and his arrogant son. To make matters worse, her boss in a marketing agency presents her a colleague, who is in fact her main competitor, a young girl obsessed with social networks and recording every moment of her life. The director tendentiously and effectively overemphasizes Pia’s troubles and her reactions to them. However, behind the humor there lies something serious; such as the scene with the teenager’s penis in erection, with which he tries to fascinate her step-mother, as well as the most pronounced characteristics of the modern times such as the issue of posting teenage sex recordings on social media and the growing egoism, misanthropy and complete lack of care for other people’s destinies and problems. According to the author, the only solution is to take matters into one’s own hands and awaken in yourself the seed of resistance and to oppose everyone and everything that weighs on us, limits and upsets us, and literally prevents us from breathing and only causes stress and aggression to pile up. A set of circumstances (or providence?) leads Pia to discover the initiator of that process in the alleged Eastern master of acupuncture who miraculously awakens her chakras and leads her to become more honest to herself, to resist and fight for her existence. The author relies on the comedy of situation and character as well as hints of burlesque, dynamic narrative and direction, and a very convincing and moody performance by the main actress who is most well known for her work on TV, Paz Bascuñán, to portray Pia’s pathway to re-discovering her true nature.

Even though the initial plot of the war drama Mi Mejor Enemigo, directed and co-written by Alex Bowen, is derivative, it is in fact quite an intriguing film that portrays the topic of the futility and timelessness of the war in a sufficiently fresh way. Co-screenwriters, Bowen, the award-winning Jorge Durán (Pixote by Hector Babenco) and the well-known Julio Rojas (Room in Rome by Julio Medem) tell the story of six members of the Chilean military patrol, who in 1978, during the border conflict between Chile and the neighboring Argentina, which almost became a war, carry out the task of preserving the invisible and not easily identifiable border in the depths of the pampas as well as three islands in the nearby territorial waters. As it is expected Bowen contrasts the inhumanity and the (potentially) tragedy of war with the humanity and lives of ordinary people who have families, who fall in love, who fear for their own and lives of their loved ones and who are actually not clear about the reasons that put them in this situation. The only thing they do know is that they were given the task that they have to carry out. But how do they do it when everything is so unclear and fluid and when on the other side of the border there is a group of people similar to them and the only thing that is different about them is the color of their uniform and nuances in their languages. Soon, boys on both sides find a way to collaborate in the troubled times and then to even entertain themselves during the boring days spent in the vastness of pampas. Nevertheless, that does not mean that there will be no casualties in this simulation of a war. Even a simulation can end in tragedy, as the audience learns during this film that is narrated by the young soldier Rodrigo Rojas. Most of the film takes place on one location, the characters are dominantly stereotyped and determined by dramatic functionality, but the whole works harmoniously thanks to Bowen’s unobtrusive directing style and the lively interpretations of the overall acting crew. (Josip Grozdanić)