José Directed by Li Cheng
José
Directed by Li Cheng
Starring: Enrique Salanic, Manolo Herrera, Ana Cecilia Mota, Esteban Lopez Ramirez, Cesar Lorenzo, Yojcom Candido, Juan Andres Molina Cardona, Alba Irene Lemus, Carlos Humberto Fuentes Maldonado, Jennifer Cecilia Amoia Mota, Evelyn Celinda Bautista Torres, Jashua Belvino Argueta Mejia , Valeria Maribel Xutuc Reyes, Mytian Ticas, Rony Andres Saavedra
Year: 2018
Country: Guatemala, USA
Author Review: Roberto Matteucci
Click Here for Italian Version
"I do not know what I want."
Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America, poverty is high and the first victims are the children.
GDP per capita is eight thousand US dollars, ranking 153th in the world. Half of the inhabitants are under nineteen years (1)
The level of crime is excessive; life is difficult, the population survives by tricks including violent ones:
“Violent crime and homicides continue to plague Guatemala. In 2017, the PNC reported approximately 4,400 homicides, 5,200 aggravated assaults, and over 2,900 missing persons. … Guatemala remains consistently ranked by commercial security sources as one of the top 10-25 most dangerous countries in the world.” (2)
Poverty, delinquency, unstable young people and hopeless are the characteristics described by the Chinese director - with residence in the USA - Li Cheng in the film José, presented at the 75th Venice Film Festival.
In 2015 Desde allá - From Afar by Lorenzo Vigas won the Golden Lion. It had similar peculiarities, a homosexual story in a complicated, dramatic reality, as is Caracas in our days.
Li Cheng changes the setting, moves to Guatemala but there is always an impossible gay love story. Young homosexuals faced the problem of sexuality in a machismo society with the aggravating of a disproportionate economic crisis.
The author wants to describe a universal tale. The choice of Guatemala was not instinctive but is the result of a selection among many cities:
“Investigamos en México, Brasil, Argentina, Uruguay, Perú, Ecuador, El Salvador, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, 12 países y en alrededor de 20 de las ciudades más pobladas. Centroamérica nos impactó más, por lo que se convirtió en el lugar prioritario. En realidad, Guatemala fue la última estación; supe de inmediato que quería hacer una película allí.” (3)
In fact, the events are not exclusive to Guatemala City. The human relationship of the protagonists could be common to many complex and adverse countries. The author's narrative is for a multipurpose worldwide audience, valid for everyone. The exclusion, among the selected capitals, of Caracas, the city of Desde allá is significant.
The director confirmed the global choise:
“Fui en busca de una historia urbana: en el mundo las ciudades están creciendo rápido y es en éllas donde se están innovando y negociando la mayor parte de las relaciones humanas, mientras que en las áreas rurales éstas permanecen más fijas. ¿Hay una audiencia creciente? No lo sé, pero espero que sí ... Tengo más historias en mente que recurren a este estilo.” (3)
Despite the effort, universality is not the primary though. The author prefers the urban dimension, the suburb, the slum. At the beginning there is a long shot, it is dark in the outskirts of Guatemala City. They are shacks, built one above the other in precarious conditions, with few lights. The camera goes into a poor but dignified house. José and his mother live there. Their existence is bad, she wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the market to sell things of little value.
This is the urban space of Li Cheng, night scenes to accentuate the misery and energy to fight for some money.
The bond between mother and son is the most evident, the most ardent, the most intricate, and, on this concept the director is right, their relationship is universal.
José is a waiter, should be a tiring but quiet job but in Guatemala City turns into a dangerous Russian roulette. Being a waiter in a Guatemalan fast food means suddenly throwing himself in front of quick cars or running to their side to persuade the driver to eat in the restaurant.
He has small salary but - while eating at home - he gives all to his mother, who, standing up, taking money and leaves some coins to his son, advising him not to spend it in cigarettes.
The framing is symptomatic of the Freudian relationship between the two.
In the following the mother will feed their tie, built on the sense of guilt.
José transfers the feeling with her on his homosexual instincts.
