Cuba is well known as a so-called time capsule. The place where the New World was discovered has become both a romantic vision and a warning. With ongoing global cultural and financial upheavals, large parts of the world could face a similar kind of existence.
Little Magnet Films KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production Impact Partners JustFilms / Ford Foundation Ciné+ Kino Lorber Wild Bunch Eurimages
에피센트로: 진원지, Эпицентр
USA
Sundance Film Festival
South Korea
DMZ International Documentary Film Festival
Russia
Moscow International Film Festival
France
AustriaAA
USA
Austria
France
Russia
South Korea
USA
This documentary is a jumbled mess. It's all over the place. It's about Cuba too broadly. It's about film, about tourism, about individual people. I really wish it would have buckled down and focused, because some parts are so fascinating. With Cuba being a country so close to the US, we know so little about its culture.
What saves this movie as much as it can be saved are some of the subjects, including an adorable girl who loves the camera and is wise beyond her years.
Simultaneously about cinematic tourism and Cuba’s history of imperialism forced upon it and how the two feed each other, but it never feels cold. It’s vibrant and wholly supportive gaze seems too celebratory and in reverence to Cuba and its people, and also wholly aware and skeptical of the passivity of cinema of this very sort and remains critical of that throughout. One of my favorites of the year so far.
Honestly? It's pretty good and I would recommend but it would've been an absolute masterpiece if it was spread across two films. Oh well
Full thoughts at Loud and Clear Reviews
nothing but respect for my future EGOT queen, Miss Annielys ♡
such an immersive and thought provoking documentary, that can very well be described as a 'stream of consciousness'. each character brings so much joy to the screen, whether a person or a place. i only hope i can get to meet these people, and meet Cuba in the future. i will make sure i won't be a tourist.
Hace meses, tras ver La pesadilla de Darwin, mi primer acercamiento con el director, escribí: "La mirada cinematográfica es también territorio de colonización y Sauper, al menos aquí, no ha podido reconfigurar completamente sus formas de representación". Me parece una coincidencia muy curiosa que en Epicentro, su trabajo más reciente, Sauper se ocupa justo de problematizar el cine como arma ideológica para perpetuar y legitimar el imperialismo.
No sale indemne de que sus privilegios como hombre blanco lleguen a transparentarse en las imágenes, pero juega más conscientemente con ello y eso da paso a interpelaciones importantísimas ("¿hasta qué punto el cine se parece al turismo?" o el encabronante imbécil que va produciendo pornomiseria despreciando a los niños que retrata) y…
Cobalt blues and the singe of hot rubber. Ten dollar hotel cake flecked with chlorine from the pool. Imperialism roasting on the spit. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Rolling smoke and rolling memories. Tourism erasing culture. A wonder of a documentary.
FICUNAM 2021
#4
Epicentro es un genial documental realizado en Cuba por Hubert Sauper, en donde a través de las voces de los habitantes de la isla se hace un retrato de su situación actual, pero especialmente de la forma en que ellos ven su realidad y la de su hogar en el mundo. Y la visión de Sauper es especial porque muchas de las voces que muestra es la de niños pequeños que van diciéndonos qué demonios ocurre con la economía cubana y cómo ellos ven, con apenas 10 o 12 años de vida, la relación que su país ha tenido con otras potencias, especialmente con los Estados Unidos. Y es aquí en donde es fácil encontrar el corazón…
J’arrête pas de lire que c’est un docu et j’arrive pas y croire. Ça m’apparaît plus comme un film essai: on mélange scènes prises sur le vif et mises en scène, acteurs et non acteurs, tout en menant une profonde remise en question du pouvoir altérant de la représentation cinématographique. C’est comme si le film nous incite à questionner tout ce qu’il nous montre. C’est une drôle de bibitte qui n’a pas seulement le mérite de ne pas user de tactiques de propagande, mais aussi de déployer une leçon sur la détection de la propagande.
Epicentro jette un regard franc sur Cuba. C’est une société ouvertement multiethnique (la scène avec le troubadour d’origine française est hilarante) qui porte encore les cicatrices profondes…
without a doubt one of the most invigorating, compelling, and honest films I've seen from 2020. not only does it dissect Cuban history and then rearrange it in front of us, but it also captures the full range of Cuban people — the adults, wary of tourists and still traumatized by America's decadeslong abuse of the island and its abuse at the hands of dictatorial leaders; the filmmaker, part of a generation born just after the death of Che Guevara but intent on realizing his ideals and seeing what Cuba has to offer versus the rest of the world; and of course, the children, whom we follow for most of the doc, and learn all of this history for the…
if you're into documentary theory, read "Immediations: the humanitarian impulse in documentary" and revisit this film.
Γράφω σβήνω εδώ και ένα δεκάλεπτο για να πω το αυτονόητο. Ναι μου άρεσε. Το πρόβλημα μου είναι ότι δεν βρίσκω λέξεις να περιγράψω γιατί μου άφησε μια πικρή αίσθηση αυτή η ταινία, σαν πληγή που την παίρνεις χαμπάρι όταν έχει ήδη ματώσει.
The jumbled and unstructured approach of this documentary ended up making me question what it even really thought it was documenting, and there's an irony that the one theme it seems to actually try to have is that media is almost inherently lying just further undermines this by weakening its claim to credibility and authenticity. Taking a stance that everything is propaganda frequently faked doesn't really shake the feeling that some of the scenes here are also that.
I've seen a few different descriptions of this, and none seem to reflect what it is I watched, as they all suggest particular themes, and sometimes even a sense of presenting a critical look at Cuba, and this just doesn't seem to…
