AcclaimedMexican-CanadianauteurNicolásPeredareturnstotheFestivalwithMinotaur,apendanttohis2009featureJuntos.ShotintheMexicoCityapartmentofPereda’ssignatureactorGabinoRodríguez,Minotaurisanincandescentchamberpiecethatobservesthreethirtysomethings(Rodríguez,LuisaPardoandFranciscoBarreiro)astheysleep,dream,read,andreceivevisitors(includingthehousekeeperwhotakescareofthem)intheircommunalspace.Alovelyandlethargicspelliscastasanambiguous,Marienbad-likelovetriangleemergesamongthetrio,conveyedthroughliterature(booksfunctionastelepathictransmittersanddefinersofrelationships),choreography,andtheacutephysicalpresenceofthethreeleads.ExtendingPereda’srecurringinterestsinclass,socialstructureandfamilyrelationsinMexicansocietyinitswraithlikefantasyofaleisureclassthatisquiteliterallysustainedinitsnarcolepticexistencebytheministrationsofthedomestichelp,MinotaurevokesthefilmsofTsaiMing-lianginitsdistendednaturalism,ritualisticsolitude,andcreationofacloisteredworldsuffusedwithlonging. ccc
ThesurrealauraofMinotaurseepsbeyondtheconfinesofthetrio’sapartmentintoastrange"nightwithoutdistance"inLoisPatiño’shallucinatoryportraitofbordersmugglingintheGerêsMountainsbetweenPortugalandGalicia.Castingrealtownsfolk,someofwhomweresmugglersintheiryouth,PatiñoplacestheirstifflyStraubianpresenceswithincross-processed,multilayeredtableauxofrocks,river,andtrees—anever-indeterminateplacethathasimbibedandbornewitnesstoinnumerable,desperateactsofsurvival.Conjuringaninstantinthememoryofalandscapefilledwithghosts,Nightwithoutdistanceextractsspellbindingfantasyfromthereal.
