SMOG IN YOUR HEART (Smog en tu corazón)
dir. Lucía Seles, 2022
Argentina. 112 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 – 5PM FT Q&A

“How difficult it is when a person owns a tennis complex and mixes that with his other feelings.”
– Lucía Seles’ synopsis

Five characters working at a tennis complex: the owner Manuel, a tennis teacher who only goes by the name La Tenista, new recruit Sergio from San Juan, shy manager Lujan, and a dopey accountant Aristegui. The series begins in a romantic-comedy vein, introducing the protagonists and quickly drawing up a love pentagon between them as they talk about Singing in the Rain and whether people with dark eyes can love people with light eyes. Tensions flare as they consider making a pilgrimage to the cathedral of the town of Lujan, but don’t actually invite Lujan. Less a romantic melodrama than an anarchic cinematic poem of disorder, desire, absurdity, futility, labor, and miscommunication; Seles sets the tone strong in the first film through a chaotic montage of dramatic tensions, visual gags, and textual poetry.