The problem is no longer how to produce a film. In a way, nowadays anybody with a camera and a computer can make a film. It’s no longer a production issue. The problem now is why you make a movie. At any rate, this was always the problem. But production issues used to override this fundamental issue: does your story have a heart and soul? Or are we simply making a film because we have a camera and a computer?,” says Nicolás Prividera, a notable Argentine filmmaker and critic, in a brief interview in Rosendo Ruiz’s Tres D, a technically well-crafted local feature that efficiently mixes documentary and fiction, although, ironically, it doesn’t have much of a heart or a soul.
Tres D takes place over a few days at the Cosquín International Film Festival, where Matías (Matías Ludueña) and Mica (Micaela Ritcacco), two youngsters in their 20s, work together documenting some of the facets of the indie festival. Among other things, there are snippets of interviews with the likes of Gustavo Fontán and José Campusano, two equally thought-provoking and yet totally different local filmmakers who are screening their films. And with Jorge García, Alejandro Cozza, and Prividera, on the critics’ side.
At the same time, Matías and Mica begin to establish a friendship, or perhaps something more than that — it remains to be seen. And there’s Lorena (Lorena Cavicchia), an attractive folk-dancer on the verge of a romantic break up. Incidentally, she and Matías seem to like each other as well.
Rosendo Ruiz, whose debut film was the successful De caravana (2010), definitely has a knack for skillfully linking the documentary edge of the film with the fictional one, so transitions are smooth and, most importantly, logical within the narrative. He also does a good job at capturing the overall atmosphere of the event as well as a few particularities. In terms of “how” it’s done, Tres D does not fail.
However, there’s no genuine depth in the approach, no insights other than those you can see at first glance, no digging up. In short: there’s a lot of rich material here that hasn’t been put to good use. That’s why it often ends up being anecdotic. As for the fiction side, a few details and gestures here and there about the possibility of a romantic story (or whatever) are not enough for some dramatic interest. There’s an “air” of something, but that “something” never takes off at all. It’s clear that the film is not intended to be an exhaustive study of cinema within the cinema, but this deliberate light take is of no emotional or intellectual resonance either.
If you are a festival-goer or a critic, you are bound to see the inside jokes and references, which are quite precise and well-thought. But they are no more than inside jokes. When you get to think and feel what Tres D is all about, you may realize it’s got a feeble heart and a pale soul.
Production notes
TRES D (Argentina, 2014). Written and directed by Rosendo Ruiz. Cast: Matías Ludueña, Micaela Ritacco, José Celestino Campusano, Lorena Cavicchia, Maura Sajeva, Eduardo Leyrado. Cinematography : Pablo González Galetto. Editing: Ramiro Sonzini, Rosendo Ruiz. Running time: 91 minutes
