Argentina Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘The Penguin Lessons,’ starring Steve Coogan, Vivian El Jaber, Björn Gustafsson, David Herrero, Alfonsina Carrocio and Jonathan Pryce

March 30, 2025

by Carla Hay

Steve Coogan in “The Penguin Lessons” (Photo by Lucia Faraig Ferrando/Sony Pictures Classics)

Some language in Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1976, the dramatic film “The Penguin Lessons” (based on Tom Michell’s memoir of the same name) features a white and Latin group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A British professor at an elite prep school in Buenos Aires experiences unexpected things after he takes care of a stray penguin.

Culture Audience: “The Penguin Lessons” will appeal primarily to people who like watching inspirational dramas based on true stories of friendships between and humans and animals.

Jonathan Pryce and Steve Coogan in “The Penguin Lessons” (Photo by Lucia Faraig Ferrando/Sony Pictures Classics)

Slightly better than the average “cute pet” movie, “The Penguin Lessons” is a drama with a typical formula of someone who reluctantly takes care of an animal and becomes the animal’s close friend. The “true story” aspects and performances elevate the film. Is some of the film mawkish and contrived? Yes, but these cloying moments are outweighed by the moments that are realistic and relatable.

Directed by Peter Cattaneo and written by Jeff Pope, “The Penguin Lessons” is based on Tom Michell’s 2015 memoir of the same name. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The story takes place in 1976, in Buenos Aires, Aregntina, during a time of political turmoil in the nation.

The movie begins by showing English professor Tom Michell (played by Steve Coogan), who’s a Brit, arriving for his first day at St. George’s, an elite boarding school for boys who are between the ages of 12 and 13. Almost every student comes from a wealthy and powerful family. The school’s headmaster is Timothy Buckle (played by Jonathan Pryce), a fellow Brit who is pompous and demanding.

Headmaster Buckle warns Tom: “Argentina is in chaos. A military coup is imminent.” He tells Tom that the school’s faculty members need to keep their political opinions to themselves. Tom is annoyed when he finds out that he’s required to teach rugby at the school, even though he knows nothing about rugby.

Tom is a bachelor loner who doesn’t make friends easily. He has a prickly personality and has a tendency to be selfish. He’s also very stubborn and likes to have his own way. Predictably, Tom will clash with Headmaster Buckle.

Tom has a past family tragedy that is revealed in the movie to explain why he has a hard time opening up to people. “The Penguin Lessons” is the second movie in two years to have this type of scenario as the underlying reason for why a loner man befriends a penguin. “My Penguin Friend” is the other movie. Both movies take place in South America and are based on true stories. “The Penguin Lessons” is a better movie overall.

The school’s physics teacher Tapio (played by Björn Gustafsson) is originally from Finland. Tapio is socially awkward and tries to start a friendship with Tom, who mostly tries to ignore Tapio. However, Tapio doesn’t give up easily. Tapio tells Tom that he’s recently separated from his wife, who left Tapio for Tapio’s rich best friend Alexei.

Tapio convinces Tom to take a short getaway trip with him to Uruguay. They go out to a nightclub to meet women. Tom and a woman named Carina (played by Micaela “Mica” Breque) meet and have an instant attraction to each other.

Tom and Carina are walking on a nearby beach when they see a stray male penguin that is covered in oil because he’s the victim of an oil slick. Carina immediately takes pity on the penguin and says they need to rescue it. Tom and Carina sneak the penguin into Tom’s hotel room to wash the oil off of the penguin in the bathtub.

Tom doesn’t really care about this animal. He’s only showing this act of kindness to impress Carina because he wants to have sex with her. Carina is impressed, and they start to kiss. But she stops to tell Tom that she can’t go any further with him because she’s married. Tom is disappointed, but he and Carina part ways amicably.

It’s early in the morning when Tom brings the penguin back to the beach and nudges the penguin to go in the ocean. But the penguin keeps following Tom everywhere he goes. A flustered Tom ends up taking the penguin with him to the airport for Tom’s plane ride back to Argentina. An airport customs officer (played by Osvaldo Ayre) in Uruguay sees the penguin and takes Tom into a back office. However, the officer doesn’t want to deal with keeping the penguin at the customs office, which is why Tom is allowed to smuggle the penguin on the airplane.

The penguin is eventually named Juan Salvador. (In real life, Juan Salvador was played by two penguins named Baba and Richard.) And you can easily predict the rest: Juan Salvador becomes popular on campus, even though Headmaster Buckle isn’t keen on having this animal be a distraction to the students.

Speaking of the school’s students, the movie doesn’t do much to show depth to the students’ personalities. There’s a cliché arrogant bully named Ernesto (played by Aimar Miranda), who picks on a shy and intelligent student named Diego (played by David Herrero). It should come as no surprise which student ends up being Tom’s favorite student.

“The Penguin Lessons” also has a subplot about the school’s friendly maid Maria (played by Vivian El Jaber) going through a crisis when her young adult granddaughter Sofia (played by Alfonsina Carrocio) disappears after Tom witnessed her being abducted by men on a street. Sofia also works as a maid at the school. It’s presumed that Sofia’s political activities resisting government oppression have something to do with her disappearance. Tom is sympathetic to Maria’s plight and tries to help as much as he can. Maria joins the Mothers of the Plaza 25 de Mayo, an activist group advocating for people who disappeared during during Argentina’s military dictatorship.

“The Penguin Lessons” has fairly good touches of comedy in this drama that mixes the gritty subject matter of political turmoil with the sentimental subject matter of Tom developing a meaningful bond with Juan Salvador. Some scenarios definitely look fabricated for the movie. Even though Coogan and Pryce have played versions of their respective characters’ personalities in many other films, the solid performances from the main cast members should keep viewers engaged and possibly get emotional during the tearjerking moments. At the very least, “The Penguin Lessons” might inspire people to read the book to find out more of the story that wasn’t in the movie.

Sony Pictures Classics released “The Penguin Lessons” in U.S. cinemas on March 28, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on March 17, 2025.

