If there’s something you don’t usually think of when you think about porn, it’s melancholy. The constant movement, the rubbing of skin against skin, exciting sounds, close-ups on areas open to sensitivity, trigger all kinds of strong emotions, but despondency or sadness is usually not part of the game. However, Porn melancholy, the composite title/neologism of Manuel Abramovich’s new feature film, does not imply any contradiction in terms. On the contrary, seeing him confirms that the practice of sex in the eyes of the world does not exclude the possibility of melancholic feelings.. After the world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where it was part of the contingent of feature films in the Official Competition, and after closing the Asterisk Festival a few days ago, the film by the director of Soldier yes Solar it receives a local theatrical release, next Thursday 15. An excellent opportunity to rediscover the universe of a filmmaker who has always mixed the waters of documentary and fiction, so much so that the boundaries between the two cinematic forms are almost indistinguishable. In his own words: “I’m interested in not defining the concepts of fiction and documentary in a binary way. Mine are non-binary films, because I like that confusion, in the good sense of the word. We tend to pigeonhole, but what interests me is that widespread, transitional, borderless terrain where we can highlight the fictions present in reality. The fictions we build about ourselves. Perhaps the scene that opens Porn melancholy they serve to illustrate that idea of cinema: a man is seen through a window at street level, taking his noisy course behind him. People, cars, conversations, screams, car horns. The gaze of Lalo Santos, the protagonist, is intense and slowly desperation and tears begin to wet his face. Is Lalo performing for Abramovich’s camera or did Abramovich manage to capture that instance of solitude in a crowd? The question doesn’t make much sense if you think about it for a bit: the documentary film is also a narrative construction, and the fictional film – at least when real actors participate in it – can only take specific elements from reality.
Lalo is Mexican and has all the bearing of the national and popular macho, with a matching moustache. He works in a factory with heavy machinery and conversations with colleagues are the classic and obvious ones. But when the rest of the workers finish their shift and leave to return to their families, Lalo pulls down his pants and underpants in the middle of the deserted factory, and begins to photograph his body, with particular emphasis on his member. , the one over there, which he will then publish on social media. Lalo is a sex influencer, or something like that. A photogenic chongo with thousands of followers. Someone who at a certain moment begins a possible career in industrial porn to return, after that experience, to the artisanal production of sexually graphic images and sounds, always for other people’s consumption. Manuel Abramovich divides the 365 days between his native Buenos Aires and Berlin, from where he answers Radar’s questions from a distance. “My life is divided between the two places and now I have a project in Spain. Porn melancholy It was filmed in Mexico, so I’m always between cities”. director of Soldier refers precisely to that 2018 film, which followed the days and nights of an aspiring military cadet during the first weeks of training in a Buenos Aires regiment, to affirm that “he had investigated this concept, that of the characters that we all we play for live in certain family, institutional or social contexts. Sometimes they are characters that we choose and many others are imposed on us. We may or may not feel comfortable within those characters. I have always been interested in the tension between the movement of ‘to be person and character. From SoldierAlso, I had been thinking about masculinity, the idea of being a man, as a certain type of character that is thrust upon us from the moment we are born. The definition of genre as a script that we are given and that we must follow. My latest films have to do with this, masculinity in crisis. This Soldierof course, where masculinity is even exacerbated by context, and then I headed to Berlin Blue boy, with prostitutes, Romanian immigrants in Germany. The interesting thing is that many of them have sex with other men, but this is not consistent with their desire, their sexual orientation. The prostitute is also a character who tries to seduce her clients, an audience.”
WHAT IS INTIMACY?
Lalo uploads his latest nude photos to Instagram, replies to some tweets, chats with fans. Between work commitments and the possibility of monetizing her image, she must find time for a medical visit: Lalo has HIV, but the disease is under control. Occasionally she leaves messages for her mother, which the viewer never sees. Suddenly, the possibility of a casting for an XXX movie. Professional, with ditto cameras and lights. And a screenplay, which aims to reconstruct the Mexican historical past, that of the revolution of the early twentieth century, through porn scenes with appropriate sets and costumes. Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata take everything that comes their way, including themselves. “I went to Mexico for business reasons,” recalls the director, before detailing the origin of the universe of his latest work. “It is a country where the concept of masculinity is very present. That’s how I came to Diablo, who is the gay porn producer and director who appears in the film. I found his work fascinating, because through porn he reflects on many issues related to Mexican national identity.. He has been in that sector for twenty years and his works, with humor and irony, always speak of national identity. Through him it began to take shape Porn melancholy”.
