Modernism and cinema

The fascination of the seventh art and the ghost of national cinematography

Abstract

Cinema, considered a lesson in modernity by the generation of Klaxon magazine, had a decisive influence on the formal experiments of modernist literature and, in the hands of Mário de Andrade, became the subject of pioneering critical and theoretical reflection in Brazil. However, the history of the relationship between modernism and Brazilian cinema was marked by missed connections, which are all the more inexplicable when considering that, despite the precariousness of national production, the period also saw the inaugural experiments of our modern cinema, notably the films of Humberto Mauro and Mário Peixoto. The reasons for this paradox are discussed in this paper. Firstly, the article examines the critical texts published by Mário de Andrade and his understanding of the seventh art, oscillating between the defense of “pure cinema” and the attraction to the traditional narrative of American cinema. Next, the article specifically considers the issues surrounding national cinema, aiming to discuss the disconnect between modernist literature and the films produced in the country, which only in the 1960s, with the emergence of Cinema Novo, would for the first time truly align with the avant-garde ideals of the 1920s.