Click here to read the Spanish version.
The documentary ‘La Guitarra de Yerai Cortés’, released in cinemas on 20 December, has been acclaimed by critics as one of the great audiovisual pieces of the current era due to its harmonious fusion of elements that have led to its success: an intimate story surrounded by musical talent, aesthetic sensitivity, beauty, love and drama.
Antón‘s debut as a film director revolves around the figure of Yerai Cortés, a modern flamenco guitarist who reinvents the ‘canonical’ or classical figure of the gypsy musician. The ‘genius’ from Alicante has a special gift that would captivate C. Tangana to dedicate a documentary to him based on his family tragedy and/or a ‘very great sorrow’ that he wants to tell the world about.
In some of the scenes in which the work acquires a certain depth, Antón and Yerai tackle a series of themes around the table of some of Madrid’s culinary institutions; which, in turn, are some of the director’s favourite restaurants. There they extend the dialogues until after dinner, and dilute them with alcohol, as an art to which the creative has paid homage both on his tour and in his video clips. In these sequences, the two have emotional conversations about the artist’s life, and the redemption that art has brought to his life; as an antidote with which to heal the pain.
Madrid Apology
Café Gijón and El Landó are for Antón two very important mythological places. This is what he says in an interview for The Origin of Food. Of the Gijón in particular, where he reveals he has ‘had a party downstairs’, he dreams of ‘recovering it’ to unite flamencos and rappers there; as a way of reviving the intellectual spirit of the bar that the literary café had since it opened in 1888; witnessing countless talks and gatherings between prominent figures such as Pérez Galdós, Sastre and Cela. Now, it could once again make history there by mixing tradition and innovation of latent culture.
Another of the restaurants that form part of this ode to Castilian cuisine directed by Antón is El Landó. A Castilian mesón decorated with photos of Hollywood artists on the walls and wooden ceilings, where a whole constellation of stars such as Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling have passed through.
Here you can enjoy the most popular traditional gastronomy. Its menu accurately reinterprets part of the popular Spanish recipe book with dishes such as suckling lamb chops, stew, lentils, marmitaco, huevos estrellados (fried eggs) and Iberian ham. However, of all the dishes on offer, Pucho recommends the arroz caldoso con perdiz (rice with partridge).
