Los actos cotidianos

The metaphysic illusion of cinema: it makes us feel each instant as an addition into a story that is being written, a secret epic tale in which common men and woman can play a part. The various segments of this film by Perrone are not additions, but consummations. Time's weight is absolute and acts die out because they are enacted and nothing more. The epicenter of this grade-zero level of existence is a poor home in Ituzaingó, and the focus is put on a family and their everyday activities: watching TV, texting on their phones, taking care of a sparrow, having mechanic conversations and barely discussing an urgent situation, eating – the actions that define these people's reality. Symmetric, meticulous shots, a concept behind the way light is shown in spaces and on almost motionless bodies that work as a set of paintings, almost completely still. However, what we find here is not quite the effect of serenity and balance tried to be achieved by still lives; and though human figure is not dispossessed of its dignity, the feeling of abandonment is as huge as an abyss. (Viennale)