Four out of
Five stars
Running time:
95 mins
A melancholic but endearing oddball rom-com which balances numerous literary references with many delightfully weird and deadpan moments.
What’s it all about?
‘A tribute to the art of lying’ is Chilean director Cristian Jiménez’s description of his second feature. Fibs are at the heart of the film – an adaptation of Alejandro Zambra’s award-winning novella of the same name. Literature student Julio kick starts his relationship with classmate Emilia by lying about reading Proust. Then eight years later, he again lies to his new partner Blanca – this time about getting a job typing up author Gazmuri’s new novel.
Unbeknownst to Blanca, Julio takes the premise of Gazmuri’s novel – a man who hears on the radio about the death of his first love – and uses the opportunity to write the story of his own failed romance with Emilia.
The Good
That this is no ordinary rom-com but a stylised and inventive trip into a character’s memory is evident from the opening scene when a voiceover divulges that Emilia, Julio’s first love, will die – just like the character that Julio has stolen from the author Gazmuri. What unfolds next is a wistful tale of a doomed romance as Julio ignores his loving new girlfriend Blanca and instead becomes obsessed with the past as he moulds his relationship with Emilia into a novel.
It is the earlier love affair that is the most absorbing – with Jiménez delicately observing Julio and Emilia both in bed and out. There is a lot of narrative game-playing at work: split into six chapters, the film flits back and forth between Julio’s college years with Emilia and his relationship with neighbour Blanca eight years later, and Jiménez, taking his cue from Zambra weaves references to everything from Madame Bovary to the art of Bonsai maintenance into Emilia and Julio’s relationship.
But a script full of quirky deadpan moments never allows the film to become too ponderous. The intriguing, oddball protagonists are the biggest draw – Emilia is a broody Ramones-loving beauty with some great put downs while lost soul Julio is the type with a white book-shaped mark on his stomach from falling asleep in the sun reading Remembrance of Things Past. That their romance occurs to a backdrop of rain rather than soft sunlight is just one example of Jiménez’s attentiveness to mood throughout.
The Bad
While Natalia Galgani’s performance is very natural, Diego Noguera’s turn as quiet slacker Julio often seems a little too stilted and blank.
Worth Seeing?
Bonsai is a fresh, inventive and rather charming romance, making director Critsian Jiménez another Chilean talent to watch.