Nocturne 29

Portabella’s first feature, co-scripted by poet Joan Brossa, became one of the most influential works of the Barcelona avant-garde, although like all his early films, it circulated only in an underground fashion. Eschewing dialogue, the director constructs a non-narrative story in fragments that reveal the daily lives of an adulterous couple interspersed with a cryptic stream of unrelated imagery. The title of this homage to directors including Eisenstein, Antonioni, Bergman, and Buñuel refers to the 29 “black years” of the Franco dictatorship. — chicago.cervantes.es

Director: Pere Portabella

Cast: Lucia Bosè, Mario Cabré, Luis Ciges, Ramón Julia, Antonio Saura, Antoni Tàpies, Joan Ponç, Jordi Prats

Audience-only score — full critic data not yet in the ReelXO vault.