Fourteen-year old Tomás struggles to find his place in the world. A loner and an outsider, he is bullied by the local boys and pressurized by his over-protective mother to study for his geography exam so that he does not have to repeat the year at school. But Tomás’ attention is not on terrestrial maps but the heavens, as his obsession to travel to the moon takes over his world. His emotionally absent father is no help, his little brother dotes on him and his rebellious teenage sister is permanently at loggerheads with his food-obsessed mother (a superb Leticia Bredice), who, in turn, spends her time eating and arranging separately-labelled food boxes for all the family in the fridge. That said, only when she is not chasing Tomás to take the antidepressants prescribed by his equally unhelpful psychiatrist, (Luis machín). Fortunately, Tomás’ telescope with which he gazes at the moon, also catches his pretty neighbour, Iris, in its sights and she becomes the only link to reality in his self- absorbed fantasy world. A reality that he has always unconsciously, tried to obscure.
As an adolescent, Joaquin Cambre was also obsessive in his own way, but with ‘film’, in particular with directors like George Méliès’, whose wonderful film: “A trip to the Moon” (1902), opened his mind to the world of moving images like no other.
A Trip to the Moon (1902) By Georges Méliès.( 12: 52min)
“My passion for film began at the age of 12 or 13, largely thanks to my father who would take me to see good productions, like the Marx Brothers. He didn’t want to take me to infantile productions, so we went to see the classics. At that age, I already began to film shorts of my own with a simple camera and I was hooked. I was 14 when I asked my father for a video camera and I started filming shorts, mostly animation, using plasticine. At that time, I didn’t think about working with people who could act. When I was 19, I began to study film at the INCAA ( Argentine National Film Institute) but I never completed the course as I got involved in filming for Fashion and the world of images. It was more commercial and I dedicated 4 years to that. When I was 23, I decided to start making music videos and video clips. It was a quick and effective way to create films while at the same time giving me the opportunity to experiment. Being shorts, taking only a few months, these videos gave me some exposure and the chance to create films that would be screened and seen by a large audience.”
Cambre’s video clip “Proposed Indecent” became the most seen in the history of YouTube in Argentina while he also became the go-to director of music videos in Latin America, which led to his working with numerous famous artists, including Julieta Venegas, Maná, Arjona, Fito Paez, Tan Biónica, Calle 13, Romeo Santos to mention a few: -
“My very first video was with a band called MIRANDA. The tune was a hit and my video became very well-known, so that immediately I found work with other artists like Gustavo Cerati [and his band Soda Stereo, one of the most popular groups of the 80s and 90s]. From then on, I’ve had a busy 15-year career creating many music videos. It’s been the best school I could have attended.”
Neverthless, Cambre always wanted to get to grips with a full -length feature, but he had to make sure that he had something to say: -
“The truth is, like all directors in the world, I dreamed of making my own feature film. But I felt I had nothing to tell, not in terms of a story, but of what could really motivate me. I’ve been given hundreds of scripts, but nothing that came from within me. With A TRIP TO THE MOON, I finally could find the ‘why’, although at first, I wasn’t sure I knew exactly why I wanted to make this film, except that I really wanted to tell this particular story. There is slight autobiographical content as it was at that age that I was also doing really badly at school. I didn’t fit in, had to change schools and repeat the year. The truth is, I didn’t study at all, I spent the whole time filming… it was an obsession! I had no mental health problems like Tomás’ as my parents backed me all the way and let me do what I wanted.”
Although also an admirer of how directors like Lars von Trier explore their characters, A TRIP TO THE MOON uses elements of fantasy that are closer to Cambre’s heart: -
“The films of George Méliès fascinate me. When I first started out, as a kid, to make films, I was hugely influenced by the things that Méliès created… it was pure magic, right in the heart of film. Méliès had the elements of surprise and magic as he experimented with novel ideas, rather than a classic narrative about a character that evolves. I feel that this is something that has been lost in mainstream films that are more narrative based, that magic and wonder has been left behind, together with some of its inherent visceral humour. I still love Méliès and for me, he is fundamental to the understanding of cinema.”
The complexity of the character of Tomás meant it took them a long time to find the right actor for the part. It was only at the very end of the casting process, once five hopefuls had been selected as finalists, that two young boys turned up at the last minute. The younger boy, who was aged about 12 auditioned and was very good, however, when his 14-year old brother auditioned he was not just good but ‘spectacular’ … finally, there were no more doubts and, as Cambre described, ‘everyone got very emotional.’
Ángel Mutti Spinetta, who plays Tomás, also happens to be the nephew of the very famous Argentine musician Luis Alberto ‘El Flaco’ Spinetta, with whom he shares more than a passing likeness. Spinetta, who died in 2012 of lung cancer, was one of the most influential rock musicians to emerge from the country.
Ángela Torres, who plays Iris, is already a well-known actress. She has been the lead in some television productions and her career has taken off. Cambre is happy to say that he filmed her very first video clip and they have an excellent working relationship. At the moment, he is completing a script with a co-writer for a second film, which will feature her as the lead: -
“A very different film in tone, as it will be a romantic comedy, with a fantasy sub-plot as this is a girl that has come from the future. There is a lot of criticism of today’s society as seen from the point of view of an ideal society of the future…”
Ángela Torres is versatile actress and in her role in A TRIP TO THE MOON, she comes across as totally natural and unaffected. Cambre manages to convey a gentle intimacy between them, with sensuality suspended in the air, but never too far: -
“We worked very hard to achieve that effect… an innocence in the sensuality. Because Tomás was too young for any other type of relationship. It was an emotional experience to work with non- professional adolescents. They are able to offer a total commitment that retains youthful innocence. I’m also working on a crime pilot for TV (The Last first Day) with a group of 17-year olds and it’s a real pleasure.”
There is a key sequence in THE TRIP TO THE MOON that was particularly successful. It was set in Tomás’ ‘spaceship’, with the whole family crammed into a small space. Complex and technically demanding, not only in the filming but in the editing, this scene was beautifully crafted: -
“Most of the takes [ in the rest of the film] were shot in a traditional manner, with a tripod or using the dolly… with pre-planned compositions and framing. But in this sequence, I realized I had to use a hand- held camera… with wild shots. It was an aesthetic decision that was necessary to create the effects of suspense and shock for the viewer. The cameramen began to shoot the scene, but after a couple of hours, I realized [it was so complex] that I needed to film it myself… it was a powerful scene and it was also very hot that day. The actors and I were the only ones in the tiny space, making it more immediate and animated. I also realized that that type of filming… disordered, full of movement, with hand – held cameras and no planning in the framing process, brought terrific takes to the table, but also created an editing nightmare for the editor (Nicolás Goldbart).“
A TRIP TO THE MOON (Un Viaje a La Luna) will be on general cinema release from March 22nd 2019 followed by a special two-disc set in both DVD and Blu Ray on March 25th 2019, after which it will be available to download on ‘Video on Demand’.
Awards: Best opera Prima and Best Argentinian Film
Director Joaquin Cambre
Screenplay Joaquin Cambre and Laura Farhi
Producer Diego Peskins
DOP Nicolás Trovato
Sound Bechen de Loredo
Editor Nicolás Goldbart
CAST: Ángelo Mutti Spinetta, Ángela Torres, Leticia Brédice, Germán Palacios, Luca Tedesco, Luis Machín.
