Let me introduce you to Viola, Argentine filmmaker Matías Piñeiro’s most recent film. Viola is also one of the six female characters that Piñeiro’s fictional film eavesdrops on as they discuss intricacies of acting and love. And Viola is also a lead role in the Shakespeare comedy Twelfth Night, a play that gets cyclical readings within the film’s plot. These themes get gently stirred against the backdrop of contemporary Buenos Aires into a thoughtful and lighthearted commentary about the affairs of the heart. Viola is one of those films that feels simple and slight, but that you will immediately want to watch again for all its clever contextual elements.
Piñeiro has received a fair share of attention this year, and much of it has to do with Viola. The film was chosen earlier this year for the Lincoln Center’s annual showcase New Directors/New Films and then was included in a retrospective of Piñeiro’s films, again at the Lincoln Center, as part of Latinbeat 2013. More recently, Piñeiro was tagged by the New York Times as one of 20 Directors to Watch. Perhaps more important to this groundswell is the praise specifically for Viola. Tomas Hachard for NPR calls it “a film that takes on the vicissitudes of life and love with honest concern, but also with a shrug of the shoulders,” and Calum March for the Village Voice adds that “The world the film describes is so vividly realized that it seems to spill over the edges of the frame.” Come see for yourself!
Viola screens September 16 and 17, Monday and Tuesday at 7 and 8:30pm. Advanced tickets are available from trylon.org.