Historias Minimas (Subtitled) (DVD)

Historias Minimas (minimal stories) is a beautiful film from 2003 set in Argentinean Patagonia that has been somewhat overlooked in the face of popular Spanish language films released in the past decade.

The story follows 3 people on their separate but interweaving trips to San Julian the regional capital from their rural villages, but if that premise sounds a little overused then it isn't fair to describe the film as such. Essentially ...
...flat plains. His casting in Historias Minimas was spot on, even when he took the slight risk of using unknown and not professional actors and catches the right balance between emotiveness and flashes of understated humour-often through as little as a lip twitch or eye flicker. Everything in this film is minimal but Sorin manages to develop the characters through such little movements.

The first of the three characters on the road to ... more

Historias Minimas (minimal stories) is a beautiful film from 2003 set in Argentinean Patagonia that has been somewhat overlooked in the face of popular Spanish language films released in the past decade.

The story follows 3 people on their separate but interweaving trips to San Julian the regional capital from their rural villages, but if that premise sounds a little overused then it isn't fair to describe the film as such. Essentially this is a film about nothing and also about everything. Three people travel to San Julian for very different but basically mundane reasons; however, the concentration on the everyday ups and downs and conversations between the most ordinary of people is far more effective at illuminating humanity than most dramatic films where large and life-changing events take place. Here the little ways in which people hurt and help one another are displayed naked and without commentary.

The director, Carlos Sorin, is known for Bombon, El Perro (Bonbon, the dog) also set in Patagonia and is a master of capturing this often desolate and always remote area of the world. The shots show the vastness of the landscape and the contrasting colours of sky and land in the open and flat plains. His casting in Historias Minimas was spot on, even when he took the slight risk of using unknown and not professional actors and catches the right balance between emotiveness and flashes of understated humour-often through as little as a lip twitch or eye flicker. Everything in this film is minimal but Sorin manages to develop the characters through such little movements.

The first of the three characters on the road to San Julian is Don Justo played by Antonio Benedicti, an old and ailing man patronised by his well meaning family. Hearing someone saw his old dog in the regional capital he sets off to hitchhike there and find it. Maria Flores is a painfully shy rural housewife with a young baby played by Javiera Bravo who travels to take part in a TV competition after her name is read out on TV. Finally Javier Lombardo plays an obsessive travelling salesman bringing a cake to the child of a woman he likes in the city. Roberto is perhaps the most complex of the three characters yet for me, and I think with the director's intention, is the least likeable of the three. All of the actors do fantastic jobs of portraying their character, with the ups and downs and small dramas of their lives.

I found the simple story fascinating and intriguing. The simplicity of every element of the film is deceptive in the complexity of the issues that are touched upon. Whilst being an unashamedly un-mainstream film it remains completely unpretentious in line with the people whom the film depicts. The slow pace unravels unspectacular lives that are completely free of dramatic gestures-something that is extremely rare when every film has to have something to capture the audience. I was captured by Historias Minimas regardless. Few films can show ordinary people are they are everyday as well as this one does

My one main complaint about the film was more to do with the DVD as the subtitles were not of the best quality. The Spanish was often saying something with a different feel to that in the English which may mean a viewer could miss some of the finer details which are quite important in this film. Occasionally also the subtitles just failed to make sense although this was only a couple of times.

Overall I would highly recommend this film especially to people who have enjoyed other works by Sorin such as El Perro as it is one of the best films I have seen recently. It is admittedly a bit of an art house film and some may find the slow movement boring but the beauty and simplicity will win over many others.

Cert: 15
Runtime: 93 minutes  

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