ES / EN
- January 21, 2021 -
No Result
View All Result
OnCubaNews Needs You
OnCubaNews
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
OnCubaNews
ES / EN
ADVERTISEMENT
Home Culture

Life as it is, or a too apocalyptic view

Justo PlanasbyJusto Planas
October 19, 2012
in Culture
0

Penumbra is a relief to all who make a living out of writing about films in Cuba. This year, we have been debating between two options: one is not to publish one single sentence on the feature films the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) and the other is to contribute to the image of sceptical executioner that is frequently associated with film writers. But the truth is, in some very recent Cuban films there has been very little to save, thy even violated some basic rules of film language … well, thanks to Penumbras we don’t need to address that thorny issue anymore.

Or maybe we do have to say that regardless the aesthetics of those other movies (whose name I’d rather forget) there is one element that Penumbras keeps. One element that draws the landscape of an era, of our time, of Cuba … We can guess in the increasingly dark images of recent productions, which in the case of Penumbras are neither reddish or brown, they are black and white. We managed to sniff the decline in the many characters of the end of the world displayed on the screen through this last year; hustlers themselves, but ultimately aimless walkers, who know what they do not want, but they can not find the place that will protect them from the storm.

This is not about a movie or two; it is a trend now, a string of suffocated characters, yet struggling to stay afloat, although uncertainty is eating them alive. We have already seen a few times that ending that director Charly Medina throws on his characters, who rolls the credits in the joyful break that comes from being in the eye of a storm, of a coming problem.

Penumbras spins its story about four characters, two innkeepers (those Cuban motels … those that no longer exist) and a special couple that requires the services of those two: a baseball player and his mistress. Charly Medina was able to twist those creative, somewhat cryptic, dialogues Omar Franco kept repeating in the original play by Amado del Pino. Franco plays now its old character and the other three, more used to the big screen, take his words at times like those coming from a madman, sometimes as from a prophet. Franco’s character, the innkeeper, appears in almost every moment (as in the play) conversing with himself.

Although this psychological part is the most seductive, the real heart of the story focuses on the couple. The player, failure after failure, is coming to the conclusion that many have already taken, his days in the field are numbered and he should retire. His beloved one (not his wife) already in her thirties sees as her crazy days are passing through and feels the urgent need to find a really flawed, resigned, but in the end, true love.

The need of a home, both for the couple and for the film as a whole, becomes an existential quest, which could, perhaps, reverse all the greyness.
The player lives with a wife he does not love; his mistress needs a house where to be the only woman, one of the innkeepers is a peasant, and the other built himself a place in a pool, which serves as the occasion for jokes about living "in the bottom” Except for the mistress, about whom we know very little, the Penumbras characters show a double life that makes them corroded spirits, swallowed by the circumstances: one of the innkeeper is a beloved grandfather, a father of a family, but treats himself during his working hours with certain perversions; the other, a thoughtful man, is a drug addict, the player is cheating.

Related Posts

Felito Lahera as Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cuban film “El Mayor.” Photo: Daniel Romero’s Facebook.

Felito Lahera: “I’m very Cuban”

January 17, 2021
Enrique Pineda Barnet. Photo: Yaimí Ravelo/Archive.

Enrique Pineda Barnet: a Renaissance man in Cuban culture

January 16, 2021
Photo: Dazra Novak.

10×10 Festival: Havana Art Deco in online meeting

December 16, 2020
Audiovisual Varentierra coworking workshop, organized by the WajirosFilms production company at its headquarters in Havana, with young Cuban filmmakers. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Varentierra coworking: in Wajiros code

December 9, 2020

Is Penumbras one of the trumpets calling for our version of Apocalypses?

Previous Post

Humor in Cuba, an insider’s opinion

Next Post

Score!

Justo Planas

Justo Planas

Next Post

Score!

Statues of Life and Color

First Poi Meeting in Cuba

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The conversation here is moderated according to OnCuba News discussion guidelines. Please read the Comment Policy before joining the discussion.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT

Most Read

Women workers offer disinfectant gel to tourists upon arrival at a hotel, on December 2, 2020, in Cayo Coco. Photo: EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa/Archive.

Cuba updates COVID-19 health protocol for tourists

January 18, 2021
Hotel Paradisus Río de Oro, managed by Meliá Hotels International in Holguín, in eastern Cuba. Photo: Meliá/Archive.

Lawsuit against Meliá for exploiting land in Cuba expanded against Cuban state

January 14, 2021
Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Cuba reports highest number of coronavirus infections since the start of pandemic*

January 18, 2021
Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Cuba exceeds 4,000 active cases and reports another four deaths from COVID-19

January 16, 2021

Most Commented

No Content Available
  • About us
  • Work with OnCuba
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy for comments
  • Contact us
  • Advertisement offers

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!
Go to mobile version