He's always busy with his mobile, looking for Wi-Fi connection. He uses the phone to find ephemeral and fast sexual flirts, an "urban" attitude. José does not want a engagement, he contrasts it. Human beings can not hinder the future. So, he meets Luis and, unintentionally, they fall in love. Li Cheng works on their conflicting feelings. The most obvious: the passion is unleashed in a dirty and gloomy love hotel, full of noise and moans. The change of pace happens when the maid in the corridor shouts the many customers that the time available is ending. José, in other times, would have fled, but now he buys another hour to be with his man. In the hotel room, they form their own nest, make sex, talk amiably. The director designs the sequence as a theatrical staging. Dialogue is melodramatic, they speak, there is a pause and the answer is slow, firm, suspended. A forced but emblematic structure, the elegance of the scene is in the collision with the squalor of the environment and with their clandestine meeting.
They break up always in the room: Luis tries to convince José to leave Guatemala, to depart together, to live openly their love story, to fight for a future. Luis is a constructor, he is ready to build, metaphorically, a house for both: "Anywhere but not in Guatemala."
José has a negative reaction, he does not want to leave, especially he does not want to abandon his mother.
She is always present, she understands and she is scared of the emotion between the two boys. She follows them. Her reaction is to pray God: "Señor cuidalo."
The loves would not have an intense feeling, without the solid and clinging background of Guatemala City. It is present in various aspects.
There is the religious one, a very aggressive and dominant Guatemalan Christianity. In the bus, there are commuters and a fervent religious preacher recalls Christian duties. He shouts: "God loves sinners" reminding their fate.
The documentary leanings. Guatemala City is a neutral stage. The author, when José works in the street, places the camera on a corner in the roof of the building opposite. The shooting from the top with a fixed camera, is a very wide shot, a documentary sequence: the fast traffic, the noise of the streets, José, the other restaurant employees, the customers, passers-by appear to be people with no future.
An engaged couple works in the same place. They break up abruptly. The girl is pregnant and the boyfriend has escaped, he does not want unhappy paternity. The girlfriend is alone and confided to José what happened. He hugs her, the girl accepts his strong embrace: they are two losers. Li Cheng shoots them with skill, straight to their eyes; a static, allegorical framing: there is no hope for young people in Guatemala City.
Guatemala City is not just desperation and difficulties. It is also a beautiful place, with lush vegetation, lots of nature and sensitivity.
There are two episodes of empathy with the city. Li Cheng realizes them at the beginning of the passion between José and Luis, at the height of intensity. These are two moments of happiness and joy, different from the sad furtive meetings in the dreadful hotel.
The first is a trip to a motorbike in the countryside, the boys exchange effusions and kindness. It is an adventure of a day, a few hours of joy, of calm, in a wonderful environment, with soft music.
Then there is the colourful, lively Guatemala City. They watch the sparkling fireworks and a Christian procession, many faithful men carry on their shoulders a fascinating statue of the Virgin Mary.
The Freudian vision of Li Cheng is the characterization of José in an Oedipus. He did not kill his father, but he had the power to make him disappear. In fact, the parent is missing, but José and his mother do not need him, together they are already a complete couple. Besides, also Luis is out; José has the sentimental temptation to choose him, but his maturity does not belong to him.
He does not discard his mother, therefore, she is happy, she is the favourite even compared to a handsome man.
How could José mould his own personality? Li Cheng wonders too: maybe the earthquake? In an unlucky country, even the earthquake is implacable, it affects the poor barrio, the miserable house. But the earthquake is superior will. It is a fate as the desperate young robbers, who attack José's mother in the evening while returning home with little money after a day of hard work; they too are victims of an incomprehensible world.
To find again wishes, José must go back to the origins, to the birth of Guatemala, to the Mayan culture. Visit their pyramids in the Guatemalan countryside, contemplate them, look at them and go back home riding a motorbike. Perhaps José is ready for another trip.
The director is careful to the shots, both in the private scenes, and the total ones; he chooses shooting and zooming from behind. He narrates an story talking at the same time about important principles such as homophobia. Mothers and conservative families refuse their child's homosexuality or even oppose it, as Luis tells José. It is a strong and theatrical scene in which he confesses that his brothers beat him because they had discovered him with a man.
In these descriptions, Li Cheng is good, attentive, capable, able to understand the characters and the obsession of Guatemala City. The thesis is dogmatic, psychological in maternal relationships. The structure has omissions, editing with some voids while the language is better understood.
We hope for the success of the film, with international distribution and high income. It is not possible to be insensitive to the extreme love of Li Cheng for the cinema:
“Después de preparar la investigación y la historia, sentí que teníamos una propuesta sólida, así que vendí mi apartamento en EE.UU. a fin de tener el dinero.” (3)
He sold his flat in the United States to pay for the production of the film. We must pray for his profit, we do not want a new homeless. Good luck.