re:mote voices

Title: Suddenly (Tan De Repente)
Cast: Tatiana Saphir, Carla Crespo, Veronica Hassan, Beatriz Thibaudin, María Merlino, Marcos Ferrante, Ana María Martínez
Director: Diego Lerman

A curious contribution from the going South American cinema scene, Suddenly is a black and white film from Argentina. The start of the film provides the set up, an introduction to two sets of characters. The first is a chunky shop girl, Marcia, who sits in a struggling lingerie shop all day and does little, then heads home at night and does little. The second are two short haired girls, calling themselves Lenin and Mao, who we watch stealing and then selling a motor bike.

The day after this set up Lenin and Mao are in an arcade playing games, when Lenin spots Marcia walking down the street. She chases after Marcia, propositioning her in the street, Marcia says she is not a lesbian, and isn’t interested, Lenin insists she isn’t a lesbian either – she just wants to fuck. However Marcia‘s rebuttal isn’t taken lightly, Mao pulling out a knife. So that from here this is effectively a kidnapping.

Though it is of a peculiar kind, as they end up in a small town staying with Mao’s aunt. Here we get to know the characters, the inconsistencies of Lenin, and the family history of Mao, somewhere in between Marcia is spun around by the two and events in general.

Suddenly (Tan De Repente) is one of those films where you aren’t really sure where it is going to go, though there are parts of it you can see coming. Coming out of it I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it, but its certainly an interesting piece coming from Argentina, and the background that provides to events.