Here goes: Sabrina plays Olivia and Cecilia plays Viola (or is it Shylock and Bassanio?). Cecilia thinks Sabrina was wrong to finish with Agustín and decides to take matters into her own hands. But Cecilia’s endeavours are interrupted in full flow by another Viola, who runs a courier business with her boyfriend Javier. For his part, Javier can’t take his eyes off Cecilia’s performance, her only option being to return his gaze. Yet Cecilia’s role will soon be taken over by Ruth, who suggests Viola then take over the role in turn. As they wait for Agustín, Ruth remarks that Viola and Javier’s relationship may have turned stale, an impression that Cecilia is all too ready to support...
Disentangling this nexus of shifting roles, interrelationships and dualities is but one of the many pleasures offered by Matías Piñeiro’s VIOLA. Skipping lithely between performance and the everyday whilst implying they are one and the same, Piñeiro’s ludic conundrum is at once a loose-limbed Shakespeare adaptation, a slyly insightful relationship study and an intricately constructed set of overlapping motifs. As such, perhaps all that remains to be done is to ”draw the curtain and show you the picture.” (James Lattimer)
Production: Revólver Films, New York; Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires; Alta definicion Argentina, Buenos Aires
Screenplay: Matías Piñeiro
Camera: Fernando Lockett
Cast: María Villar, Agustina Muñoz, Elisa Carricajo, Romina Paula
Format: DCP, colour
Running time: 65 min
Language: Spanish
Photo: © Alessio Rigo di Righi
