Mariano Llinás is an Argentine film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Llinás graduated from the Universidad del Cine de Argentina, where he currently works as a teacher. He is the son of writer, art critic, publicist and surrealist poet Julio Llinás and brother of renowned actress

Verónica Llinás Verónica Llinás (born 23 September 1960) is an Argentine film, television and theatre actress. She is the daughter of the writer Julio Llinás and the painter Martha Peluffo and sister of Sebastián Llinás and the film director Mariano Llinás ...

, who often appears in his films.

Career

Mariano Llinás's feature directorial debut was the 2002

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

''Balnearios'', which revolves around Argentine

balneario A balneario ( Portuguese spelling: balneário) is an Iberian and Ibero American resort town, typically a seaside resort, and less commonly along the shores of lakes and rivers or next to hot springs. In Spain, balneario typically only refers to sp ...

s, beachside vacation resorts dedicated to leisure. The mocumentary incorporates some fantasy elements such as mermaids as well as comedic and satirical elements. ''Balnearios'' was followed by the 2008 film '' Extraordinary Stories'', a four-hour tapestry of various interwoven narratives. Mariano Llinás appears in the film as "X", one of the main characters. The film premiered at the

Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, ) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. History The festival had its first edition in April 1999 and i ...

where it won the Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize. The film was well received by Argentine critics, praising its originality, technical ability, and passion. Llinás' experiments with narrative continued with the 2018 film ''

La flor ''La flor'' (English: ''The Flower'') is a 2018 Argentine film written and directed by Mariano Llinás. With a length of 808 minutes excluding intermissions, it is the longest film in the history of Argentine cinema and the third-longest non-e ...

''. At 808 minutes long, ''La flor'' is one of the longest narrative films and the longest film made in Argentine cinema history. The film is broken up into six separate episodes - the first four episodes end

in medias res A narrative work beginning ''in medias res'' (, "into the middle of things") opens in the chronological middle of the plot, rather than at the beginning (cf. '' ab ovo'', '' ab initio''). Often, exposition is initially bypassed, instead filled i ...

, the fifth episode proceeds from start to end, and the last episode is the conclusion of a story. Llinás co-wrote the screenplay for ''

Argentina, 1985 ''Argentina, 1985'' is a 2022 Historical film, historical legal drama, legal drama film produced and directed by Santiago Mitre. Written by Mitre and Mariano Llinás, it stars Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, and Norman Briski. ...

'' alongside director

Santiago Mitre Santiago Mitre (, ; born 4 December 1980) is an Argentine film director and screenwriter. He was named as a member of the jury of the Critics' Week section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. In 2016, Mitre won the Havana Star Prize for Best Dire ...

. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Film.

Style

Mariano Llinás has been known to incorporate

magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

maximalism In the arts, maximalism is an Aesthetics, aesthetic characterized by excess and abundance, serving as a reaction against minimalism. The philosophy can be summarized as "more is more", contrasting with the minimalist principle of "less is more" ...

, and

hyperlink cinema Hyperlink cinema is a style of filmmaking characterized by complex or multilinear narrative structures with multiple characters under one unifying theme. History The term was coined by author Alissa Quart, who used the term in her review of the ...

into his work. He has been praised by outlets such as The Harvard Film Archive for his unique and innovative take on traditional narrative storytelling. Llinás is often grouped into the New Argentine Cinema movement.

References

{{Authority control 1975 births Living people Argentine film directors Argentine screenwriters