Review: ‘My Penguin Friend,’ starring Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza

September 1, 2024

by Carla Hay

Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza in “My Penguin Friend” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“My Peguin Friend”

Directed by David Schurmann

Some language in Portuguese and Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the 2010s in Brazil and in Argentina (with a brief flashback to the 1980s), the comedy/drama film “My Penguin Friend” (inspired by true events) features a predominantly Latin group of people (with a few white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Brazilian fisherman João Pereira De Souza rescues a migrating Argentinian penguin from an oil-spill health hazard, and the penguin returns to visit him every year.

Culture Audience: “My Penguin Friend” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and heartwarming stories about the bonds that can develop between humans and wild animals.

Alexia Moyano in “My Penguin Friend” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“My Penguin Friend” won’t rank among the very best movies about adorable penguins, and the cast members’ performances are mismatched. However, this comedy/drama (based on a true story) is pleasant enough to watch as family-friendly entertainment. “My Penguin Friend” (formerly titled “The Penguin and the Fisherman”) tends to get a bit repetitive, and some of the pacing is sluggish, but it’s sufficiently enjoyable and doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.

Directed by David Schurmann and written by Paulina Lagudi and Kristen Lazarian, “My Penguin Friend” begins sometime in the early 1980s, in Ilha Grande, Brazil. That’s where fisherman João Pereira De Souza (played by Pedro Urizzi) and his wife Maria (played by Amanda Magalhães) live with their son Miguel (played by Juan José Garnica), who’s about 6 or 7 years. They are a happy family living in a modest home.

Miguel will soon have a birthday. His close friend Calista (played by Beatriz Lima) has shown him a small gift-wrapped box that she says is her birthday gift to him. Calista makes Miguel promise that he won’t open the gift until his birthday.

Sadly, Miguel won’t live to see his upcoming birthday. One day, João takes Miguel on a rowboat excursion in the ocean. They get caught in a sudden storm that overturns the boat. João does his best to save Miguel, but the current is too strong, and Miguel drowns. Some of the movie’s visual effects in the ocean scenes are hit-and-miss when it comes to being convincing.

About 30 years later, João (played by Jean Reno) and Maria (played by Adriana Barraza) still live in the same house. João feels extremely guilty about Miguel’s death. João and Maria did not have any more children. João still works as a fisherman. And although he has fisherman colleagues, he is introverted and somewhat emotionally withdrawn because Miguel’s death has left him a somewhat broken person.

One spring day, João finds a male penguin that is covered in oil from an oil spill. João takes the bird home and cleans him up. He decides to keep the bird until the penguin is well enough to be put back in the ocean. Maria isn’t thrilled to have this wild bird in the house, but João says the penguin will be in the home for only a few days.

A week later, João and the penguin have developed a friendly bond. João aks for “one more week” to keep the penguin, which he eventually names DinDim. You know where all of this is going, of course. That week turns into more weeks.

João doesn’t keep DinDim in captivity. He also doesn’t treat DinDim like a possession that only he can own. DinDim is allowed to roam around wherever he wants. DinDim often follows João around and sometimes goes with João on fishing trips. DinDim becomes a well-known fixture in João’s community, which includes a now-adult Calista (played by Thalma de Freitas), a widow who has an underage daughter named Lucia (played by Duda Galvão).

One day, João has noticed that DinDim seems to have left the area for good. João assumes that he might never see the penguin again. But to the surprise of João and many other people, DinDim comes back to visit João every year, around the same time of year when DinDim first came into João’s life.

Where did DinDim come from? And where does he go when he’s away from Ilha Grande? It’s revealed fairly early on in the movie that DinDim is part of a community of penguins being studied by marine biologists in Patagonia, Argentina. His annual migration to Brazil to visit indicates that penguins have emotional intelligence that might be underestimated by people who think that penguins aren’t capable of having emotions.

Three marine biologists in particular are the focus in the parts of the movie that have to do with DinDim’s life in Argentina. They are Adriana (played by Alexia Moyano), the analytical leader of the trio; headstrong Carlos (played by Nicolás Francella); and eager-to-please Stephanie (played by Rocío Hernández), who is the youngest and least-experienced of the trio.

Eventually, a freelance TV journalist name Paulo (played by Ravel Cabral) finds out the amazing story of DinDim migrating thousands of miles every year to visit João. Paulo wants to do a feature story on João and DinDim. At first, João doesn’t want to be interviewed. However, he eventually changes his mind when Paulo agrees to João’s request that Paulo’s story needed to mention that DinDim comes and goes as DinDim pleases.

The best scenes in “My Penguin Friend” are obviously those between DimDim (who was played by various real penguins) and João, who treats this penguin like a friend and a child. João’s relationship with DinDim is clearly João’s way of trying to heal some of João’s wounds about losing his son Miguel. The movie barely scratches the surface of how Miguel’s death affected the marriage of João and Maria. That aspect of these characters’ lives could have been explored better in the movie.

Likewise, all of the supporting characters to João and Maria are a bit generic. It doesn’t help that many of the people playing these characters have a lot less acting skills than longtime actors Reno and Barraza. It results in several somewhat awkward scenes where Reno and Barraza clearly give the best performances, while other members of the “My Penguin Friend” cast struggle with saying their lines in ways that are realistic and believable.

Despite some stiff acting from some of the cast members, “My Penguin Friend” can maintain viewer interest because of the heart of the story: the unusual friendship between a human being and a penguin. The movie sends a great message that wild animals should not be kept trapped inside people’s homes and exploited for money and/or attention. It’s a simple but effective story of two beings who form an unlikely and emotionally meaningful bond by being themselves.

Roadside Attractions released “My Penguin Friend” in U.S. cinemas on August 16, 2024.

Review: ‘They Shot the Piano Player,’ starring the voice of Jeff Goldblum

March 14, 2024

by Carla Hay

“They Shot the Piano Player”

Directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

Some language in Portuguese and Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the 2000s (with re-enacted flashbacks to the 1960s and 1970s), the animated docudrama film “They Shot the Piano Player” features a predominantly Latin cast of characters (with a few white people and African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: American music journalist Jeff Harris (a fictional stand-in for “They Shot the Piano Player” director Fernando Trueba), investigates the mysterious 1976 disappearance of Brazilian piano player Tenório Jr., who was an highly respected musician in the Bossa Nova musical movement.

