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| Perhaps the most interesting thing about Subkultur-Entertainment's fantastic Blu-ray release of CANNIBAL MAN, beyond the eye-popping bump in visual quality***, is the nearly 11 minutes of deleted scenes included on the disc. Cut by censors, they flesh out, among other things, the ambiguous nature of the relationship shared by Marcos and Néstor. |
[NOTE:
This is the fourth in a new series of capsule reviews that will focus on
genres related to the Krimi and Giallo; for more info, read this post.
In short, these reviews are less rigorous, more associative, and are my
way of flagging films that relate to the Krimi and Giallo genres and that,
in their own ways, appeal to the same sensibilities. NOTE: As with all posts on this site, SPOILERS SHOULD BE EXPECTED for every movie mentioned below.]
[GENRE]: Psycho-Thriller [>exploitation]
[VERSION WATCHED]: Subkultur-Entertainment Blu-ray
This Review-Cast entry is going to be a bit different, as I'm going to focus less on my reaction to the film, and more on my reaction to ~11 minutes of deleted scenes included on the recent Subkultur-Entertainment Blu-ray release. I.e., I'm going to do a rough cataloging of the scenes you can find on the disc (with some accompanying screencaps), and discuss a bit how I think they flesh out what is, ultimately, the film's central mystery:
Just what the relationship between Marcos (Vicente Parra, the titular Cannibal Man) and Néstor (Eusebio Poncela, who has been masterful in the few roles I've seen him in, including Iván Zulueta's ARREBATO (RAPTURE; 1980) and Pedro Almodóvar LAW OF DESIRE (LA LEY DEL DESEO; 1987) really entails.
The ambiguous but insistent homoeroticism existing between the two seems to telegraph an ending that never comes, an ending that instead convinces you to distrust your previous read of just what it is that's driving all those murders on Marcos' part. This Letterboxd review, from Sally Jane Black, put it this way:
"I thought the ending of this was going to be much more explicit about its homosexual undertones, but it swerved in such a way as to make it distinct but not overt. This is a film about a man who murders his fiance, then keeps murdering others to cover it up. He hides their bodies in the back room of his house, and disposes of them bit by bit in the slaughterhouse in which he works. But given the way he reacts to intimacy with women, the hesitance he has to getting engaged, the intense swimming scene he shares with another man, and the strange conversation that precedes the film's finale, this film seems to be about The Closet."Tantalizingly enough, it's not until the last 45 seconds or so of the deleted footage that we get this "more explicit" ending, one that makes pretty clear what director Eloy de la Iglesia had in mind for the two troubled men. The excision of the footage (by Spanish authorities of the day) handicaps the film's full presentation, its full deployment—by cast and crew—of the themes ...
Sure, the film *is* a psycho-thriller draped in a grit, exploitation aesthetic—one that focuses on the almost "comedy of errors"-like proliferation of murders on Marcos' part (comedy, if their affect on Marcos' spiritual and emotional well-being weren't so tragic). But it is also a wrenching character study of esp. these two men, whose own internal disconnects become the core of what connects the two of them. What allows them, amidst the despair and malaise of modern closeted life, to celebrate life through each other; through their brief but profound connection as both lovers and friends.
"Sehen Sie nun erstmals weltweit bisher unveröffentlichte Szenen der ursprünglich von Eloy de la Iglesias montierten Version. Diese Szenen wurden im Zuge des Filmverbots in Spanien aus dem Nagative entfernt und schafften es somit auch in keine internationale Schnittfassung des Films.Roughly, this seems to be saying that Eloy de la Iglesias' version of the film included these additional 11 minutes of footage, but that the Spanish authorities refused to allow them in the film-as-released. Since they were cut from the film's negative, even the "international" version of the film was screened without them. They're presented here, for the first time, though sans any kind of soundtrack.
Leider existieren für diese Szenen kenie Tonspuren, so dass sie bedauerlicherweise nur stumm präsentiert werden können. Um Ihnen ein qualitativ hochwertiges Bild zu präsentieren, wurden dieses Szenen, ebenso wie der Hauptfilm, in 2k Auflösung gescannt und exklusiv für diese Veröffentlichung restauriert.
Wir wünschen Ihnen nun viel Spass bei der Weltpremiere der bisher nie zuvor gezeigten Szenen aus 'La semana del asesino' ('The Cannibal Man')."
What follows is a list of these scenes, with timestamps and brief descriptions of their content:
0:49-1:18 (~29 seconds; the first 48 seconds are taken up by the German title card)
Grainy b&w footage that appears to show an alternate ending for the film, where we get to see Marcos after his arrest, being driven (presumably by police) to jail. The fact that it's b&w makes me assume it's framed as some sort of news footage. And the fact that it starts the deleted footage, which seems to be presented more or less chronologically, suggests that perhaps its original placement was as a prologue opening the film.
