The opening scene lasts for more than nine minutes and sets the tone for Malaventura. While it slowly, very slowly gets lighter and the slightly threatening music crawls under your skin, an old man wakes up and performs his morning ritual.
We follow him in a series of lengthy shots in one day, his last day, shuffling through the streets of Mexico City. There is a series of encounters, some grim and puzzling, some commonplace or absurdist. The old man roams through his past while everyday life slips by him.
The final credits state that Malaventura was shot in 'Chamagoscope'. It is a joke at the expense of conservative Mexican critics who tend to write off the films of the younger generation of directors - one of whom is Lipkes - as 'chamago cinema', in other words 'grimy film'. With his stately, considered images, Lipkes however demonstrates that grimy does not need to be an insult.
- Director
- Michel Lipkes
- Premiere
- International première
- Country of production
- Mexico
- Year
- 2011
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2012
- Length
- 67'
- Medium
- HDcam
- Language
- Spanish
- Producers
- Michel Lipkes, Milko Luis Coronel
- Production Company
- Axolote Cine
- Sales
- RAMONDAParis
- Screenplay
- Fernando del Razo, Michel Lipkes
- Cinematography
- Gerardo Barroso Alcalá
- Editor
- León Felipe González, Michel Lipkes
- Production Design
- Nohemi Gonzalez
- Sound Design
- Alejandro de Icaza, Jose Miguel Enriquez
- Music
- Galo Durán
- Cast
- Isaac Lopez, José Alfredo Martínez