Culture Audience: “They Shot the Piano Player” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching unusual documentaries about Brazilian music or true crime cases.

Jeff Harris (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) in “They Shot the Piano Player” (Image by Javier Mariscal/Sony Pictures Classics)

“They Shot the Piano Player” mostly succeeds in its intention to be an unconventional documentary, but much of the story gets bogged down in repetitiveness. Overall, this animated film is watchable for people interested in Brazilian music or true crime. It’s a hybrid of a fictional narrator telling a true story, with audio recordings of real interviews featured in the documentary.

Directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, “They Shot the Piano Player” was written by Trueba. After screening as a work in progress at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, “They Shot the Piano Player” had its world premiere at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival. The movie then made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2023, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival.

In the production notes for “They Shot the Piano Player,” Trueba (who is a Spanish filmmaker) says that sometime around 2019, he discovered the talent of Brazilian pianist Tenório Jr. while listening to a Brazilian album from the 1960s. Trueba became fascinated with finding out more about Tenório after discovering that Tenório (whose full name was Franciso Tenório Jr.) had vanished while on tour in Argentina in 1976, when Tenório was 35. Trueba went to Brazil and Argentina to interview family members, friends and associates of Tenório to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Tenório. Many of the resulting interviews are featured in “They Shot the Piano Player.”

“They Shot the Piano Player” creates a fictional narrative around these real interviews. In the movie, which takes place in the 2000s, the person doing the interviewing is a fictional New York City-based journalist named Jeff Harris (voiced by Jeff Goldblum), whose quest to find out the truth begins when he writes an article in The New Yorker about Bossa Nova, the music genre that combines Brazilian music and jazz. Bossa Nova, which originated in Brazil in the late 1950s, flourished in Brazil and in other countries.

As a result of this article in The New Yorker, Jeff gets a book publishing deal to write a nonfiction book about the history of Bossa Nova. While listening to a 1960s Brazilian Bossa Nova album, Jeff discovers Tenório Jr. when he hears a piano solo on the album. Jeff is intrigued to find out that Tenório Jr. hasn’t been featured on any musical recordings in more than 30 years. Jeff (who only speaks English) wants to know why, so he travels to Brazil to interview people. Jeff is sometimes accompanied by his Brazilian friend João (a fictional character, voiced by Tony Ramos), who is a tour guide/language interprerter of sorts during these trips.

Through a series of interviews, Jeff finds out that in 1976, Tenório disappeared in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, during a tour as a band member with singer Vinicius de Moraes and guitarist/singer Toquinho. Jeff then becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of what happened to Tenório, so he travels back and forth between Brazil and Argentina to get answers. (It’s not that much of a mystery, since the title of the movie says it all.) Tenório’s disappearance happened around the same time of the 1976 coup d’état that ousted Isabel Perón as president of Argentina, so it’s not much of a surprise that this political turmoil (and the thousands of innocent people who were victims of it) are part of this story.

Most people who knew Tenório tell Jeff that it was widely believed that Tenório was murdered in Buenos Aires in 1976. But who murdered him and why? Those questions are answered by some people who are interviewed in the movie and an archival interview that Jeff hears. The interviews also reveal what type of person Tenório was by the surviving people who knew him best. Jeff also visits several of the places where Tenório used to go, such as recording studios and nightclubs.

Jeff’s book editor Jessica (a fictional character, voiced by Roberta Wallach) sees how enthusiastic Jeff has become about solving the mystery, so she tells Jeff that instead of writing a book about the history of Bossa Nova, he should instead write a book about what happened to Tenório Jr. “They Shot the Piano Player” actually begins in 2009, after the book is published, and Jeff is doing a book reading at The Strand bookstore in New York City. The rest of the movie is a flashback to Jeff tellng the story about his journey in writing the book.

Through stories and descriptions from interviews, a portrait of Tenório emerges as a highly respected and talented musician who was passionate about music, who didn’t really care about becoming rich and famous, and who had a messy personal life. At the time of his disappearance, married man Tenório had a mistress and a pregnant wife, who was expecting their fifth child. His mistress Malena Barretto (who is interviewed in the movie) was staying with Tenório at a hotel in Buenos Aires on the night of Tenório’s disappearance. She had been feeling sick at the time, so he left the hotel to find a pharmacy to get some medicine for her. That was the last time she saw him.

“They Shot the Piano Player” is packed with several interesting interviews, but after a while, many of them say the same things over and over about how talented and sweet-natured Tenório was. The movie could have used better editing in reducing some of this repetitiveness. There are also some extraneous scenes that look like nothing but travelogue footage.

Most of the people interviewed are musicians who knew Tenório, such as Toquinho, Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil, Ben Shank, Caeton Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Jorge “Negro” Gonzales, Ian Muniz, João Donato, Laércio de Freitas, Raymundo Bittencourt, music producer Roberto Menescal and sound engineer Umberto Candardi. Family members interviewed include Tenório’s widow Carmen Magalhäes, his sister Vitoria Tenório and his uncle Manuel Tenório.

Also interviewed are several of Tenório Jr.’s friends in the Rio de Janeiro’s arts community, including Alberto Campana, the owner of Bottle’s Bar and Little, the nightclub where Tenório Jr. got his first big break; poet Ferrreira Gullar, who says that a psychic named Mrs. Haydée told Tenório Jr.’s father that Tenório Jr. was murdered; and family members and associates of de Moraes, such as his ex-wife Marta Santamaría, ex-brother-in-law Carlos Santamaría and friend Elena Goñio. Experts who weigh in with interview include Agrentina’s National Memory Archive coordinator Judith Said, human rights lawyer Luiz Eduardo, filmmaker/university professor Rogério Lima and journalists John Rowles, Nano Herrar and Horatio Verbitsky.

