An unconventional documentary, with some fictional flourishes, also about an unconventional character, “Cravan vs Cravan” (2002), Isaki Lacuesta’s first feature film, tells the unusual story of Arthur Cravan, poet and boxer, Oscar Wilde’s nephew, who disappeared in Mexico in 1916 under mysterious circumstances. Wilde said that nature imitates art, and Cravan decided to make his life a work of art: dadaist, anarchist, and a provocateur, the poet-boxer persistently sought scandal. How does one document the story of someone who lived several lives, then disappeared like a ghost? Lacuesta tries to portray Cravan’s adventurous and disruptive spirit by interviewing historians, scholars, poets and distant relatives, but also with the help of archival footage, historical reenactments and visits to art galleries. This pursuit of a ghost, and the attempt to map out the memory of a myth, is also the story of a character created for the film, an alter ego of sorts, who is also a poet and boxer, and tries to mimic Cravan’s life in his search for answers. (JA)