Does the film (porn) exist in the film or not? “I always think of a viewer as someone who asks questions, someone who is active, someone who is suspicious of what they are seeing. How was it shot, is it acted? I like that idea of the film that makes us uncomfortable, and that from that discomfort makes us question this perverse system in which we live. In any case, the film exists and, as far as I know, will have the definitive title Long live the slipper ”. Are you an escort? Lalo receives the question from a co-star, while they are assisting in the preparation of an upcoming scene. No, replies the protagonist. “Oh, because it would be nice if you worked as an escort and also did porn. As an escort you can earn in an hour what you earn in a day here, wearing dresses and fucking in front of the cameras”. For Lalo, the world of professional porn is a new world, which could offer him some keys to continue his life. Meanwhile, the living image of the Mexican man as a source of traditional masculinity is destroyed and rebuilt in the shot as a gay icon. Mustaches aren’t just for men.
filming of Porn melancholy, a film reflecting on identity and loneliness in the 21st century, was only possible on the basis of trust with all involved. “Meeting, spending time together, was fundamental. From that trust, from sharing experiences, we started imagining a possible script. Something I call a ‘hypothetical script’, which is just a guide, because then a lot of things change and a lot of improvisation happens on set. What was clear to me right from the start was the idea of discovering the protagonist’s exhibitionism as a way to generate income and be able to live off it. That the character he built, that Mexican macho prototype, could win more followers and money. Recounting that passage, from the networks to a more commercial porn – where he realizes that in a shoot of this type one suffers pressures and limitations -, to reach a third phase of emancipation, from a porn where he is his own boss. Although perhaps it is an illusion of freedom. Social media has changed everything. We are not those avatars we build online, but they are extensions of our identity. It’s a very crazy thing these days: we exist from these representations of ourselves. At the same time, we are more and more alone”. Title Porn melancholy It was Lalo’s idea, Abramovich recalls, and it came from a tweet he had written, in which he stated that, if his biography was ever written, it should be titled “Lalo Santos, history of pornomelancholy. An invented word that “perfectly defines what the film is about. And he also describes this world, especially after the pandemic. It’s like the whole system is asking us to be a little afraid of other people. We see the other as a risk, a danger”. What is intimacy? “These days, intimacy is perhaps letting those characters we live playing, knowingly or unknowingly, melt away and thus be able to reveal something of our emotions and fears. Being able to share emotions, desires”.
LALO THE REPENT
The presentation of Porn melancholy at the San Sebastian Film Festival was overshadowed by an unexpected event. A few days before the world premiere at the meeting in San Sebastian, Lalo Santos wrote a series of tweets in which he acknowledged feeling sorry for participating in the film. “I don’t agree with the conditions under which the film was shot, there were serious flaws in the design, as well as a lack of skill and sensitivity on the part of the director and production. The film recreates the story of a depressed person who does porn, which is an important period in my life. There were never any mental health specialists as part of the team and that was a big mistake.” A touchy subject, which Abramovich has no problem dealing with. to the premiere. Building the film was a creative process that lasted almost four years together and I think the story reflects this trust. It could not have been done otherwise, with other actors and a great team of people. It was important, however, to listen and try to understand what Lalo might have felt to have such a change of perspective, even after seeing the finished film and with him being satisfied.The sadness, mine and that of the rest of the participants, comes from thinking that a project like this, where the “Intimacy was so important, end up with someone regretting it. Obviously it’s valid, so the state of listening and reflection continues. What things can we do differently in a future experience? My films exist because there is trust, otherwise it would be impossible”. Before the farewell, Manuel Abramovich returns to the character/person of Lalo and to a conclusion that Porn melancholy transmit without filters: “We are all fragile people. We are all a bit Lalo Santos, because we are alone, because we are afraid. And we live in a system that asks us to hide those feelings, not show them. After all, what we all want is to be loved.
