Synopsis
Buenos Aires, Argentina. A failed reporter teams up with a Hungarian immigrant to set up a fake correspondence journalism school.
The Bitter Stems
1956 ‘Los tallos amargos’ Directed by Fernando Ayala
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Finally restored and available for the first time with English subs (thanks to the Film Noir Foundation, among others), The Bitter Stems is a dark, dark Argentine noir, infused with postwar anxiety and uncertainty.
Starring Carlos Cores as Alfredo Gasper, a 32-year-old journalist who feels his life is going nowhere, the film explores Gasper's sudden friendship and collaboration with Hungarian immigrant Paar Liudas (dancer and painter Vassili Lambrinos). The charming Liudas draws Gasper into journalism correspondence school scheme, insisting that people want to emulate journalists, who they see as mystical and powerful figures. This characterization burnishes Gasper's tarnished ego, and his commitment to the "school" takes on a missionary quality when he finds out that the reason his Liudas needs…
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If this had hit America in 1956 everyone would have seen this in film class. A delight- ludicrously overstylized, hysterically cruel, and most importantly, always a step or two ahead of its audience. I can't say as I get got often, but this has more than a few spectacular rug pulls (and a killer dream sequence, and multiple layers of narration). It's everything I want out of a noir and more!
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Vista en el cine auditorio del Malba, ciclo de los ocho, copia en fílmico de 35mm.
Un Noir tan argentino como el dulce de leche pero tan bien narrado como los más grandes directores americanos. Es simplemente deslumbrante, un film digno de estudiarse plano por plano; una avasallante presentación de recursos cinematográficos. La terminé con la boca abierta, estar en la sala de cine presenciando una película tan enorme como esta es algo totalmente inolvidable.Si fuese estadounidense esta peli se daría en todas las facultades de cine. Rewatch obligatiorio.
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Que lindo estar viendo un noir con todas las letras, que el prota se tome un tren y aparezca un cartel enorme que dice ITUZAINGO
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Perfect noir: A feeble hero whose failings lead him into darkness, beautiful dreamy visuals reminiscent of Edgar G. Ulmer, and a twisty plot that you're just far enough in front of. Bravo to The Noir Foundation and Flicker Alley for saving it from the depths of history.
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Fernando Ayala sows noir nihilism with Poe trappings and reaps a gorgeously-shot Argentinian crime quagmire that earns a place among the greats. The Bitter Stems unfolds as a suffocating narrative spiral: expressionistic dream imagery, couched in interspersed flashbacks, all contextualizing a train ride towards dark fates and psychological scars.
An existentially-dissatisfied reporter and an enigmatic expat collaborate on a mail-order journalism-school scam; not your usual plot, and not your usual noir either, avoiding many familiar elements yet being unmistakably part of the genre. Seeds of doubt soon sprout harrowing schemes, paranoid guilt, and a perfectly bitter end. A film drenched in shadowy style, crushed by compounding bleakness and delicious ironies, deftly plotted to always be a step ahead of its unraveling protagonist and the audience. A real unsung gem from intriguing opening to pitch-black finale.
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Fantastic post-Peronist Argentine noir about a journalist whose restlessness leads him into swindling and murder, complete with a surreal dream sequence that plays like an undiscovered Buñuel outtake crossed with Poe. Beautifully shot, with exceptionally strong use of lighting, framing and voiceover to indicate the characters' mental states. (As Eddie Muller mentioned in his TCM intro, cinematographer Ricardo Younis spent time in Hollywood working with and learning from
Gregg Toland, and it really shows.) Carlos Cores has a Zachary Scott-ish vibe that's just right for this kind of thing. And as an erstwhile J-school undergrad, it makes me somewhat wistful to imagine that there was once a time when running a shady journalism correspondence school seemed like a solid financial con to build a noir plot around! -
Desde el inicio se advierte la esencia del cine negro: la ciudad viva, el inexorable misterio, el personaje atormentado que mediante "flashbacks" nos cuenta sus cuitas y el abismo de la existencia. Un ejercicio de estilo muy pulcro, con una fotografía excelente (considerada por la revista "American Cinematographer" entre las cien mejores de la historia) que nos lleva con sus juegos de sombras a presenciar la narrativa de una forma un tanto diferente. Escenas bien logradas que se desenvuelven al ritmo de un guion inteligente, la historia nunca decae; al contrario, crece. Una gran película que yo situaría junto con "Rosaura a las diez" (1958) como las mejores cintas argentinas en cuanto a cine negro de esa época. Cine a…
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An exploration of insecurity and the obsession with man’s obsession with feeling “important” all wrapped up in a deliciously twisty, perfectly shot noir that did a great job at keeping me on my toes. Love a noir protagonist that’s just fucking pathetic and digs themselves into a bigger hole (and for a reporter, this guy really has a knack for jumping the gun lol). Loved the title drop, plus the final act is so cruel that I had to laugh. Great, great stuff.
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Pero mirá lo que esto!!! Nada que envidiarle a los mejores noir de Hollywood. Qué grande que era el cine argentino.
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I love movies with messy flashback structures, and this has them in spades, drifting off into half-remembrances, narrations-within-narrations, and dreams-within-flashbacks throughout the first two acts. I knew nothing about this going in, so I was surprised by just how bleakly cynical this is, with a trope-subverting ending that's as dark as it is queasily funny.