Name: Puntos suspensivos o Esperando a los bárbaros
Genre: Drama
Duration: 1 h 40 min
Rating: 6.7
Cast: Roberto Villanueva, Jorge Álvarez, Marcia Moreto

Could have, should have been an avant garde contender.

Caught a 35mm screening of this rarity at NYC's Anthology Film Archives' Bridges in Argentinian CinemaRetrospective a few days ago. Disowned by its creator Edgardo Cozarinsky since '71 and not exhibited publicly until 2012 (which explains why the 35mm print was perfect and blemish-free, it hasn't been projected that much), this was the true discovery of last month's retrospective. 

Deliberately episodic and disjointed, the through line of "(...)" is a priest (Jorge Alvarez) searching for something, which turns out to be a repressed homosexual desire that may be real or a projection of his repressed sexuality. Before reaching its anticlimactic climax this nameless priest runs into a pretty girl (Marcia Moreto), a bourgeois couple (Ernesto Schoó and Niní Gómez), a crazy general (Roberto Villanueva) and the perpetual presence of the Catholic Church in everyday Argentinian life. 

The first 45 min. of "(...)" wallow in Godardian disregard for the conventions of cinema (not a surprise since Cozarinsky spent most of his adult life in Paris) and are so strong you tolerate that it runs in circles and out of gas by the end. If it had been widely released it would have been considered the start of many contemporary cinematic trends that have been adopted since. Between the crew cheering/jeering the pronouncements of an actor switching from nationalist military to capitalist businessman ("Shit, Brazil's so huge!"), the narration of a Calcutta documentary applied to footage of Buenos Aires circa 1970, a Lynchian dinner in which a crying baby doll is the main course and a Eucharism ceremony that dispenses color-coded contraceptive pills instead of bread you get the sense anti- clericalism and love of cinema ("Pausa!") are pillars of "(...)" as much as its homosexual identity politics and appreciation for the cultural movement in Argentina in the early 70's. 

Good luck finding this film, but if you do tell it I said hi and thanks for the fun Saturday afternoon I spent in a dark room with it.﻿ :-P

Spanish-language cinema across Spain and Latin America is united by its engagement with history, cultural identity, and social transformation. In Spain, films often balance artistic experimentation with popular genres while reflecting on memory, politics, and family. In Latin America, cinema has been deeply tied to questions of colonial legacy, resistance, and community resilience, ranging from intimate dramas to bold political allegories.

Ana Torrent in The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)

Puntos suspensivos o Esperando a los bárbaros

An experimental portrayal of the life of a defrocked priest, presented as a series of episodes and encounters.

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Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Puntos suspensivos o Esperando a los bárbaros

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