Hiroshima is Uruguayan director Pablo Stoll's first solo feature. Critically acclaimed for his debut film, 25 Watts, which he followed with the sublime hit Whisky (both co-directed with the late Juan Pablo Rebella), Stoll now returns to filmmaking with a completely different piece: a (mostly) silent musical.
Hiroshima is a very intimate film. The director follows his brother Juan as he goes about his daily routine in Montevideo. As the lead singer of a band, Juan lacks the ability to communicate his feelings verbally. Instead he relates to the world through his music. The natural sounds around him and the songs he listens to on his Discman take on a fundamental role in the film, and, as in the days of silent cinema, all dialogue is presented through title cards.
With the creation of a film with silent dialogue, Stoll fosters an affecting depiction of a protagonist cut off from the world around him and those close to him. The only time words are heard is when Juan watches old home movies that he found while cleaning out his closet. Unsettlingly, we are only able to hear the voices from his past and from his childhood. Similarly disconcerting is when he goes to the street market and sells the projector along with all of his family films. When the buyer asks if they are his, Juan claims to have found them and to have no idea to whom they belong. Hiroshima touches on these themes of disappearance and disengagement with great dexterity.
The film displays the talents of an emerging group of filmmakers working in Uruguay today. A number of these artists have cameos in Stoll's film: Adrián Biniez, who presents his debut, Gigante, at the Festival this year; Federico Veiroj, whose film Acné screened here last year; and Manuel Nieto Zas, director of The Dog Pound, which screened two years prior in 2006. These filmmakers gained their early experiences in cinema working on Stoll and Rebella's initial two features, and it's inspiring to see them all participating in Stoll's first independent effort. Stoll is an important name in the flourishing Uruguayan film industry, and his latest film is both a testament to his national cinema's success and a poignant tribute to the late Rebella.
Diana Sanchez
Pablo Stoll was born in Montevideo and studied social communication at the Universidad Católica del Uruguay. With Juan Pablo Rebella, he directed
25 Watts (01) and
Whisky (04), which screened at the Festival in 2004. He has also directed video clips and short documentaries for television.
Hiroshima (09) is his most recent film.