The light on the screen turns on and a flamingo appears. A, no. Several. Many. With this image the new edition of the Mostra de Valencia will start this afternoon, how do you know, the international film festival dedicated to the cinematography that emerges from the countries that occupy the coasts of our Mediterranean Sea. The images correspond to a movie, at least, peculiar. It is about The mystery of the pink flamingo, Valencian production by the Polo brothers, Javier and William, directors and directors of photography, a creative tandem that already attracted attention at the time with their short films and their previous feature, also documentary, Europe in 8 bits, film that explored the equally peculiar world of electronic music made with devices such as the first Game Boy and Commodore model computers. 64.
Although talking about a documentary here would perhaps be an inaccurate approximation, Well, in this second job, The Polo brothers mix elements of fiction with interviews in a curious mix that tells us about the culture of kitsch. Let's move on to the argument. One morning, Line, profession sound technician, He wakes up discovering that his world is full of images of flamingos. He finds it in the cup he eats breakfast in., on swimmers' floaties when they go to the pool, everywhere. Intrigued by this intrusion into his life, Rigo begins an investigation that will take him from Valencia to the United States, on the sunny shores of Florida, to enter a universe where kitsch is more than just an aesthetic, It is a way to differentiate yourself in a world that, in the opinion of those invited to this work, try by all means to unify us all. On that journey, will speak with characters such as director Eduardo Casanova (Skins, 2017), the extravagant influencer Pink Lady of Hollywood, music guru Allee Willis, the pop band Kero Kero Bonito, or the cult filmmaker and pope of underground, John Waters.
The mystery of the Pink Flamingo is a production that will now see the light of day in the context of the Mostra after a complicated journey due to the coronavirus pandemic and after having been selected by the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. “We finished the film in February and we were selected at South by Southwest, which was super news for us because, in the end, It is an incredible international showcase”, commented Javier Polo, the director of the film, at a press conference after his media screening. “But ten days before the festival, they canceled it. In the United States there were not yet the problems that we had in Europe, but here they anticipated and caught us in confinement in Austin. But in the end we have been patient in waiting for the right moment, the opportunity that, in this case, The Mostra offered us and I think that time has proven us right and tomorrow's pass [for today Thursday, during the opening gala] it's going to be very special, very emotional for everyone. Especially at a time like this, so gray, what we are going to do is add color, fun and a little joy that is needed in these times.”
And it is precisely that, to give color to life, what this production is about, which has had the support of À punt, TV3 and RTVE. “The story begins with a very monotonous world, very gray, of a person who is a little lost in the world, and the flamingo it fills him with color and takes him out of that cube in which he lives. Following that, The character wonders who he is and what he does in this world and where he is going.. It is a search for identity that starts thanks to that flamingo and that trip”, Javier Polo commented about this work. A peculiarity that perhaps skips many of the standards of the contemporary industry where realism prevails., and the fantasy that this film presents is almost an anomaly, an extravagance that does not touch so much on form, that mixture of fiction and documentary, as its ultimate meaning. “When I read the script, I couldn't believe it. It's a kind of fiction, but the people we interviewed were telling us their own experiences. And there it was difficult to make them understand that the real answers they gave me were going to fit into the script.. It's like when you're hooking up with your colleague's friend's ugly girlfriend.", comment, fun, DJ Meneo, protagonist of the story and who plays Rigo Pex, that is to say, in addition. “It seems to me that in the world we are living in right now, most artists must get involved in a global trend and the time we can dedicate to searching for our own language, Understanding the identity that each artist creates for themselves is quite complicated.. So, when I received this script, I was fascinated because I identify with this., with those things that are not made to sell on a large scale, which are more crazy. And it has been refreshing to put that stage on the screen”.
