“Arturo a los 30”, interview with director Martín Shanly

December 2, 2023

Martín Shanly, director of Arturo a los 30: “My main character is reluctant to cross an important threshold. He’s not behaving up to the expectations people have of a his age, 30”

“Arturo a los 30”, interview with director Martín Shanly Chiara Nicoletti

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With his first feature, “About Twelve”, director Martín Shanly studied a character who was not behaving up to the expectations people have of a certain age. With his second feature, Arturo a los 30 – About Thirty, where he also plays the lead, Arturo Shanly is again analizying some people’s inability to keep up with society expectations on what and how one should be at a certain age.

Arturo a los 30, in competition at the 41st Torino Film Festival, started its shooting in 2017 but Martín Shanly finished the film only in 2022, with the pandemic crossing the project. The Covid 19’s lockdown sort of affected the film’s process and Shanly decided it was only fair and natural to include this moment in the representation of Arturo’s path in the film.

Comedy and its tropes are the best way for Shanly to also depicts the sometimes darker aspects of Arturo’s personality and journey, such as grief and depression.

Plot

Arturo attends the wedding of his former best friend. On the car trip between the church and the British clubhouse where the party is celebrated, he is involved in a bizarre car accident from which he manages to escape unscathed. From that moment on, a series of memories begin to unfold in the form of flashbacks that involve significant, yet mundane recent events. As he proceeds to intoxicate himself with alcohol and pot, the past and the present merge in an uncomfortable and humorous way, forcing him to confront delayed griefs as well as the darkest aspects of his personality.

Written by: Chiara Nicoletti

Guest

Martín Shanly