Portfolio Entry # 17 - Sidewalls

Film: Medianeras / Sidewalls

Set in a contemporary Buenos Aires, “Medianeras” tells the story of two lonely young singles, Mariana and Martín, who live in the same street but do not know each other. The main themes of the film are loneliness, isolation and love. Director Gustavo Taretto uses city landscape (concrete jungle), scenes of the everyday life, music, drawings and special effects to create an atmosphere of loneliness. Martín and Mariana have developed some anxiety disorders such as claustrophobia, hypochondria, agoraphobia, obsession and compulsion. Those disturbances lead them to avoid social situations and withdraw from society, especially Martín who has spent several months without leaving his home. Their apartments, though smalls, are their world and walls separate them from an unpleasant and menacing world. They realize that their lives are unsatisfactory and at times, painful. Eventually they decide to open a window in their apartments and let the outside world enter.

“All buildings have a useless side, the sidewall, big areas that divide us and remind us the passage of time”, said Mariana in a sequence. Walls, sidewalls, fences are physical barriers that delimit our world; they set what belongs either to the inside or the outside. Walls help us to leave out what we consider dangerous, painful or threatenening, and let in what gives us security, welfare and protection. We are “the king” or “the queen” of our own world! Although, it feels sometimes lonesome, as Mariana and Martin discover in the film, and a kingdom can become a prison. However, walls are so marvelous that allow us to open a gap in them and connect with the outside. When the two young singles understand this, they start to change their lives, connect with the outside world without leaving their cozy and friendly home.

Source:

·         Musaluppi, Hernán and Cervi, Natacha (Producers), & Taretto, Gustavo (Director). (2011) Medianeras. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7RdzYsomQQ