• Despararon al Pianista (They Shot the Piano Player)

4/20/25 (Sun)

A highly inventive documentary of 2023 about the strange disappearance of a seminal figure in the creation of bossa nova in the 1970s during a tour in Buenos Aires. The unique feature is that the film is animated: that doesn’t mean monsters or magic or talking animals or such, but a rendering of reality in animated style, as if they filmed the movie first and drew on top of it. On top of that, it is entirely hand-drawn and vividly colored, giving it a distinctive look and feel.

Fernando Trueba, who wrote the film and co-directed with Javier Mariscal (their animated Chico Y Rita was a hit some years ago), had become intrigued in the story decades earlier. He was taken by the playing of pianist Tenório Jr, a key figure in the early days of bossa nova, but discovered to his surprise that the musician had only made a single record as band leader. He learned that the 24-year-old musician suddenly vanished one night after leaving his hotel in Buenos Aires when his mistress sent him out to get a sandwich. Disappearances were not unheard of in Argentina during the years of military rule, but Tenório was an apolitical musician and a foreigner at that. No trace of the musician ever emerged, and his fate remained unknown. Trueba made it his mission to get to the bottom of it. Continue reading →