Visions du Réel 2020 - El Father Plays Himself
Mo Scarpelli’s El Father Plays Himself is an unfiltered and profound look into a father-son relationship that gets flipped on its head. It follows the production of a feature film by Jorge Thielen Armand (director of La Soledad). The film, called La Fortaleza, is based on the life of Armand’s father, Roque. However, Armand has not seen his father in person since he was fifteen years old. This makes for a fascinating relationship between the two. As the son rewrites and directs his father, the power dynamic is switched.
Armand, by creating a film that addresses his father’s alcoholism and estrangement from him, thrusts those issues into the spotlight, as well as their relationship - and it is all captured completely raw by Scarpelli. This documentary does not play out like most. Apart from a couple of brief references to Scarpelli, the camera acts as a fly on the wall. Each scene feels like the viewer is another person watching these people interact. Every audience member is able to relate to expressions and situations, because they are similar to what everyone has experienced before. There are no character arcs; these are real people. They ebb and flow. There are no scenes dedicated to the characters’ reconciliation, nor do they end up on good terms for the rest of the film. There are snapshots of celebrations, and thrilling moments, visible in their facial expressions, followed by moments of downfall, regret, and upsetting realisations shortly afterwards.
The technical aspects of the film also add to the entire atmosphere. There is a complete lack of a score, which, however, helps amplify the realism of each scene. Dialogue-driven scenes are shot simply, as Scarpelli is, for the most part, just following these people. During moments of silence, though, Scarpelli lets her visual prowess shine with gorgeous sceneries and immaculately composed shots. The editing, specifically, stands out. Each scene feels very separate from one another, which forms the overall structure of the film. Some scenes are cut short and transition to the next, instead of having a proper ending. This is a realistic portrayal, because real-life events do not end in glamorised transitions to other moments.
El Father Plays Himself is real human interaction, masterfully captured on film. Each scene feels close and deeply personal to everyone on screen. There truly is nothing like what Scarpelli’s documentary pulled off here. The film is incredibly distinctive in its execution, and displays people through a raw lens in a beautiful way that is hard to come by.
