"The Spectactor that the Cinema Forgot" was a somewhat interesting account on a veteran cinephile who followed movies and their evolution
through nearly 60 years of life, sharing his love and admiration for classics, specially the ones from 1930's and 1940's. Our main character
is Waldemar Iglésias Fernandes, a resident from Sorocaba, countryside of São Paulo, and that's all we know besides his brief comments on the
films that conquered his heart and mind.
Joel Yamaji's film could be a quite curious experience for any film viewer out there, specially the ones here or in some other film
social media platform. We have plenty in common with Waldemar and we love to talk about movies, either by writing about them or just give
them a rating. One can't deny the years of experience the old man had, and neither question his fidelity to cinema since he consumed movies
in its unique early form going to the theatres rather than the experience we have today, from television to computers and cellphones. But the
movie faultes a lot by not telling us who he was, how the makers of the film got to him, and most of all what the title refers exactly to and
why the art of cinema forgot the man? Just because movies go through a process of evolution and you might lose some viewers because cinema
doesn't stay the same since there's always new cinematic forms of expression, technology advances and new narratives and issues to be addressed?
What you watch here doesn't allign with such title. No one was forgotten, the difference becomes what one wants to see and if that idea doesn't
match with a certain person or an audience, there's always the alternative circuit that shows old movies.
Another problem is that the film takes some time to finally reach to the main character, it just includes some strange and unexplained
fictional moments that doesn't add anything to the experience. As much as I love seeing people talking about movies and their experiences
with them, this film certainly disappointed. It's not so fascinating as it could be, just watchable. 5/10.
