Balamos

There is something very authentic in Tornes' film which has stayed with me ever since I saw it for the first time. Tornes, avoiding all conventional means, creates a world which looks far more real in some deep sense. All convention is based on assumptions upon which we usually build a supposedly common framework of communication. Despite this we experience constantly how ineffective this framework is and how limited is our ability to understand each other. Tornes goes beyond the apparent into the raw material of human spontaneity. By working at this level he seems to be able offer insightful answers to contemporary questions regarding art: How to engage in reality without depicting the "real", in culture without presupposing the "cultural", in meaningfulness without presupposing the "significant", in desiring without presupposing "values". How to get deeper into the "being" of the world through a deconstruction of its presumed objectivity. Balamos has a holistic coherence which does not allow someone talk of its images as separated from words or intentions. Had Tornes lived longer, I have no doubt that his influence in world cinema would have been unparalleled. What a talent!