polverinointernacional Review of Hombre de la esquina rosada

Hombre de la esquina rosada (1962)

Argentine cinema and argentine literature at it´s best.

[10/10 · 18 July 2002]

Mr Rene Mugica, the director, always commented (with a smile in his face) that he carried this film on his back as if it were a heavy bag. In fact this film proved to be a highlight in his carrer and one of the most outstanding films in Argentine cinema. Mugica came from a family of theatre actors, and was well accomplished with the argentine novel. It is usefull to say that everytime a film-maker attempted to use a story from Jorge Luis Borges, it ussualy came to a flop. The director made a few modifications to the original story in order not to sacrifice the cinematographical rithm, but even Borges favourded the film when he saw it. Like in his fist feature (Hombre de la esquina rosada is his second one) Múgica uses infra-red film for the final in order to give it a ghostly atmosphere. It is a shame that the studio (Argentina Sono Film) who contracted him for the first time, never called him again for another film.