The animation is eye-catching and looks like painting art come to life. However, some people might not like the animation style that’s in this movie. The scenes where Jeff is visiting nightclubs to watch performances are enjoyable. And his investigation will keep viewers interested. It’s especially impactful when Jeff finds out what reportedly happened on the last day of Tenório’s life.

There are pros and cons to Goldblum’s constant narration in this movie. On the one hand, he gives a very good voice performance that remains engaging throughout the film. On the other hand, Goldblum has such a distinctive and famous voice, a lot of vewers might find his celebrity voice distracting. You never forget that you’re listening to Goldblum, which makes it harder to believe the narration is from a character named Jeff Harris.

Despite these narrative flaws, “They Shot the Piano Player” is a very good history lesson about Bossa Nova and about a fairly obscure and underrated Bossa Nova musician. The movie also tells a tragic story of someone who died simply because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “They Shot the Piano Player” doesn’t make any statements about all the political turmoil in South America, but it tells a compelling human story about someone affected by this turmoil who left an influential legacy in Brazilian music.

Sony Pictures Classics released “They Shot the Piano Player” in select U.S. cinemas on November 24, 2023, with a wider release in U.S. cinemas on February 23, 2024.

Review: ‘Legions’ (2022), starring Germán De Silva, Lorena Vega, Ezequiel Rodríguez, Mauro Altschuler and Fernando Alcaraz

March 27, 2023

by Carla Hay

Marta Haller in “Legions” (Photo courtesy of XYZ Films)

“Legions” (2022)

Directed by Fabián Forte

Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Argentina, the comedic horror film “Legions” features a Latino cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An elderly, powerful sorcerer, who is locked away in a psychiatric institution hopes to reunite with his long-lost daughter to save Argentina from demonic forces.

Culture Audience: “Legions” will appeal mainly to people who don’t mind watching tacky-looking and incoherent horror movies.

Germán De Silva in “Legions” (Photo courtesy of XYZ Films)

“Legions” tries too hard to be bizarre. The end result is a horror movie that isn’t very scary. The visual effects are also very cheap-looking and tacky. The father-daughter sorcerer storyline isn’t as interesting as it could have been. And the movie’s intentional comedy is often clumsily handled and not very funny at all.

Written and directed by Fabián Forte, “Legions” (which takes place in Argentina) tells the story of a powerful sorcerer named Antonio Poyju, an elderly man (played by Germán De Silva), who has been locked up in a psychiatric institution for many years. He says in a voiceover in the beginning of the movie: “Some people call me a shaman, a sorcerer. I prefer to be called a mediator between worlds. I belong to a lineage of powerful men. My blood is sacred.”

A flashback to 1980 shows Antonio as a young man (played by Fernando Alcaraz) in the Missionary Jungle, where Antonio says he confronted “a very dangerous demon, from the lower levels.” In this flashback, a 16-year-old girl (played by Julieta Brito) appears to be dead on the ground, until a young Antonio blows smoke in her face. She then appears to come to life, and she attacks him.

She says to Antonio: “Sorcerer, I condemn your offspring,” as Antonio throws holy water on her. Viewers later find out that this girl was daughter Elena, and she was possessed by a demon. Did the demon’s curse happen?

A flash-forward to the present day shows that Antonio has heartbreak in his life: Elena disppeared from his life in 1980, shortly after the demon’s curse. Antonio has been looking for her ever since. Another flashback shows that when Elena was a baby, Antonio once found his wife Amanda (played by Laura Manzaneda) with black bile coming out of her eyes and mouth, after she was seen in a trance asking something unseen: “Why do you want to take our baby.”

In the psychatric institution, Antonio complains to a psychiatrist: “I’m surrounded by faithless young people.” The movie then goes on a very dull and weird tangent by wasting a lot of time showing a dramatic play that is being staged in the institution. The play is based on Antonio’s life story, so he is overseeing it and acting like he’s some kind of important director. Other patients in the institution are elderly Roberto (played by Mauro Altschuler), middle-aged Olga (played by Marta Haller) and young Eduardo (played by Víctor Malagrino), who at various times bicker with each other and with Antonio.

It’s enough to say that an adult Elena (played Lorena Vega) comes back into her father Antonio’s life. The spirit of Elena’s dead grandmother Isarrina (played by Isabel Quinteros) possesses Elena and warns Elena and Antonio that a demon named Kuaraya wants to sacrifice Elena on “the red moon’s night.” And then there’s some nonsense about Antonio and Elena having to team up to save Argentina from a demon takeover.

Overall, “Legions” is not the worst horror movie ever. It just doesn’t tell the story in a way that is very intriguing. The acting performances aren’t impressive. It’s one of those horror film that fills up a lot of “jump scare” time with scenes of demon sightings and people with blood coming out of various body parts. The inevitable showdown is a jumbled mess that offers no surprise. “Legions” is ultimately a forgettable horror film among the many horror films about people with supernatural powers who try to stop demons.

XYZ Films released “Legions” on digital and VOD on January 19, 2023. The movie was released in Argentina on December 1, 2022.

Review: ‘The Silent Party,’ starring Jazmín Stuart, Gerardo Romano, Esteban Bigliardi, Lautaro Bettoni and Gaston Cocchiarale

August 7, 2022

by Carla Hay

“The Silent Party”

Directed by Diego Fried and Federico Finkielstain

Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Argentina, the dramatic film “The Silent Party” features an all-Latin cast of characters representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: On the evening before her wedding, a woman impulsively attends a silent disco party, where everyone is a stranger to her, and a heinous sexual assault leads to violent revenge.

Culture Audience: “The Silent Party” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in suspenseful movies that present provocative issues about victim blaming and getting justice in sexual assault crimes.

Esteban Bigliardi and Gerardo Romano in “The Silent Party” (Photo courtesy of Outsider Pictures)

Some viewers might not like how “The Silent Party” has an ending that is open to interpretation. However, this suspenseful drama adeptly shows how people can perceive the same crime in different ways. The way that viewers might feel about this crime often mirrors how people feel about victim blaming and victim shaming in sexual assaults. “The Silent Party” was made to make viewers uncomfortable and to get people to think about how not all rapes start off as a forceful act.

