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This review was originally published on May 25, 2023 out of the Cannes Film Festival.
We are recirculating it now timed toClose Your Eyess theatrical release.
Before this years Cannes, the Spanish director Victor Erice had made only three features in a 50-plus-year career.
The director was not present, however, for the Tuesday premiere of his film at the festival.
Two days ago, Erice published an op-ed in the Spanish paperEl Paisexplaining his absence.
Turns out, he was just pissed.
To be clear, Erice wasnt annoyed because he wasnt in competition.
These other venues all effectively got screwed over by Canness inability to communicate properly with the filmmaker.
The good news is that one day all this nonsense will be forgotten butClose Your Eyeswill remain.
It opens with tantalizing images from what turns out to be an abandoned project calledThe Farewell Gaze.
The director, Miguel Garay (Manolo Solo), never shot another roll of film.
The film proceeds in stylistically distinct movements.
There is a sense throughoutClose Your Eyesthat everything Miguel knows is being taken away from him.
Close Your Eyessoon settles into a very deliberate, matter-of-fact cadence, at first built around two-person dialogue scenes.
(I definitely heard some gripes.)
You feel his frustration and regret in every frame, but you also sense a sort of acceptance.
Is that an aspirational thought or a desperate one?
Or is it simply the ability to be happy and present?
Everybodys name seems to undergo multiple changes in this movie.
Whats in a name?
Why does who we are even matter in the grand scheme of things?
Miguel needs Julios memory more than Julio needs his own.
Its in others gazes that we know ourselves.
Thats something a filmmaker understands.
And its something that a filmmaker who hasnt been able to make a filmreallyunderstands.
