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| Flamenco
Year: 1997
Classification: Foreign Film - Spanish/Misc Sa
Directed:
- Carlos Saura
Genial direction and cinematography; excellent flamenco.
C. Saura captivates the existential essence of flamenco in this elegant film, which is a chronology of the hours starting at sunset and ending at dawn; where each episodes is told within a flamenco capsule. This film is not a documentary, nor is it the live footage of a flamenco troop's performance, rather it contains a series of complete pieces, each of which are perfect. The film contains three soleares, three bulerias, two tangos, one seguiriya, one fandango, and a handful of other styles. This film is the wisdom of Saura, showing again, that films are not meant to be uni-dimensional accounts of a curious story, or an obvious documentary. The film is from the heart full of the love and sincerity of those who participated in it, containing the most intimate and dignified performances of each of the living geniuses of the Flamenco industry. Each artist freely reaches and evokes their most cherished aesthetics. This is very important because flamenco is just about that, not about fooling the audience. The distractions of the common footage are removed as Storraro (the cameraman) gives himself up, flying around the performers seizing the impossible: moving to the compas of the performers, showing all the angles of the true flamenco expression.
All the power, passion and artistry of contemporary flamenco
This is THE flamenco film. Carlos Saura, famous for his work with the great Antonio Gades ("Blood Wedding," "Carmen" and "El Amor Brujo") and for his portrait of Andalusian folklore in "Sevillanas," creates one of the best flamenco films ever made.
The focus in this work is on the performers and their performances. Sets are minimal and there is no "story" except that generated by the lyrics of the flamenco songs themselves. The director is careful to capture not only the larger aspects of the performances but also to zero in on the emotional engagement of the performers with their art . Flamenco is as much about the performer's struggles with the art and the emotions that underpin it as it is about a stage presentation. This is an intimate film despite the fact that it was shot in a train station. The sets, lighting and camera work continually direct your focus to that intimate space created by the performers.
The conceit of the film is a journey not only through flamenco's different styles as embodied by some of the art's greatest contemporary performers, but also a journey into the night. Not only is the night evoked through lighting effects, but the deep inner recesses of the soul are suggested as well, that inner wellspring from which flamenco itself arises.
This is the most profound exploration of flamenco ever captured on film. To understand flamenco, there is no better place to start than with Carlos Saura's masterpiece, "Flamenco."
Not what I thought...
I have listened to flamenco music all my life..I was born in Spain, and I'm telling you that this tape is not the true flamenco you would find on the streets of sevilla, or anywhere else in the south. ALso did not have enough dancing, which is the main atraction of the flamenco music.
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