Directed by Diego Fried and Federico Finkielstain, “The Silent Party” takes place in an unnamed city in Argentina. Fried co-wrote the movie’s screenplay with Nicolas Gueilburt and Luz Orlando Brennan. Does it matter if an all-male team of directors and writers make a movie about a woman who gets raped? It depends. In the case of “The Silent Party,” the filmmakers handle the subject matter with raw realism that is not exploitation.

“The Silent Party” starts off looking like it will be a movie about an engaged couple who will be getting married the following day. Laura (played by Jazmín Stuart) and her Brazilian immigrant fiancé Daniel (played by Esteban Bigliardi), nicknamed Dani, have arrived at the Hidden Moon ranch property that Laura’s father has inherited from Laura’s paternal grandmother. Laura and Daniel’s wedding and reception will be held at the ranch.

Laura and Daniel are both in their early 40s, and the movie never states what they do for a living. Laura’s father is named Dr. Leon Grandi (played by Gerardo Romano), but it’s never mentioned what type of doctor he is. However, Leon is a doctor who appears to still be working because his receptionist calls him at one point in the movie. Laura’s mother is not seen or mentioned at all. It’s implied that Laura’s mother hasn’t been in this family’s life for many years.

Leon mentions that all of his friends and colleagues are coming to the wedding, which will be an outdoor ceremony with about 100 guests. Laura (who is an only child) has bought a simple white dress for the occasion. Daniel sees that only 10 tables have been set up for the reception. He wonders aloud if those tables will be enough to accommodate 100 people. Leon tells him not to worry about it. Daniel is also much more preoccupied than Laura with the guest list, such as who confirmed their RSVPs and who didn’t.

In fact, Leon and Daniel seem to be more in charge of the decision making for this wedding than Laura is in charge. Laura acts as if she has let other people take care of most of the wedding planning. Even the way that she treats her wedding dress (she casually tosses it on a bed) seems to be in a nonchalant manner. Is she even excited about getting married?

Laura and Daniel have arrived at the ranch the day before the wedding. Most brides would make sure to check on wedding details, such where the bridesmaids are, the status of the catering preparations, and how the decorations look. However, Laura doesn’t seem curious about this information.

These are clues that Laura might be having doubts about whether or not she should marry Daniel. Viewers never find out how long she and Daniel have been a couple or other details about their relationship because this 87-minute movie is all about what happens in the present. And for now, although Laura and Daniel are not having any major arguments with each other, there seems to be some underlying tension in their relationship. For example, they bicker a little bit because Daniel thinks that Laura is drinking too much alcohol, while Laura thinks Daniel is being too uptight.

Not long after Laura and Daniel have arrived at the ranch, Leon is in an open field shooting a 9 millimeter handgun for target practice. Laura is nearby, so Leon tries to get Laura to shoot the gun too. It makes her uncomfortable, so she refuses. It’s at this point in the movie that you know that you haven’t see the last of this gun.

In this scene, Laura also visibly cringes when Leon says that he hopes that Laura has a daughter who is just like Laura. Her displeased reaction is a sign that Laura has some resentment for Leon’s presumptions about Laura’s family planning decisions. He doesn’t seem to care what Laura wants when it comes to family planning. Viewers shouldn’t assume what Laura’s plans are either, because when or if Laura wants to be a parent is never mentioned in the movie. Although Leon appears to be a loving and protective father to Laura, he makes some other comments in other scenes that show he has very sexist beliefs on what women can and can’t do.

When Laura and Daniel get settled into their bedroom at the ranch, Laura makes some amorous moves on Daniel, but he seems too distracted and nervous to get intimate. Daniel explains that he doesn’t feel comfortable doing anything sexual while Laura’s father Leon might be in a nearby room. Laura looks hurt by this rejection, so she leaves the house to go for a walk in the woods that surround the ranch property. It will turn out to be a fateful decision.

During her walk at sunset, Laura sees a silent disco party happening in an open field. There are about 40 people at this party, which is attended mostly by people in their late teens to mid-20s. Laura doesn’t know anyone at this gathering. The party is hosted by a neighbor whose name is later revealed to be Maxi Navarro (played by Gastón Cocchiarale), who sees Laura hesitantly wandering around and is the first person to greet her. Maxi smiles and offers her a pair of headphones and a drink to join in on the party.

It’s unknown if the drink that Maxi gave to Laura was laced with any drugs. But it isn’t long before she’s definitely in the party spirit and appears to have lost her previous inhibitions, because she is dancing as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. As the party goes on, nightfall arrives, and Laura shows no signs that she wants to leave. Maxi and his friend Gabo (played by Lautaro Bettoni), whose real name is Gabriel, begin dancing with Laura, with Laura in the middle of the two men.

However, Laura is only attracted to Gabo, who has an athletic body and a handsome face. By contrast, Maxi has a chubby body and average-looking face. Laura and Gabo begin kissing each other passionately. And then, Laura and Gabo both go together to a more secluded area in the woods. Anyone watching them might assume that Laura and Gabo want privacy because they’re going to get more sexually intimate in a consensual encounter.

The next scene shows Laura going back to the party area alone, while she looks dazed and disheveled. She doesn’t speak to anyone as she leaves the party and walks back to the ranch. It’s obvious that something very wrong has happened. “The Silent Party” shows in flashbacks that Laura was raped. Who raped her and what happened after the rape won’t be revealed in this review.

However, it’s enough to say that Laura doesn’t stay silent about being sexually assaulted. And it leads to a series of events that exemplify how patriarchy, definitions of sexual consent, and what it means to “get justice” all play a role in decisions made by the characters who know about Laura’s rape. Maxi and Gabo have two friends from the party named Alex (played by Hudson Gomes De Oliveira Santana) and DJ (played by Diego Heck Dos Santos) who are among these characters.