Footage showing two police officers, in long shot, walking toward the camera along what looks like some sort of back alley in one of the film's less-affluent neighborhoods. Children dot the landscape. The camera rotates right to reveal that the alley abuts on the "Bar Rosa," which is the establishment that Marcos, his brother, and Néstor all frequent.
1:32-4:42 (~3 min 10 sec)
In the film-as-released, one of Marcos' coworkers informs him that the boss wants to talk to him. Instead of seeing this scene (or ever getting to meet the boss character), the movie cuts to Marcos reading the newspaper account about the cabbie's death. This always seemed like an abrupt (and misplaced) transition to me. The deleted scenes include the missing interview with the boss that was meant to go here, an extended conversation in his office (wherein Marcos repeatedly ogles his boss' secretary's legs; what the censors could've objected to it's hard to say, unless Marcos' working-class character somehow questioned or insulted the authority of "management"?).
Starts with a title card that reads "Martes" (Tuesday), and is the first of several such title cards that suggests the original structure of the film was divided up into days. Picks up with Marcos being lectured by one of his co-workers, presumably about the finer points of his job, as they walk through the meat plant (in the released film, there's dialogue that suggests Marcos is a fairly recent hire delivered by [if I remember correctly] this same actor).
Starts with a title card that reads "Miercoles" (Wednesday). Marcos smoking a cigarette at the door of his home, talking to the father of his brother's missing fiancee. This seems to be an extension of the scene as it appears in the movie (when the man storms into the house and is eventually killed by Marcos after he discovers his missing daughter's body). Without a soundtrack, it's impossible to say.
Starts with a title card that reads "Jueves" (Thursday) that cuts not to new footage, but another title card, which reads "Viernes" (Friday). Which itself cuts to a title card reading "Sabado" (Saturday). Which then cuts back to the meat plant and footage of two more of Marcos' co-workers. Both of the men seem to be talking about Marcos (literally) behind his back. The foregrounding of Marcos' mysterious bag (which he uses in the released film to transport body parts for secret disposal in the plant) suggests that perhaps they are speculating about it. As one of the men approaches Marcos, we get a couple seconds of white screen, and then rejoin the two co-workers in a different section of the plant, in what looks like a kind of makeshift foreman's office.
Starts with a title card that reads "Domingo" (Sunday). This gives way to a shot of Rosa leaving the "Bar Rosa," with her husband in the foreground, updating the sign at the bar's gate. In the film as released, this leads to Rosa going to Marcos' home, cooking him a meal, and sleeping with him. In this deleted footage, we seem to get trims from that footage, including brief images from them making love, as well as very brief cuts of the boys playing soccer on the beach outside of Marcos' home.
9:41-10:11 (~30 sec)
The footage then cuts to a nighttime crowd scene that shows people walking by (presumably) storefronts. "Presumably" because we get closeups of the window displays, before the camera trails off into an abstract white image (the closeup on a light?).
Marcos on a crowded subway. He looks a bit dazed, semi-staggering as he leaves the traincar.
Cuts to a disorienting, downward sweeping shot that returns us to Marcos facing Néstor at the door of his apartment (a scene we get in the movie-as-released). Instead of Marcos leaving the apartment, though, we're shown just a quick blip of a flashback to a previous scene when the two men went swimming. The underwater footage of them is repeated, except here they share a kiss (which seems like it's going to happen in the released version, but never does).
Then we're back in the apartment and the camera circles around them as they continue to kiss (at some point they are still in this same space, but their shirts have been removed). This sequence ends with a shot of Néstor in his chair, similar to the one where he sits and regards the broken glass at the end of the film after Marcos leaves to go turn himself into the police. Does this suggest that the footage of the two men passionately embracing was a further, nested flashback? Or something that Néstor's mind was imagining after Marcos left? We only get one more title card, "Fin".
Plus one more clue to be found in the extras: In the gallery of still images, there's a photo of Néstor and Marcos in bed together, naked. Without any context, and without any footage apparently still existing of the scene (was it cut even before the censors saw the movie?), it's tough to say what its significance in the plot would have been, other than to further cement the depiction of the romantic (and physical) relationship between the two men.
All-in-all, a great Blu-ray release from Subkultur-Entertainment, one that adds enormous opportunity to properly appreciate the film.
For screencap comparisons of the Subkultur disc and the old Blue Underground DVD, you can head over to caps-a-holic.
Leonard Jacobs
February, 2015
***In short, their 2K scan enhances the viewing experience immensely, adding so much texture and heft to the image that it's sometimes startling. It also makes it much easier to appreciate the craftsmanship flashing right alongside the grit aesthetic—I'm thinking esp. of the first murder, the one that begins with Marcos and Paula embracing passionately for an extended kiss, and that embrace morphing into Marcos putting his hands on Paula's neck to strangle her to death. During this sequence the camera switches quickly back and forth between closeups on each pair of eyes, one furrowed by exertion, the other by disbelief and shock; the level of visual quality really enhances the effect of stylistic flourishes like this, in some cases cementing details of the film in my head that I'd previously missed.
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