In a long, static medium-long shot an old couple (kept at such a distance that we barely make out their faces) set up a hammock between two trees in the centre of the frame and half-bicker half-chat: about their absent son, a barking dog, and the imminent rain; with occasional inserts of the louring rainclouds above breaking up this sequence into a series of still-long, static shots.
Director Paz Encina maintains this rigorous, retrained and distanced aesthetic throughout Paraguayan Hammock’s 78 minutes. Conversations that fill in the story – the son’s separate farewell to each parent on being conscripted into the army, a soldier bringing the news of their son’s death – are played as a soundtrack against the separate, static shots of simple actions (the father working in a field, the mother washing clothes or tending a fire).
There’s a satisfaction to the consistency at play here, how each usually lengthy shot follows the other at a steady pace, how in the long final shot the light darkens as night falls and the old couple take down their hammock, and then as the screen dissolves to black we hear the patter of the long-discussed, long-delayed rain. But I’d also have to say that, to be honest, I’m not sure that the film’s modest rewards quite justify the considerable demands it places on an audience.
by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
18 Nov 2006 11:27 AM | Submit Comment
