REVIEW: The Window (2009)

Doubling as the eyes of a young child, an old-fashioned camera sputters to life and resurrects an age-old memory from an ailing man’s past in Carlos Sorin’s wistful and lyrical The Window (2009). While the film conjures up Citizen Kane (1941) with its use of nostalgia to frame the story, it remains firmly rooted in the present as it captures the last day of 80-year old Don Antonio’s life. The film may not earn points in subtlety with the clanging of clocks ticking away the fleeting hours, but it realistically coveys the banality and claustrophobia of being cooped up. In the end, Sorin succeeds at painting a stirring portrait of an old man (Antonio Larreta) struggling to retain his dignity while awaiting a visit from his estranged son. As the camera winds down and the kino-eye that unearthed the precious memory flickers to black, you realize that Sorin’s brilliance lies in portraying not only the striking Patagonian landscape, but also manifesting landscapes of the mind. (Liesl Swanbeck)

Opens at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas on Wednesday, June 17th