THE DARK SIDE OF THE HEART
El Lado Oscuro del Corazon
This new film from the director of Man Facing SouthEast centres on Oliverio, a man prone to sudden fits of poetry yet curiously lacking any underlying feeling. Oliverio is in search of that elusive, special love — the one that will make him soar — something of a contradiction in a person who otherwise doesn't give a flying f___ for the women around him. His premature ejection of lovers who don't come up to expectations, for example, is swift and brutal. Oliverio is yet another casualty of machismo — an underdeveloped soul whose search for something better invariably entails getting it up, up and away — rather than confronting his impoverished attitudes and emotions. Throughout the film, men are shown to confuse creativity with the realisation of their sexuality — a sculptor has his greatest success with a three metre penis, and Oliverio's romantic poems have more currency as a meal ticket and tawdry pick up line than he would care to admit. As a poet and a lover Oliverio is by no means a 'runway' success. It is only when he meets Ana, a woman who is even better versed in literary seductions, that Oliverio is challenged to examine his attitudes and leave them behind.