"Hombre Mirando al Sudeste" is firstly quite a mesmerizing film; it seemed to take me about a third of its actual length to watch. This is doubtless owed in part to the very committed performances of Lorenzo Quinteros and Hugo Soto in the lead roles as well as to the often subtle, slightly distanced direction. Mainly, though, I think it's because the writer and director Eliseo Subiela makes the daring decision to set us a mystery (Is this patient in the mental hospital really the alien from space he believes himself to be?) and then as good as telling us that the mystery will not be solved because there can be no satisfactory solution.
This ambiguity becomes a quality of the film, as the potential-alien Rantes makes several observations about human society that raise questions - often quite big questions - rather than dictating answers. Why DON'T we give up our jackets when we meet someone colder? Why don;t many of us act to stop ourselves being unhappy? How do we determine what beliefs constitute the insane?
If one takes it on its level for the questions it wants to raise and appreciates it for its poetry it will well reward a viewing.
This ambiguity becomes a quality of the film, as the potential-alien Rantes makes several observations about human society that raise questions - often quite big questions - rather than dictating answers. Why DON'T we give up our jackets when we meet someone colder? Why don;t many of us act to stop ourselves being unhappy? How do we determine what beliefs constitute the insane?
If one takes it on its level for the questions it wants to raise and appreciates it for its poetry it will well reward a viewing.