Victor Erice’s film is quiet and sublime: NPR

Spanish director Victor Erice is one of Europe’s most respected, but least prolific, filmmakers. Over the past fifty years or so, he has made only four films, starting with his first great, beehive spirit.

A poignant family drama set in 1940, during the early days of Franco’s dictatorship, it was also a sentimental ode to cinema from a filmmaker who always loved movies, even when movies didn’t love him back.

Iris had a hard time with his 1983 film. The walla beautiful but abridged work that was released in its unfinished form. In the years that followed, Iris directed a number of projects, including the 1992 documentary Sun quince tree And many short films.

But he has had difficulty getting another feature film made—until now. The arrival of the new Iris, close your eyesIt would be good news even if it wasn’t one of the best things I’ve seen this year. Manolo Solo plays a long-retired director named Miguel, who quit the business in 1990 after production on one of his films was halted. The circumstances were mysterious: his star, the handsome actor Julio Arenas, had disappeared without explanation and was presumed dead. Now, it’s 2012, and a Madrid-based TV journalist is investigating Julio’s disappearance.

After the interview, Miguel stays in Madrid and asks the questions himself. close your eyes The action unfolds at a leisurely pace over the course of nearly three hours, with the appeal of a well-crafted detective story. Miguel reconnects with old friends and colleagues, such as his old editor Max, a die-hard cinephile who still has unseen footage from the dead production.

Miguel also connects with Julio’s daughter, who knew little about her father even before his disappearance. She is played wonderfully by Ana Torrent, who was just a young girl when she starred in the film. beehive spirit Decades ago. It’s a glorious moment of completion.

Miguel’s investigations yield no immediate answers, and he returns nostalgically to his home on the Spanish coast. Here the events pause briefly and then settle into a simple magical interlude. One night, while hanging out under the stars, Miguel picks up his guitar and performs a duet with his friend Tony. You’ll recognize the song if you’ve seen Howard Hawks’ 1959 Western, Rio Bravowhich is one of my favorite movies.

This might be one of Eris’s works too. Rio Bravo, close your eyes The story turns out to be about community, about friendships that form under unexpected circumstances. Miguel’s mission to solve the mystery of Julio’s disappearance turns into a team effort, as old and new friends come together to help him.

You don’t need to know Eris’ work to get into it. close your eyesBut those who He does Miguel is set to direct the new film, and he knows that his job will be an unbearably moving experience. In many ways, Iris tells his own story: Miguel could be his surrogate, just as Miguel’s unfinished film seems like a commentary on some of Iris’s abandoned projects. Miguel and his old editor Max reminisce about the better times of the film industry and grumble about the changes brought about by digital technology.

But despite his characters’ pessimism, Ayres continues to demonstrate his hard-earned faith in movies. He knows that they can move us in ways that no other art form can. At one point, Ayres takes all of his characters to a dilapidated old movie theater, where close your eyes Not only is the film engaging, it is also a quiet, sublime film. I don’t want to say much about what happens, but it is worth discovering for yourself in a cinema of your own.