The acting performances in “The Silent Party” get the job done well enough, considering that the movie’s characters don’t have a lot of background information. Early in the movie, before the scene where Laura ends up at the party, Leon tells Daniel a story about how when Laura was 13 years old, she was on a camping trip with Leon and four of her friends. Laura disappeared for a few hours. And just as Leon was about to report Laura missing, she was found.

When 13-year-old Laura was asked where she was during the period of time when people couldn’t find her, Laura said that she was somewhere “contemplating the river.” As an adult, Laura tells Daniel and Leon that she doesn’t remember this incident. It’s the movie’s way of saying that Laura blocks out certain childhood memories, and she has a history of wandering off for a few hours without telling people where she’s going, which is exactly the set of circumstances that led her to be at the party in the woods.

The standout characteristics of “The Silent Party” are how it builds tension and how it reveals the story in layers. The movie also looks authentic in showing the chaos that can ensue when people act out of blind rage or panic. Because the revenge part of the story unfolds in “real time,” viewers are taken on a fast-moving journey where the characters can’t or won’t take the time to really think about the consequences of their actions. The movie’s open-ended conclusion seems to deliberately hold up a proverbial mirror to viewers, in order to reflect people’s feelings on what they think should happen next in this brutal revenge story.

Outsider Pictures released “The Silent Party” on digital and VOD on July 12, 2022.

Review: ‘Azor,’ starring Fabrizio Rongione, Juan Pablo Geretto, Stéphanie Cléau and Ignacio Vila

December 28, 2021

by Carla Hay

“Azor”

Directed by Andreas Fontana

Spanish and French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Argentina in 1980, the dramatic film “Azor” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latinos) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A Swiss banker encounters mystery and controversy when he arrives in a politically chaotic Argentina after a banker colleague disappears.

Culture Audience: “Azor” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching “slow burn” movies about international politics and financial dealings.

Fabrizio Rongione in “Azor” (Photo courtesy of MUBI)

“Azor” requires patience in getting to the bottom of the mystery presented in the film. It’s a dialogue-heavy drama about a Swiss banker who travels to Argentina when one of his business partners has disappeared. The story unfolds at a pace that might be too slow for some viewers, but it should hold the interest of viewers who are intrigued by how the worlds of politics and finance are intertwined.

Swiss filmmaker Andreas Fontana makes an assured feature-film directorial debut with “Azor,” which he co-wrote with Argentinian filmmaker/actor Mariano Llinás. This international collaboration on the screenplay serves the movie well, which shows how a Swiss banker navigates his visit to Argentina in 1980, during a politically volatile period in Argentina’s history. In 1980, Argentina was under a military dictatorship.

Under these circumstances, Swiss banker Yvan de Wiel (played by Fabrizio Rongione) has traveled from Geneva, Switzerland, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his wife, Inès de Wiel (played by Stéphanie Cléau), because of an urgent matter: Yvan’s business partner René Keys (played by Alain Gegenschatz) has disappeared. René also happens to be Inès’ cousin, but she tells Yvan that she doesn’t know where René is or when he’ll be coming back.

Yvan and René are among the owners of a private financial institution called Keys Lamar De Wiel Bank. Yvan inherited his share of the bank from his grandfather. There are part of “Azor” that show how Yvan has some insecurities about being perceived as an unqualified heir—someone who’s in this privileged banking position not because he earned it but because he happened to be born into the right family.

Much of “Azor” is about Yvan finding out that René left behind a mess of disgruntled customers and alienation among business colleagues. Yvan has to give apologies on behalf of René. Yvan even tells a client that René’s “attitude is deplorable.” Mr. Decôme (played by Gilles Privat), a former partner of the bank and a good friend of Yvan’s father, describes René as “brilliant” but “toxic” and someone who “lost his mind.”

Did René voluntarily disappear or did he run into foul play? Yvan starts to find some clues in René’s appointment book. He also gets some clues a collegaue named Dekerman (played by Juan Pablo Geretto), who gives Yvan some gossipy inside information about which clients might or might not be the most upset with René.

And he discovers that even though René wasn’t very well-liked by some business colleagues in Argentina, René had his share of fans. One of them is an elderly woman named Viuda Lacrosteguy (played by Carmen Iriondo), who tells Yvan that she and René had such a friendly rapport with each other, they’d play a game: She would start to a sing a song, and René would finish it.

Another admirer of René’s is a horse enthusiast named Anibal Farrell (played by Ignacio Vila), whom Yvan thinks is a difficult client. Anibal is such a fan of René’s, Dekerman describes Anibal’s attitude about René as being “like the drug addict who sucks the dealer’s cock.” This crude language in a world of elite bankers, ambassadors and society people is the first indication that things in this world might not be so genteel at first glance.

Yvan gets deeper and deeper into the a web of intrigue that eventually leads him to a clergyman named Monseigneur Tatoski (played by Pablo Torre Nilson), who is heavily involved in international politics. Although some scenes in “Azor” take place in an Argentinian jungle, much of the movie consists of conversations in lavish homes or corporate offices.

None of the acting is particularly outstanding, but Rongione does a capable job of keeping viewers guessing about the character of Yvan and how far he’s willing to go in his quest. The word “azor” is Spanish for “goshawk,” a bird that is defined by its keen ability to observe before attacking its prey. At one point in the movie, it’s mentioned that “azor” means “Be quiet and be careful what you say.” The film will keep people guessing up until a certain point about who’s the observant predator and who’s the unwitting prey.

Because “Azor” is a very talkative film, it might bore viewers who are expecting more physical action in this story. “Azor” is also not an appealing movie for people who don’t care about behind-the-scenes machinations of bankers and politicians. If viewers decide to stick with the movie and watch it to the very end, they’ll find some surprises proving that initial impressions aren’t always the correct impressions.

MUBI released “Azor” in select U.S. cinemas on September 10, 2021. The movie premiered on the MUBI streaming service on December 3, 2021.

Review: ‘The Alpinist,’ starring Marc-André Leclerc

November 5, 2021

by Carla Hay

“The Alpinist”

Directed by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen

Culture Representation: Filmed from 2016 to 2018 in various parts of North America and South America, the documentary “The Alpinist” features an all-white group of people talking about Canadian alpinist Marc-André Leclerc.

