A Worthwhile Watch: ‘Tinta Roja’
Posted in Reviews on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 by Veronica R. | Comments
I stumbled upon this gem on Netflix and felt I had to share. Directed by Francisco Jose Lombardi, ‘Tinta Roja’, a peruvian film that came out in 2000, is a gritty look at the world of journalism. Based on Alberto Fuguet’s novel, this film follows Alfonso, a young writer whose dream is to write novels, as he adjusts to his first internship working for a tabloid in the police/crime section. His boss Faundez, a cynical journalist whose motto is “Journalism, like prostitution, is learned on the streets”, clashes with Alfonso’s traditional writing and challenges his morals all in the name of good journalism. Tagging along with Faundez, his silent photographer, and driver who like to speak in proverbs and philosophical quotes, Alfonso learns that writing about crimes isn’t what he expected.
This film is good for a variety of reason. The dialogue is quick, witty, funny and realistic. The characters are well developed and relatable and if not then at least understandable. Alfonso at the beginning of the film is a shy timid guy fresh out of college who doesn’t even have the ability to fully express how he feels to his love interest. He is honest and naive in a lot of ways. When tasked with writing his first article, he writes it as he would for college which Faundez quickly corrects him on. He tells him to forget all the mediocre professors and their rules and write for the people. People read their stories to be entertained and if some of the facts and back stories have to be improvised to provide excitement, so be it.
To me, Faundez was the most interesting character in the film. At first he comes off as a womanizing jerk who will do anything to get a story. He seduces wives whose husbands have just been shot and is willing to spin a story and make the victim seem like the villain. Alfonso and the audience is repulsed by him at first but as the film progresses we see different sides to him which sort of explain why he is the way he is. He doesn’t like Alfonso upon their first meeting because he sees him as just another college intern who doesn’t know anything about the real world but eventually he takes him under his wing and teaches him not just about writing but about family, women, and people in general. The stories being reported on, such as a young child being beaten to death and it being covered up by a funeral home, bring gritty color to the film and jars Alfonso out of his naive views.
Alfonso begins to grow out of his shell and begins to model his behavior after his mentor. The best thing about this is, that it’s not exactly a positive growth. Usually in movies we see a niave kid being taken under the wing of some wise cracking mentor whose ultimately teaching him good things. ‘Tinta Roja’ isn’t one of those positive feel-good coming of age movies. No, it’s about how the world is full of opportunities and people to learn from but it’s not always in your best interest and how you have the power to decide whether or not you want to go down that road.
This film moves slow but I was not bored once because the acting is superb and the interactions between the characters kept me glued to my screen. Faundez and his vulgar remarks to every situation brought great humor to the film.This was definitely one of the better films I’ve seen and a great representation of Peruvian cinema. It’s really a shame that it hasn’t had more recognition but I advise you to go out and watch it! I give it a 4 out of 5.
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