Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas (2018)

[Drunk Monk]

For the Bunuel aficionados and because I saw L'Age Dor with DM which this animated film uses.

Kanopy-ed. Finally.

This is distributed to the US by GKids who distributes a lot of euro kids film. This is not a kids film. I doubt they even read the synopsis. They must’ve figured that it was a cartoon so it must be for kids. Not. It’s got some mature elements, not gratuitously so, but definitely beyond most kids and probably many adults. 

It’s a retelling of Bunuel’s struggles after the pope blacklists him for the sacrilege of L’age Dor. He can’t find backers for a doc he’s trying to make about an impoverished region of Spain until his friend wins the lottery. Then he shoots it with his friend and two others on location, staging scenes and recklessly spending the winnings.

I’ve never seen the doc. It’s well regarded and excerpts are spliced in the animation to great effect. Bunuel was a sadist staging violent animal deaths. I never put that together until this. Given it’s real brutality, I may pass. They show some harsh scenes from the actual doc, even by today’s standards because they are real. I’ve lost my stomach for animal sacrifice for cinema after Cannibal Holocaust (Thanks ed).  

The film projects Bunuel’s neurosis about being in the shadow of Dali through some surreal nightmares. His trip to visit Dali is only acknowledged with a street sign to Cadaques so you have to know that’s where Dali lived (it’s a Spanish film and Spaniards know). I wasn’t impressed by the storytelling or animation style but the history was compelling enough to keep me engaged.

No sword fights. Recommended for DOOM surrealists as more of a history lesson, a chapter in the life of a legendary filmmaker - arguably the first pioneer in shock cinema.

[Greg]

You might have lost me with the animal cruelty. I had to stop watching Charge of the Light Brigade because of all the horse falls they did during the charge. For the horse falls they would basically trip the horses, sometimes breaking the horses legs....I don't need that.

[Drunk Monk]

Definitely skip this then. The imagery from Bunuel's original doc, as well as the BTS animated recounting of how it was set up, cannot be unseen. My brain is still chewing on the horrible Donkey scene which is wrong from every perspective that I look at it. 

Like I said 'This is not a kids' film'.

[cranefly]

Finally saw this.  Yeah, Bunuel was in an odd headspace as depicted here, or maybe it was just the novelty of filming that drove him to give reality an occasional "nudge" to liven things up in rather horrific ways.  Ahhh, the donkey.

I saw a documentary of some sort about Bunuel in his later years, and how he was worshipped by everyone who worked with him.  [Oh, great.  MyBB is flagging "worshipped" as misspelled, and is suggesting "horsewhipped" as a fix.]  Okay, now where was I?  Right, the other documentary of the elder Bunuel, where everyone who worked with him spoke of what a wonderful man he was.  In a rarity for such a profession, even women spoke of how kind and respectful he was to them.

So, yeah, I'm inclined to believe that that documentary showed the real Bunuel, or the one that came out the end of a lifetime of living, and this episode early in his career was more a misstep, a labyrinth he got lost in for a time, as we all do on our long roads to doom, and ultimately Bunuel was a very good man.

But the donkey...  Ahhh, the donkey...

[Drunk Monk]

Did you ever see Las Hurdes? Turns out it's available for free on a lot of platforms.



It's less than half an hour long. Perhaps I will watch it to give this more context. 

The Donkey was so horrible. Part of me wants to resolve this in my view of his work. Given his signature eye slit, I'm still leaning towards sadist. 

[Greg]

Especially since that is Bunuel doing the eye slit.

[cranefly]

I spent some time this morning doing a search on Las Hurdes.  Wasn't sure it still existed.  As you point out, it does.  And I'm intrigued just enough to maybe give it a gander soon.

[Drunk Monk]

And I'm intrigued just enough to maybe give it a gander soon.

I might too. It's less than a half hour. We've already seen what happens to the Donkey. How bad could it be?

[Drunk Monk]

Watched Las Hurdes. It's interesting. I doubt I would've thought too much about it had I not seen BeeLdlT. The harsh scenes are still harsh., but they are very quick. It's a harsh little doc. It doesn't dwell on the harshness however. It just shows it quickly and moves on. But yeah, animal death, dying kids, cretins and a dead baby. Harsh. And in the end, I imagine it was for a good cause - to bring attention to the plight of the poor.  It's hard to put it in context of Bunuel's work and the times. I'm so glad that Gkids brought the animated film to America so kids today can know.

[cranefly]

I watched Las Hurdes too.  It's a very solid documentary, well-structured for its length, and like you said, the nudgings of animal fate aren't so obvious here.

But what a ghastly area in which to grow up.  Or even to try to survive long enough to be considered an adult.