A cinematographic portrait. At one point in the film, the filmmaker types on his computer screen: “Every portrait is a self-portrait”. There is no hint of narcissism in this statement, just a technical fact: photographic portraits have an out-of-field and, in the case of cinema, movement is added to the out-of-field. There is no need for the portraitist to project his subjectivity on the portrayed, in the old pictorial way. The mere presence of the out-of-field makes the positions of sitter and portraitist dependent, intertwined. It takes at least two people to make a film. The people portrayed in this film, the couple of Argentine artists who make up the Mondongo collective, are also professional portraitists. For the filmmaker who attempts their portrait, this means a particularly intense negotiation. A portrait can also precipitate the rupture of a friendship and that will be just another proof of the necessary bond -that is why it can be broken- between portraitist and subjects.
Manuel Asín (Festival Punto de Vista)
Mariano Llinás