Culture Clash: Leclerc was a daredevil mountain climber/adventurer who ignored warnings about his dangerous mountain climbing.

Culture Audience: “The Alpinist” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in non-fiction movies about people who are compelled to engage in extreme, life-threatening physical activities.

Marc-André Leclerc in “The Alpinist” (Photo courtesy of Red Bull Media House/Roadside Attractions)

“The Alpinist” can get inevitable comparisons to the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” because each movie is a profile of a daredevil mountain climber who doesn’t use wires, ropes or other safety equipment when climbing. (This practice is known as “free soloing.”) Marc-André Leclerc is the subject of “The Alpinist” (directed by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen), while Alex Honnold is the subject of “Free Solo,” directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. “The Alpinist” is more of an underdog film than “Free Solo” is, because “The Alpinist” is about a mountain climber known for not seeking out any media attention, even though he engaged in stunts that blew away even the boldest of risk-taking mountain climbers.

Leclerc had such a daredevil reputation that many of the well-known mountain climbers (including Honnold) who are interviewed in “The Alpinist” marvel, as well as show alarm, at all of Leclerc’s hazardous mountain-climbing accomplishments that he achieved, often in record-breaking times. And he did so in a few years (from 2015 to 2018), all by the age of 25. However, unlike most of his peers, Leclerc did not like to call attention to himself by putting his exploits on social media. He also rarely did interviews. Most people (including “The Alpinist” directors) who found out about Leclerc heard about him through word of mouth.

Leclerc (who was born in 1992 in Nanaimo, British Columbia) had occasional sponsors to help pay for his excurisions, but he never got rich off of these sponsorships or other deals that he could have made. In fact, “The Alpinist” shows that Leclerc’s life as a mountain climber was one in which he lived near poverty level, and he was frequently homeless. He often camped outdoors or lived in hostels as a way of life.

Because he wasn’t a media star, many people watching “The Alpinist” might not have heard about Leclerc before seeing this movie and won’t know what happens at the end of the documentary. Therefore, that information won’t be revealed in this review. However, it’s enough to say that the massive summits that Leclerc is shown climbing in “The Alpinist” include Torre Egger in Patagonia and the Mendenhall Towers near Juneau, Alaska.

Needless to say, the documentary’s mountain-climbing cinematography (by Jonathan Griffith, Brett Lowell and Austin Siadak) is absolutely stunning. This movie should be seen on the biggest screen possible to get the best sense of how breathtaking (and dangerous) these alpinist activities are. However, this isn’t just a movie about mountain climbing, because “The Alpinist” also presents an emotionally moving portrait of a young man with an unquenchable thirst for extreme mountain-climbing adventures.

In the production notes for “The Alpinist,” co-director Mortimer says that Leclerc’s appeal was precisely because Leclerc didn’t want to call attention to himself: “Maybe it’s because I grew up listening to punk rock and I’ve always been fascinated by people who stay true to an ideal and refuse to sell out. But as soon as I heard about him, I really wanted to get to know him.”

In order to get this documentary made, the filmmakers had to gain Leclerc’s trust. You can see that over time (“The Alpinist” was filmed from 2016 to 2018), Leclerc felt more comfortable in front of the camera. In his initial interviews for the movie, he seems shy and uneasy when talking on camera.

Through his own words and through interviews with his loved ones—including Leclerc’s mother Michelle Kuipers and Leclerc’s girlfriend/fellow mountain climber Brette Harrington—a picture emerges of a once-troubled kid who dedicated his life to his greatest passion, even if it came a life-threatening cost. Leclerc’s parents split up when he was young; he was raised primarily by his mother, who worked as a restaurant server. His father Serge Leclerc worked in construction.

Kuipers says that her son (her only child) was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “He liked kindergarten, but he hated first grade, so he was homeschooled for a while.” As a child, Leclerc was “a voracious reader,” especially in reading adventure books. At the age of 8, he was introduced to rock climbing to by his maternal grandfather.

Kuipers said that when her son went from being homeschooled to going to a regular high school, he had a difficult time adjusting: “It [high school] was like a form of incarceration for him.” Leclerc describes his childhood as being a resteless rebel, including his teenage years when he began using drugs. After graduating from high school, he moved to Squamish, British Columbia, and had an aimless life. During his early 20s, Leclerc said he was still heavily into the drug scene (frequently taking hallucinogenics such LSD) because he liked the idea of going on mind-altering trips.

Harrington says of Leclerc’s drug-fueled lifestyle: “I could see where Marc could’ve easily slid down that life.” However, Lerclerc says he decided to stop abusing psychedelics and instead get his highs from something that required a certain amount of athleticism and enormous amounts of bravery: extreme, free solo mountain climbing. That doesn’t mean Leclerc completely gave up drugs, since a few scenes in “The Alpinist” shows that he and his mountain-climbing pals indulged in marijuana and hashish when they partied.

Leclerc says taking psychedelics had some mind-expanding effects on him that he implies might have had something to do with his lack of fear in climbing mountains and cliffs, literally without any safety nets. He describes not feeling any anxiety during his climbs—only incredible peace, calmness and the intense focus to get to the next level of the climb. Leclerc often wouldn’t wear gloves during his climbs, since gloves can interfere with a hand’s natural grip. To climb ice-covered terrain, Leclerc would use ice axes.

In the documentary, Harrington describes Leclerc as a “brash” and “broke” (as in financially broke) mountain climber. However, Leclerc’s brashness in this documentary only comes out in his fearlnessness when he climbs. Off of the mountain, he’s mild-mannered and unassuming.

Harrington and Leclerc met in 2012, and they bonded over ther love of free solo mountain climbing and other extreme sports. Harrington says of Leclerc: “He was different from anyone I ever met. He’s socially awkward, but that’s what I like about him.”

And this was no fairy-tale romance: Harrington says that she knew from the start that being with Leclerc would mean not living in regular dwellings. She describes how early on in their relationship, they lived in a tent and were often starving for food. But more than having a food-deprived, nomadic lifestyle, the bigger threat to their existence was knowing that their mountain climbing could result in death.

