Cria Cuervos

The title of Carlos Saura’s film translates as “Raise Ravens,” with the rest of the Spanish proverb implied: “…and they will peck out your eyes.” This portrays as death-haunted a world of childhood as Pan’s Labyrinth, and stars Ana Torrent, the grave but beautiful little girl who made such an impact in The Spririt of the Beehive. The girl’s mother, played by Geraldine Chaplin, remains a matter of fact presence in her life, even after we’ve witnessed her painful death from cancer. Chaplin also plays Ana as a grown up, in direct to the camera reminiscence. The mother’s death opens a whole world of mortality to the young girl, much of which she takes responsibility for, either the real heart attack of her father, one of Franco’s generals, or for the fantasized death and resurrection of her sisters. The film offers a lovely group portrait of the three girls, however dark the shadows in their house. Ana Torrent’s big brown eyes and bewitching gaze make this film memorable, and it’s surprising that the rest of her career is mostly unknown, unless she grew up to be Penelope Cruz. (1975, dvd) *7+* (Criterion page)

Beautiful Losers is a documentary I’d never heard of, till Netflix’s collaborative filtering pointed it out as something I might like. And I did. This was as well-done and ingratiating a piece of egregious self-promotion as I have seen. It tied into a traveling group exhibition of the same name, and it’s no surprise to learn that both film and show were put together by on-screen presence Aaron Rose, proprietor of the Alleged gallery where all the artists were affiliated. An aesthetic derived from skateboarding, graffiti, and punk linked them together but certainly put them at a distance from me (the only one I’d heard of was Shepard Fairey, and only because of that Obama poster). Nonetheless I became engaged with the group on their climb from losers to beautiful people, as their art went from intimate to corporate. Rather than begrudge their commercial sell-out, I am inclined to celebrate the power of collective effort for artists. (2008, dvd, MRQE)