HE PLAYS THE MUSIC, WE DANCE

Dates

2019 - 2020
Author

Manuela Lorente
Topics Portrait, Street Photography, Documentary
Location Spain, Spain

Delinquent brothers with an air of gangsters dedicate their lives to committing medium-sized robberies throughout their neighborhood.

Delinquent brothers with an air of gangsters dedicate their lives to committing medium-sized robberies throughout their neighborhood. Fantasizing about being protagonists in popular gangster movies they attempt to intimidate their neighbors, often with little success.

The brothers are about to receive a tip that will take them to Galicia in search of their most succulent loot to date: a large shipment of luxurious French relics. What they do not expect is to end up mistakenly taking a shipment of jugs and all the consequences that this action will lead to.

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the HE PLAYS THE MUSIC, WE DANCE photography project

1_Benigno Benigno, behind that aggressive, even foreboding appearance of his, could well be a man to be apprehensive and even fearful of, but nothing could be further from the truth. Accompanied at all times by a Doberman that he robbed from the garden of a terraced house as a puppy, between the two of them the dog is probably the one that commands the most respect and is the designated guardian of his territory.   Albeit under an deliberate disguise as the old-school don of the local mob that he defines as 'a modern-day Al Capone with a touch of colour', in reality he is nothing more than a rascally Iberian thug getting on in years, who busies himself with trifles that make him the Godfather no further than his own four walls. Despite this he is the leader of his family gang, where he has stayed afloat for years sustained by small-time jobs and loots that weren't worth facing a sentence for. This says quite a lot about the quality of the people around him, frequently to be seen barbecuing on the roof of the building while demonstrating their voyeuristic expertise at their neighbours' expense. Hearing him bark out orders is enough to recognise that there's nothing beneath his guise of a gangster except a heap of ambition and limited tools. All the same, it's always entertaining to listen to him and revel in his selection of favourite Western quotes. Like 'That was my steak, Valance,' to which his brother always replies, 'Pick it up,' and they both melt into a fit of raucous laughter.

2_Conchi Behind every great man is a great woman. But since there were no great men to be seen here, Conchi prefers to stay out of her husband's dealings.   She inherited a shop selling regional costumes that she turned into a fancy-dress boutique where she spends most of the day hidden away. An fearsome wolfdog guards the shop entrance as though it were a Roman general's fortress, making for quite a curious scene that it is difficult to elude in the city. Beyond the reflections of the glass in the shop window, however, there is a cascade of smouldering red hair. Conchi's physique isn't discreet either, despite her best efforts to go unnoticed. This doesn't make it easy for the gang, who use the shop as their centre of operations.   She is streetwise, can speak whatever language the situation requires, and is incredibly talented at avoiding problems – because they go looking for them. Conchi is a chronic kleptomaniac, a pure and simple vice, whether it's a safety pin from the haberdashery or bathroom disinfectant from the supermarket. Having amassed a collection of certain products, on occasion she ends up selling them to her neighbours. And despite their low value (Conchi doesn't aspire to anything, she just quenches her cravings), the money makes her feel free. She often spends it all on bingo cards and sloe liquor as a kind of investment fund. 

3_Arsenio Seeing himself as an elegant, classic and widely envied gentleman, his delusions occupy something like the space between New York City and Sicily. But Arsenio, despite his wildest dreams, is second in the chain of command after Benigno, who flexes his power over him whenever the chance presents itself so as to remind Arsenio that the hierarchy between them is as immovable as their dates of births.   Poor Arsenio is destined to be a subject; firstly to Benigno who, as you can see, is the captain of this little ship. And then to Eloísa, who makes it her mission to take him to pieces. She burns his wallet and slowly impairs his eardrums with a ceaseless bilingual cacophony that sounds like broken radio picking up two international frequencies (one for amateur singers and one for after-dinner talk shows). It's for this reason that he often comments that 'living is very bad for your health.'   But going back to his job, as the official and exclusive driver of Benigno's BMW, he can commonly be seen scrambling from the bar when he hears his brother yelling in the background, waiting for someone to open the door of the vehicle for him. Seeing Arsenio and his powerful physqiue shoot out of the darkest corners of the K-37 (where he is incapable of putting together a decent plan) to go open the door for Benigno and his flights of fancy is as much fun for us as it is demeaning for him.

