I was looking for a recent film to watch and found this release by MUBI on its streaming service. It is introduced on the MUBI platform like this: “The beloved José González ponders the paradoxes of being human in this profound yet playful film . . .”. I didn’t take as much notice of this statement as I should. The description is accurate to some extent, except I wasn’t quite sure why José was ‘beloved’. I was reduced to a little research after the screening to find out who he was. The film isn’t for me, but I’ll try to be objective and helpful in introducing it to those of you who might enjoy it. The film is described as a ‘documentary biopic’. I presume it is a documentary following the idea of the ‘creative treatment of reality’. It isn’t a biopic but more a vehicle for the subject of the film, José González, to present his own story – or at least how he feels about himself now and why he does what he does. The presentation of this story is in the creative hands of Mikel Cee Karlsson who is credited as writer-director and editor of the film which is made by his company. Karlsson is also the editor of Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness (Sweden 2022), the 2022 Cannes Palme d’or winner.
José González introduces himself as having suffered from psychosis and having subsequently determined that he will not do so again. He then sets out to explain how he has recovered and how his attempts to change his lifestyle are designed to prevent further mental illness. He lives in a beautiful house by the edge of the sea with his wife Hannele Fernström and infant daughter. He spends his days reading a variety of non-fiction books, making smoothies, running, walking and swimming and playing his guitar. He explains that he was once studying for a PhD in bio-chemistry but decided to leave and focus on his musical career. There is music throughout the film. I learned later that his parents left Argentina worried that they would be arrested for their political activism in 1976 at the start of Argentina’s ‘Dirty War’. They found asylum at the Swedish embassy in Brazil and then moved to Göteborg where José was born in 1978. Both of his parents were students. His music, played on an acoustic guitar, is a form of ‘soft’ folk-rock, clearly influenced by Latin-American styles. It’s quite pleasant but I didn’t find the melodies or the lyrics to be particularly distinctive. He seems to write mainly in English and only occasionally in Swedish. He also plays in a band. González has built a music career that has an international dimension and he has performed on TV in the UK and the US and Canada and he has collaborated with musicians in different countries. He appears to have released acoustic cover versions of well-known songs by other performers.
The film doesn’t have a narrative as such and the only real narrative development is Hannele’s pregnancy. The viewer is offered the music and the lifestyle. The ‘creative treatment’ is evident in two ways. First there are occasions when we get to see the friends and neighbours in this rural community and on occasions there are comic moments which struck me as almost Roy Andersson-like (but not as funny). One of these is quite alarming in the context of so many bland pleasantries. The second example of the writer-director’s creativity concerns the addition of what seem to me almost like tiny digital insects represented by groups of white pixels. They swarm over the screen or, like warrior ants, march down footpaths or up walls. In a similar way, some of the birds circling overhead seem to be manipulated digitally to create patterns in the sky. I know that some birds do this naturally as in the murmurations of starlings but the birds in this film do something slightly different.
There is a short piece on the film written by Leslie Felperin for the Guardian here. I agree with her conclusion that this film is:
. . . all quite lovely to look at or even just listened to, making for something that can easily be experienced at home while the viewer is knitting or chopping vegetables.
It’s also something that feels like a series of possible music videos interspersed between moments of philosophising. In fact, the Official website for the film turns out to be a promo for a Live Event which is touring cities in Europe and North America and is presented by González and Mikel Cee Karlsson. The event lasts 2 hours 30 mins which includes a screening of the 75 minute film. Here is the promo trailer and if this is the kind of thing you like, you can book tickets: https://www.atigerinparadise.com/ Here is the MUBI trailer:
itp Global Film 