Horacio Camandule

I don't know if Adrian Biniez ever wrote a song about a stalker when he was with the Argentinean band Reverb, but that's how Biniez's first feature-length film project, "Gigante," turned out: like a catchy three-minute pop ballad, expanded artfully into an 84-minute ode to the fine line separating the shy-but-girlfriend-worthy loner from the genuine sociopath.

Biniez now lives and works in Montevideo, Uruguay, the setting of this insinuating dark comedy. Jara, a large, quiet soul played by Horacio Camandule, works as a night security guard at a supermarket. Julia, a sweetly accident-prone cleaning woman (from "the country," we're told), played by Leonor Svarcas, catches his eye. For much of the film we see this fellow employee through Jara's eyes, or rather, through his eyes as he surveys her actions caught on one of the many surveillance cameras operating in the store day and night.

There is talk of labor unrest at the store, and we gather a hint or two of Jara's outside life, but Biniez's film rarely strays from its protagonist's perspective. He is a gentle man whom Fate could lead in any number of directions without much resistance. But compelled by this woman he does not know except from a distance, Jara puts a sort of plan into a sort of action. He tracks her movements outside working hours, as Julia visits a cinema, does her shopping, meets a blind date for dinner.

As with the recent American indie "Big Fan," we are meant to see this man as nobly twisted in his obsession. And as with the recent Chilean comedy "The Maid," "Gigante" is a sharply acted piece that presents to the audience several forks in the road by which the main character could choose either to escalate matters, or not. While you may not entirely buy where the story lands, Biniez and his cinematographer, Arauco Hernandez, bring a serene confidence to their framing and lighting so that Jara's life (he's also a bouncer at a local metal club) is seen as a carefully patterned series of tableaux and rituals. Once Julia hits his radar, Jara's natural inclinations toward voyeurism are put to work in ways beyond the boundaries of his job.

"Gigante" won a New Directors Competition award at this year's Chicago International Film Festival. Well deserved. Camandule is very fine; in a more limited role, so is Svarcas. And while it may be an apples-and-oranges comparison, "Gigante" represents the sort of artful low-budget accomplishment that could, and should, be coming out of distressingly stingy Chicago once a year -- whatever the subject, whatever the sensibility.

 

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"Gigante" Movie Trailer

 

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No MPAA rating (some violence and language).

Running time: 1:24.

Cast: Horacio Camandule (Jara); Leonor Svarcas (Julia); Fernando Alonso (Julio); Diego Artucio (Omar).

Credits: Written and directed by Adrian Biniez; produced by Agustina Chiarino. A Filmmovement release. In Spanish with English subtitles. Plays Fri.-Thu. at Facets Cinematheque, 1517 N. Fullerton Ave.; facets.org/cinematheque; 773-281-4114.

 

Jara is a shy and lonely 35 year-old man who works as a supermarket security guard in a suburb of Montevideo.

Its his job to keep an eye on the security cameras installed throughout the building, but he doesnt have a great deal to do because he works the graveyard shift when the store is like a ghost town.

And so his life continues—until one day Jara discovers Julia, a 25-year-old cleaning woman, through one of the cameras and is immediately attracted to her. At first he spends hour after hour in front of the security monitors watching her, but, before long, he begins to follow her after work: to the cinema, the beach and even on a date with another man.

Jaras life becomes a series of routines and rituals around Julia, but eventually he finds himself at a crossroad and must decide whether to give up his obsession or confront it.