4_Eloisa Eloísa is a charismatic and attractive woman with a prodigious capacity for deceit. The more intense the lights, the same is true of the shadows, so you could never imagine the unbearable and temperamental character she possesses and usually masks with dark humour when in public. There's nothing that gets past her.   Despite having travelled to Italy just once in her life, her experience and (supposed) cultural connection were so intense that Eloísa constantly and loudly intones Italian phrases so that everyone can hear her 'wonderful' accent and tone of voice (which she considers identical to Romina Power). The slightest friction can boil over into a public brawl that starts at 'Fuck you!' and ends in 'Non ti sopporto più, va a cagare!'. The cradle of civilisation for her, or at least her own.   Her invasive, varnish-like odour reaches the rooms before the leatherette smell of her fake handbag and the clack of her 'Louboutins' with soles that she painted red with a brush and acrylics.

5_Julián The youngest of the four brothers, as is to be expected, is the one who's taken the most beatings. This has made him a reserved and inscrutable man, traits that make him docile and attentive and that led him to decide to take charge of his brother Epifanio when he lost the use of his faculties. Of course Julián isn't made of gold: he also has a wicked side that may well have been hereditary, but his ways of expressing it are curious to say the least. Julián fantasises pervertedly about Eloísa. It is a secret that nobody else knows, but he collects pictures on his mobile where he has cut her out of all the photos he has found at his brother's house down the years. At night, after putting Epifanio to bed, he lowers the brightness on the screen of his 2G mobile and talks to the pixellated silhouette of Eloísa about their dream retirement together in Boca Raton in Florida. He envisages the barbecue and can almost smell the embers blending with Eloísa's supermarket perfume. His only concern is that in Florida there's no black pudding.

6_Benigno's house exterior.

7_Benigno speaking. - Look how seen. Don't you like it or what? You know nothing. In our business, the most important thing is the appearance. Look at me, I can go anywhere, a good restaurant, a hotel ...I go totally unnoticed.

8_Benigno's interior exterior.

9_Benigno's car.

10_Benigno women's costume shop. - You don't answer the phone. - That's already an answer, don't you think?

11_Reunion rooftop. - The world is nuts… We are leading to nonsense… They are messing with us man… The people grasping to a stick and they have to let go the stick, and if you drown you have drown, but let go you fool.

12_Talks between brothers. - The request is reasonable, the figure is not. - Reasonable request? -It's the boss, he plays the music and we dance.

13_Arrival in Galicia. - Each one is worth 100.000, and since there are 35, that makes a total of 3 and a half million. - What a loot ...

14_Arrival in Galicia.

15_Stop to eat. - That guy is friend of yours? - Yeah, why? - Is a fucking cockroach

16_Food in Galicia. - Has a lot of street instinct - Street instinct ... a bumpy brain is what it has!

17_Galicia house entrance. - Tell me… “Okay… awesome…” - It’s fucking ours, but it has to be now.

18_Benigno smoking. - Do things properly and they will turn out as they should!

19_Port of Galicia. - Where the hell were you !? - Well the boss told me to go home - And that? I don't give a shit what he told you, but you weren't at home!

20_Port of Galicia.

21_Arsenio thinking. - You have no criteria ... Do you know what that means? The criteria? - No... - If you don't know what it is, how are you going to have it? Criteria comes from the Latin criteria and ... It means ... That criteria, the same word is telling you.

22_Port of Galicia. - Damn! You're going to waste my name. What the hell did I ask you !? I just asked you to do me a favor! I do a lot of favors for you every day. Are you going to help me or not?

23_Port of Galicia. - What did he do with the bodies? - The less you know, the better.

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