{"id":9438,"date":"2010-06-30T09:06:54","date_gmt":"2010-06-30T17:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/?p=9438"},"modified":"2010-06-30T09:27:56","modified_gmt":"2010-06-30T17:27:56","slug":"the-peddler-eduardo-de-la-serna-lucas-marcheggiano-adriana-yurchvitch-2010-argentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/?p=9438","title":{"rendered":"The Peddler (Eduardo de la Serna, Lucas Marcheggiano, Adriana Yurchvitch, 2010): Argentina"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by\u00a0Richard Feilden<\/a>. Viewed at the Regal Cinemas, Los Angeles Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Daniel Burmeister likes his cinema social, but he\u2019s doing a lot more than just whine about people abandoning theaters for their TVs, laptops and cell phones.\u00a0 In their documentary The Peddler (El Ambulante)<\/a>,<\/em> Eduardo de la Serna, Lucas Marcheggiano and Adriana Yurchvitch tell the story of a man who has made it his mission to take film back to the people.<\/p>\n

Burmeister has taken cinema out on the open road and into the lives of small towns and villages in Argentina.\u00a0 Nothing too odd there, except that he isn\u2019t just showing films on a sheet taped to the wall of a tiny church, he\u2019s making them as he goes.\u00a0 With a camera in his hand and a hole in his car radiator, he asks only for food and lodging, and in exchange he turns the locals into movie stars.\u00a0 On a budget of whatever he can scrounge (who needs a dolly and tracks when you can be dragged across the floor on a tarpaulin?), and pulling from his grab-bag of half a dozen scripts, he finds a role for everyone who wants to take part, and a solution to every problem that he encounters.\u00a0 From girlfriends who won\u2019t let their significant other \u2018marry\u2019 another woman in a wedding scene, to losing his leading man for the afternoon when he is called upon to use his taxi as a hearse, no hurdle is insurmountable for this film-making titan.<\/p>\n

What we get then is a \u2018behind the scenes\u2019 view of Burmeister\u2019s method.\u00a0 From his inclusive casting session, to the premiere of his latest work, the film covers the process from start to finish.\u00a0 It is at its best when the crew captures the action live and unfiltered.\u00a0 These scenes, which are in the majority, are filled with Burmeister\u2019s infectious passion, and the direct cinema style \u2013 those being filmed are more concerned with their performance for Burmesiter\u2019s camera than that of the documentarians \u2013 allows this to shine through.\u00a0 However, a few scenes at the start have obviously been recreated for the film. These scenes, ironically those in which the mayor\u2019s office agrees to support his work, are so stilted and awkward that they threaten to kill the film before it gets off the ground.\u00a0 Stick with it though, things quickly improve.<\/p>\n

What quickly becomes clear is the impact that Burmeister has on those that he drags into his endeavor. This is the true power of Burmeister\u2019s work.\u00a0 As one astute villager notes, Burmeister brings people together.\u00a0 Near strangers become co-stars and suddenly everyone is talking to everyone about the film.\u00a0 A collective memory is formed, its touchstone immortalized on the DVDs he sells to keep his equipment and car running.\u00a0 Nothing like this has happened before to these people (lets be honest, outside of the sixty or so villages that Burmeister has worked with, to any people), and it never will again.<\/p>\n

And so our audience was brought together as we watched this small documentary about even smaller films, sharing laughter, cheers, and perhaps even a little jealousy.\u00a0 None of us may ever have the chance to take part in one of Burmeister\u2019s works, but if you\u2019re lucky you might have a chance to see his story.\u00a0 Do yourself a favor though \u2013 watch it with as many friends, old and new, as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by\u00a0Richard Feilden. Viewed at the Regal Cinemas, Los Angeles Film Festival. Daniel Burmeister likes his cinema social, but he\u2019s doing a lot more than just whine about people abandoning theaters for their TVs, laptops and cell phones.\u00a0 In their documentary The Peddler (El Ambulante), Eduardo de la Serna, Lucas Marcheggiano and Adriana Yurchvitch tell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,3,144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-documentary","category-films","category-los-angeles-film-festival-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g9r.3b8.myftpupload.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}