Description
Book SynopsisThe cinema of Lucrecia Martel is a comprehensive analysis of the work of the acclaimed Argentine director, whose elusive and elliptical features have garnered worldwide recognition since her 2001 debut La ciénaga. Examining these films alongside lesser-known shorts, the book situates Martel''s work in relation to trends in recent Argentine filmmaking, as well as international art and horror cinema.Through discussions of the interventions made by Martel''s films in matters of class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and Argentine history and politics, the book makes a case for her cinema as deeply political, showing how its creation of uncertainty and doubt allows for glimpses of alternative realities. In this reading, the films can be seen as sites of radical optimism and potentiality, offering new kinds of cinematic pleasure, and as parodic and camp in their treatment of cinematic codes, especially those relating to femininity. This is linked to a broader queer sensibility, which informs
Trade Review'This is a most insightful book, welcomingly short and easy to read. That does not mean it fails to engage critically with such complex theorists as Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida and Laura U. Marks.'
Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies
'The Cinema of Lucrecia Martel is a thoroughly researched and well-written study of one of the most innovative contemporary film-makers. Martin uses film theory, film criticism, interviews, and archival material to develop a detailed and insightful reading of Martel’s oeuvre.'
Modern Language Review
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Table of ContentsIntroduction
1 La ciénaga: distanciation and embodiment
2 La niña santa: horror, ambivalence, femininity
3 La mujer sin cabeza: haunting and community
4 Liquid worlds and aquatic life: the short films (2010-11)
Conclusion: cinematic pleasures
Index
