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Man Facing Southeast
Man Facing Southeast (Spanish: Hombre mirando al sudeste) is a 1986 Argentine science fiction drama film written and directed by Eliseo Subiela, starring Lorenzo Quinteros and Hugo Soto.
The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 60th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
The 2001 American film K-PAX bears a strong resemblance to Man Facing Southeast and its filmmakers were the subject of a plagiarism lawsuit by Subiela.
In a survey of the 100 greatest films of Argentine cinema carried out by the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken in 2000, the film reached the 10th position. In a new version of the survey organized in 2022 by the specialized magazines La vida útil, Taipei and La tierra quema, presented at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the film reached the 40th position. Also in 2022, the film was included in Spanish magazine Fotogramas's list of the 20 best Argentine films of all time.
The staff and patients go about their business at Buenos Aires' José Borda Psychiatric Hospital on a summer day in 1985. A staff psychiatrist, Dr. Julio Denis, is surprised to hear that his ward for non-violent delusional cases has one patient too many. He finds the extra patient in the chapel playing the organ like a virtuoso. Summoning him (Hugo Soto) to his office, Denis listens as he explains that his presence on Earth is a result of his image being projected from light years away. He introduces himself as "Rantés" (an exotic-sounding name in Argentina). Dr. Denis suggests that Rantés might be a fugitive hoping to hide from the law but lets him stay after seeing how his caring touch helps the other patients. The doctor is amused by his extraterrestrial claims and suspects that the man is a genius using his talents as a charade.
Denis is a lonely man whose recent divorce left him jaded. Rantés is as interested in his troubles as the doctor is in Rantés, "the first patient in a long time" that has interested him. Believing that Rantés' claim of being a "projected hologram" is an allusion to Adolfo Bioy Casares' classic novel Morel's Invention, Denis concludes that this genius is well-read. The doctor includes Rantés in several outings, including a visit to a touring Moscow State Circus performance.
Having a psychokinetic gift, Rantés explores the city on his own without permission. He also spends hours standing in one of the asylum's courtyards, motionless, facing southeast. He claims to do this to receive "transmissions from his planet" and implies that he is Denis' own hallucination. The doctor gets Rantés a job in the pathology department of the hospital. Because of his kindness, he quickly earns the loyalty of the other patients and Denis' respect. The doctor is aware that Rantés has been leaving without permission and has avoided taking his medicine; nevertheless, he takes Rantés' requests seriously, persuading Dr. Prieto, the head of pathology, to hire him as a volunteer assistant.
Rantés is visited by an attractive young lady, Beatriz (Inés Vernengo). Denis introduces himself to Beatriz and quickly becomes attracted to her. She tells Denis of Rantés' work among children in a slum, where they met while working for an evangelical mission, and his devotion to a young child with superior musical abilities; beyond that, she knows him as a "very good man" whom she is only casually acquainted with. Dr. Denis is charmed by the woman and asks Rantés about her. He responds that she is very special and "a Saint".
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Man Facing Southeast
Man Facing Southeast (Spanish: Hombre mirando al sudeste) is a 1986 Argentine science fiction drama film written and directed by Eliseo Subiela, starring Lorenzo Quinteros and Hugo Soto.
The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 60th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
The 2001 American film K-PAX bears a strong resemblance to Man Facing Southeast and its filmmakers were the subject of a plagiarism lawsuit by Subiela.
In a survey of the 100 greatest films of Argentine cinema carried out by the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken in 2000, the film reached the 10th position. In a new version of the survey organized in 2022 by the specialized magazines La vida útil, Taipei and La tierra quema, presented at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the film reached the 40th position. Also in 2022, the film was included in Spanish magazine Fotogramas's list of the 20 best Argentine films of all time.
The staff and patients go about their business at Buenos Aires' José Borda Psychiatric Hospital on a summer day in 1985. A staff psychiatrist, Dr. Julio Denis, is surprised to hear that his ward for non-violent delusional cases has one patient too many. He finds the extra patient in the chapel playing the organ like a virtuoso. Summoning him (Hugo Soto) to his office, Denis listens as he explains that his presence on Earth is a result of his image being projected from light years away. He introduces himself as "Rantés" (an exotic-sounding name in Argentina). Dr. Denis suggests that Rantés might be a fugitive hoping to hide from the law but lets him stay after seeing how his caring touch helps the other patients. The doctor is amused by his extraterrestrial claims and suspects that the man is a genius using his talents as a charade.
Denis is a lonely man whose recent divorce left him jaded. Rantés is as interested in his troubles as the doctor is in Rantés, "the first patient in a long time" that has interested him. Believing that Rantés' claim of being a "projected hologram" is an allusion to Adolfo Bioy Casares' classic novel Morel's Invention, Denis concludes that this genius is well-read. The doctor includes Rantés in several outings, including a visit to a touring Moscow State Circus performance.
Having a psychokinetic gift, Rantés explores the city on his own without permission. He also spends hours standing in one of the asylum's courtyards, motionless, facing southeast. He claims to do this to receive "transmissions from his planet" and implies that he is Denis' own hallucination. The doctor gets Rantés a job in the pathology department of the hospital. Because of his kindness, he quickly earns the loyalty of the other patients and Denis' respect. The doctor is aware that Rantés has been leaving without permission and has avoided taking his medicine; nevertheless, he takes Rantés' requests seriously, persuading Dr. Prieto, the head of pathology, to hire him as a volunteer assistant.
Rantés is visited by an attractive young lady, Beatriz (Inés Vernengo). Denis introduces himself to Beatriz and quickly becomes attracted to her. She tells Denis of Rantés' work among children in a slum, where they met while working for an evangelical mission, and his devotion to a young child with superior musical abilities; beyond that, she knows him as a "very good man" whom she is only casually acquainted with. Dr. Denis is charmed by the woman and asks Rantés about her. He responds that she is very special and "a Saint".