Several well-known alpinists interviewed in the documentary essentially say the same thing: To be a free solo mountain climber, you have to be a little bit crazy and you have to prepare for the likelihood that you could die while climbing. Among the climbers interviewed are Honnold, Will Stanhope, Jason Kruk, Alan “Hevy Duty” Stevenson, Will Gadd, Bernadette McDonald, Raphael Slawinski, Barry Blanchard, Ryan Johnson, Hugo Acosta, Jon Walsh, Jim Elzinga and Reinhold Messner. “If death is not a possibility,” says Messner, “then the adventure would be nothing.”

Honnold remarks that Leclerc is one of the alpinists he admires the most because Leclerc wasn’t motivated by getting accolades: “He cares about the experience in the mountains and the journey. I really respect that.” Hevy Duty comments on Leclerc’s extraordinary boldness in mountain climbing: “He belongs in the ’70s and the ’80s [decades], when it was wild. He’s a breath of fresh air.”

Although Leclerc allowed this documentary to be made about him, the movie shows that he still had mixed feelings about it. During the documentary’s production, Leclerc broke a record by doing a first-ever solo climb of the Infinite Patience route on the Emperor Face of Canada’s 13,000-foot Mount Robson. However, this achievement was never filmed because Leclerc kept this climb a secret from the filmmakers until after the fact.

To make up for this exclusion, Leclerc let the filmmakers document his journey to Argentina, to climb Patagonia’s Torre Egger during a brutal winter. Only one camera operator was allowed: Leclerc’s friend Siadak. And the trip wasn’t easy, since snowstorms caused some problems. In the lead-up before the climb and after the climb, Leclerc shows how friendly he is in his interactions with hostel owner Hugo Acosta and Acosta’s young son, who seems to look up to Leclerc as a hero.

The final climb in the documentary is when Leclerc, accompanied by experienced climber Ryan Johnson, went to the Main Tower of the Mendenhall Towers in Juneau, Alaska. This trip also took place during snowy weather. It was one of the few times that Leclerc uploaded videos of his progress on the Internet, since he generally shied away from social media.

The takeway from watching Leclerc in this documentary is how determined and focused (some would say obsessed) he is on his mountain-climbing goals. He’s also very humble and self-aware that his obsession with mountain climbing comes at a heavy cost to his personal life. Harrington and Leclerc share the same passion for mountain climbing, but they admit that trips away from each other, as well the very real possibility of death while mountain climbing, can put a strain on even the strongest of relationships.

Viewers will immediately notice that every time Leclerc conquers one of his mountain goals, he doesn’t rest on his laurels and is eager to go on to the next goal. It’s like he’s in a race against time and against himself to accomplish as many of these goals as possible and try to surpass himself and others with these goals. After all, mountain climbing this extreme is not an elderly person’s game. If there’s anything to be learned from “The Alpinist,” it’s that Leclerc’s choice to dedicate his life to free solo mountain climbing came not from having a death wish but from being motivated to live his life to the fullest and in the most authentic way possible.

Universal Pictures Content Group and Roadside Attractions released “The Alpinist” for one night only for a sneak preview (via Fathom Events) in select U.S. cinemas on September 7, 2021, followed by a limited release in select U.S. cinemas on September 10, 2021. The movie’s release date on digital and VOD was November 2, 2021.

2019 Tribeca Film Festival movie review: ‘Initials SG’

April 28, 2019

by Carla Hay

“Initials SG” (“Iniciales SG”)

Directed by Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia

Spanish with subtitles

World premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 28, 2019.

The trials and tribulations of a struggling actor have been the subject of classic Oscar-winning movies, ranging from the 1937 drama “A Star Is Born” to the 1982 comedy “Tootsie” to the 2016 musical “La La Land.” The dark comedy “Initials SG” (“Iniciales SG”) is not going to be an Oscar-winning classic, but it’s a compelling movie about the seedy underbelly of the acting profession far outside of the United States—in this case: Buenos Aires, Argentina. In “Initials SG,” Diego Peretti plays Sergio Garces, a down-on-his-luck, middle-aged actor who still holds on to the dream of achieving major stardom. Years before, Sergio recorded a long-forgotten album of Serge Gainsbourg cover songs in a misguided bid for fame. The title of the movie is a nod to Sergio Garces and Serge Gainsbourg having the same initials.

Sergio—who is single and lives alone—is the type of actor whose career was once promising, but has in recent years been reduced to mostly bit parts as an extra or voiceover roles, and he’s not above making adult films to help pay the bills. After being sentenced to anger management and probation for a fight where he pushed someone out of a window, he gets into a bike accident that injures his nose. The injury negatively affects his health and immediate job prospects.

In the midst of this personal crisis, Sergio meets a visiting American sales agent named Jane (played by Julianne Nicholson) by chance at a bar. She’s more attracted to him than he is attracted to her, and they eventually become lovers after Sergio misses a chance to hook up with a younger woman he’s been lusting after for a while. Sergio’s ego also gets a temporary boost when he finds out that he’s going to honored at a film festival.

“Initials SG” at first gives an appearance of being an absurdist comedy with a protagonist who keeps running into bad luck. This movie is not for the faint of heart. In one of the movie’s scenes, Sergio’s nose injury causes him to have a nose bleed while filming a sex scene in a porn movie. In another scene, we find out the nose injury is more serious than it first appears to be. (Hint: If you’re disgusted by the idea of a slithery animal being stuck in a human body, you might want to skip this film.)

When Sergio goes out on the street outside his apartment, he keeps seeing a weird young man, who’s apparently in a drug-induced haze, because the young man stares up at the sky and points at something that isn’t there. That sidewalk character will play a pivotal role in the last third of the movie, which takes a very sinister turn, as secrets are revealed and covered up. But the movie’s final act is one that might leave audiences the most divided. It’s a bold twist to the story that will linger long after the credits roll.

UPDATE: “Initials SG” is available on HBO and HBO Max.