Argentino Vargas, is to attend a screening of a film he starred in, Los
Muertos (actually director Lisandro Alonso's film before Fantasma),
in the San Martin cinema ... but when there's noone in the lobby to come
pick him up and show him where to go, he decides to find the way on his
own ... and almost loses himself in the mazelike house filled with broken
elevators, corridors leading to god knows where and a never ending array
of dirty restrooms. Finally he makes it to the projection room ... and has
to realize the film plays to an as good as empty house - apart from him
there is only one other woman in the audience. After the screening,
Argentino and the woman have a bit of small-talk (which is actually the
most amusing scene of the film) ... then Argentino tries to make his way
out of the house again ...
If my synopsis of Fantasma sounds only vaguely interesting it is
misleading - the film is just a total bore: It's just people walking
through corridors, and for the most part, you have no idea who they are
and why they are walking through the corridors, not even where the
corridors are leading to or are supposed to be leading to - which
ultimately culminates to one question: What's the point of this movie ?
And quite frankly, I don't know (or even care).
If you want to see a film about people losing themselves in a movie
theatre (which actually shares the static camerawork with Fantasma) watch
Tsai Ming-liang's masterpiece Good-bye
Dragon Inn instead, which is way more rewarding in every aspect.
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