Delving into this question, Javier Polo himself reminded us how this inclination towards kitsch is much more than an aesthetic posture, It is a political and personal position regarding the system that surrounds us and how the individual must confront it if they want to escape the attempt at homogenization to which we all seem doomed.. “There are different characters that appear in the movie that approach the flamingo in different ways.”. For example, Pink Lady would be the most superficial case, by managing to make a business with what you sell as an image. There is no content there”, says Javier. “And then there are other characters that are much deeper. Tanto Allee Willis, como John Waters, such as Bryan Anthony or Eduardo Casanova are characters who have undergone these creative processes, who have suffered an identity crisis, they have had to justify themselves. They are restless and curious people who have navigated these dilemmas that many people do not usually consider.. I think that, in the end, the days of life go by, you are living, but you don't know very well where you're going. You're a little aimless and I think these characters inspire a lot because they've been there.” A theory that his brother Guillermo corroborates. “There are two universes of form and content where the superficial mixes with what is beneath.”. Some live it in that more superficial way and there are others like the collector to whom they are giving flamingos every time someone has a loss. She doesn't really know why she collects them., but try to make sense of it. I believe that the journey goes through these two worlds”
He kistch becomes, in this way, in a tool, a weapon if you will, with very precise mechanisms. “The person who best defines kistch is Allee Willis at the end of the movie. That's why she was known as the kistch guru.. Casanova says it too, and it is that, in the end, There is a lot of irony and a lot of humor in kitsch. I think that kistch parodies a bit of what we are, society and gives it that humor and that air of rebellion against the system”, Javier tells us. On the other hand, like many forms of plastic expression, Its effectiveness does not arise from intentionality, but of an almost involuntary confrontation with what is established. “There is no intention to attract attention. But maybe because they didn't think too much about what they were doing, the result ends up being grotesque. In the end, maybe that's what makes it kitsch. It's like the typical cult movie that was made unconsciously at some point., and over the years you see it and you find that it had a meaning beyond. It's about being yourself and, at once, that it doesn't matter what others think of you and, at once, In that there is a kind of pathos or error that is present in the product or in what is being done.”
He kistch, like all fashion that comes to us from the United States, has ended up prevailing throughout the world, and although in our country there are many cultural elements that refer us to it, the differences are notable. “The North American kitsch starts from rebellion, of not being satisfied. Here the concept of kitsch is handled more with folklore., with things that are disconnected, like old fashioned. They both have that thing of not being aware of the mainstream and there comes a time when it becomes its own system, but there is much more kitsch pride in the United States than here. Here if you tell someone that they are kistch and they take it as an insult”, says Meneo regarding this question. For Javier, the difference is between the universal and the purely localist. “The United States is a very big country., but they have elements common to the entire population. Here I see the kitsch thing as very local. In Valencia we would have Rosita Amores, or Titi or Monleón, but if you take that to Madrid no one knows what it is. I mean, there is like a hooligan humor, and specifically in Valencia I think that this element is, but it does not transcend further because they are local things. Europe is also many countries with many cultures. There are icons so well presented that they transcend, not only its continent, but the whole world. The flamingo is today an icon all over the world that people tattoo on their arms., you see it anywhere. And Rosita Amores is not going to achieve that, even if we liked it”.
But not everyone likes it flamingo, of course. Even in the country of flamingos There are real haters of this trend, presented here through fake characters, which brings us back to the duality between reality and fiction, another of the central issues of this film. “Everyone spoke highly of the flamingo and we needed a counterpoint, someone who represents the other side of the coin. There we create a little character, but because in the end we navigate all the time between those two genres (fiction and documentary)”, explains Javier. “It's just like Rigo, He has never worn anything in black and we had to dress him from top to bottom. The real character is the one we see, It's Wiggle, is the one who ends the movie and the one, from the middle forward, feels more liberated. We are representing the reality of the people who may be in that situation.. Where are the limits? I think that, in the end, it doesn't matter a little. What matters is the story, what you see as a finished work. In the end, there is always intervention on the part of the author. The degree remains in the background”. G.LEON
