Counter culture

DVDs

Neruda

Directed by PABLO LARRAÍN Starring GAEL GARCÍA BERNAL, LUIS GNECCO

A Quiet Passion

Directed by TERENCE DAVIES Starring CYNTHIA NIXON, JENNIFER EHLE

At first glance, the lives of poets — especially one as inward-looking as Emily Dickinson — might seem unsuited to the clamouring distractions of cinema. But both of these films, each in its own way a masterpiece, use the words of their subjects to illuminate the poetic imagery on the screen.

Chilean director Pablo Larraín follows , his operatic portrait of JFK’s widow, with a rollicking rumination on his own countryman, the revered poet Pablo Neruda. Though far from a conventional biopic, recounts a pivotal year in the poet’s life. In 1948, when he led the communist party in Chile’s senate, Neruda (Luis Gnecco) was targeted by the right-wing government and forced