“I’ll no longer paint the arrow
that regards itself in the drop of water
which trembles in the morning
when it whistles in the wind”.

These arresting words are only some of many written by an elderly Pablo Picasso after he gave up painting and turned instead to poetry in 1935. This little-known facet of Picasso’s capabilities is unveiled in MORENTE (MORENTE, FLAMENCO Y PICASSO), a fascinating documentary (if slightly niche in scope) following the late, great flamenco singer Enrique Morente in a series of performances of songs inspired by the “surrealistic” poetry of the infamous cubist painter.

Warm, low-lit recordings of live concerts shot with atmospheric intensity are interspersed with ambling tours through sun-bleached Spanish streets; candid scenes of Morente chatting on the phone or in a bar with friends and family are juxtaposed with over-earnest speeches of praise for Picasso, imparted straight into the camera. The transitions between these various formats and styles are not altogether smooth, however, and the film does feel patchy at times.

The focus is utterly consistent in its foregrounding of Morente, however, the camera fondly leaving family members, bandmates and friends in soft focus in the background. Although this camera-work does serve to emphasise the seeming priorities of the documentary, one wonders whether the film is perhaps less of an artistic examination than an ego-massage for Morente and his self-aggrandisingly “avant-garde” following of the painter whom everybody loves to love.

there is a joyful rhythm to MORENTE which comes with the dancing feet in shining shoes

Not to belittle the artistic achievements of either man: Picasso’s poems are often lyrical and profound, Morente’s interpretations beguiling and emotively performative. Yet very little is actually shown of the life and work of Picasso himself, so that while much is made of the personal connection between Morente and this Picasso (through “father-figure” Eugenio Arias, Picasso’s lifetime friend and barber), there is a sense that this is all really about Morente. Although the purpose of the film is, granted, to showcase Morente’s transposing of Picasso’s writing, cinematically it would benefit greatly from more contribution from the latter’s visual poetics in the form of his paintings. Even a scene in the Picasso museum in Málaga features more posturing by the singer than it does oeuvres by the painter, like, in Picasso’s words, “the arrow which looks at itself in the drop of water”.

Despite its self-congratulatory undercurrent, there is a joyful rhythm to MORENTE which comes with the dancing feet in shining shoes and the passion in twisting, clapping hands which so embody the cultural tradition of Flamenco. This lively elegy concludes in sadness, however, as we zoom out on Morente’s jacket, painted with a plaintive face, soon to learn that the great cantore passed away only one week after finishing filming the documentary. MORENTE closes literally, metaphorically and pictorially, with eyes on his back.

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