Trial Lectures of
Cinema, Popcorn
and
Other Causes
por Orso Sapiens
Al Tirado, in his role as editor,
on the telephone, without
more protocol, let his words
flow through my headset:
«Hello, I invite you to write a
column of art cinema (or art in
the cinema) for San Miguel Art
Magazine. «
Uncomfortable silence on both
sides, such as when you do
not know if the film is like this
or the audio to the «cácaro»
failure (go to the link, it is
worth knowing the origin of
the Mexican word). (1)
the word art fluttered in my
head, along with surnames
Illustrious as Kubrik,
Kurosawa, Buñuel, Arau,
worthy representatives of the
cinematographic arts.
But really, what is art, long
before the personal optics
of every human being? The
Dictionary defines it as the
manifestation of human
activity through which the
real is interpreted or imagined
as imagined with optical,
linguistic or sound resources.
«You talkin ‹to me?» I answer,
accent included, with one
of the most famous phrases
of cinema, immortalized by
Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver,
Martin Scorsese, 1976).
While I imagined what I could
contribute, with a career of
almost five decades as an
enjoyer, but not an expert, of
cinema, alike the commercial,
the shitty or the great masters,
Luis Buñuel
Being so, and at the risk
of ending my career as a
columnist before starting it,
would mean that both Santo
vs. The Vampire Women
(Mexican film. Alfonso Corona
Blake, 1962) and Citizen Kane
(Orson Welles, 1941), are art,
since they express real or
imagined human activity.
It is the human being who,
finally, interprets and dictates
(or for convenience, simply
accepts and assumes) what
is good or bad art and with
that right and, in some cases,
feeling bound by some divine
designation, applauds or
whistle one movie or another.
So then, while our interlocutor
speaks of histrionic
magnificence and what the
director really expressed
when he flew a fly, from
left to right at a 32º angle in