Mondongo II: Retrato de Mondongo

In the second part of the trilogy, the other shoe drops and a crisis looms. As RETRATO DE MONDONGO begins, you can see Mariano Llinás exploring new ideas. “What if I try my own interpretation of the Baptisterio de Colores on film and see what comes of it?” he proposes, introducing a sort of competition to match the Mondongo artwork with one of his own. The idea sounds enticing, but something feels off. Llinás starts “rowing against the storm”: writing poems, showing old videos recounting his friendship with the Mondongo artists (Juliana Laffitte and Manuel Mendanha) and engaging in arguments with a Letterboxd critic who accuses him of being a “self-destructive egomaniac”. In one stunning sequence, chaos erupts: a verbal and physical fight breaks out between everyone involved, the kind one would expect in a Howard Hawks movie but not in a documentary. This clash of egos leads to a debate about narcissism in film and a painful confrontation with creative and personal turmoil. Ultimately, the film becomes an exploration of the impossibility for some filmmakers to create art that isn’t at its core about themselves. What is a portrait if not a self-portrait, an investigation into the gaze of the painter? (Diego Lerer)

In the presence of Mariano Llinás.

Mariano Llinás: BALNEARIOS (2002), HISTORIAS EXTRAORDINARIAS (2008), TRES FÁBULAS DE VILLA OCAMPO (2011, K), LA FLOR (2018), CLORINDO TESTA (2022)