The countershot of the chimeric Paris-like city of Buenos Aires shows the poor disenfranchised areas around this city, inhabited by more than ten million people. This precarious urban area is the setting of a Western disguised as a social drama in which two unforgettable characters are tragically pushed to a final confrontation. Everything that happens before Nadia – a sort of female gang leader – and El Brujo – a decaying heavy-metal singer – face each other is the display of a real ethos which is almost never seen in film. Here, we can get a glimpse at some sort of domestic life, some codes of community cohabitation and some sort of justice beyond the institutions.

All the characters are great, from the musicians who are part of a 'tango-trash' band, to the members of the various gangs who inhabit this territory. The sociological precision of the tale finds its necessary correlative entity in Campusano's formal and narrative rigour, with black fades at the final scene which are evidence of this director's poetics.

Director
José Celestino Campusano
Country of production
Argentina
Year
2012
Festival Edition
IFFR 2018
Length
107'
Medium
DCP
International title
Mud
Language
Spanish
Producer
José Celestino Campusano
Production Company
Cinebruto
Sales
Compañia de cine
Screenplay
José Celestino Campusano
Cinematography
Leonardo Padín
Editor
Leonardo Padín
Sound Design
Daniel Ibarrart
Music
Claudio Miño
Cast
Oscar Génova, Nadia Batista, Claudio Miño, Olga Obregón, Paola Abraham, Eliseo Sanchez, Carlos Zaracho
Director
José Celestino Campusano
Country of production
Argentina
Year
2012
Festival Edition
IFFR 2018
Length
107'
Medium
DCP
International title
Mud
Language
Spanish
Producer
José Celestino Campusano
Production Company
Cinebruto
Sales
Compañia de cine
Screenplay
José Celestino Campusano
Cinematography
Leonardo Padín
Editor
Leonardo Padín
Sound Design
Daniel Ibarrart
Music
Claudio Miño
Cast
Oscar Génova, Nadia Batista, Claudio Miño, Olga Obregón, Paola Abraham, Eliseo Sanchez, Carlos Zaracho

Programme IFFR 2018

José Campusano

A comprehensive retrospective of the work of filmmaker José Celestino Campusano: the ultimate insider portraying the conflicts and contradictions of the working class in Argentina today.

Read more about this programme