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Directed by: Carlos Sorin Starring: Juan Villegas, Walter Donado, Gregorio (it's the dog's name) Argentinian cinema is the new hot property in the hallowed circles of cinema afficionados. I've seen two this year, the uncompromisingly slow and uneventful Los Muertos, and this. They could not have been more different, but both were great in their own ways. Juan Villegas is an unemployed mechanic living off his overworked daughter and her useless, lazy husband . He carves knife-shafts which are universally too expensive to buy, since the economy is so bad and jobs are hard to come by. One day, he helps a woman fix her car and is taken to the farm where she lives with her mother. As a reward for helping the daughter, he gets Bombon, a large white combat dog. Moreover, it has a great pedigree and potential for winning prizes, races, or even fights. Far from being a burden (as he assumes at first), Bombón makes Juan's life easier, getting him into contact with people that would otherwise have scoffed at im, even finding him a girlfriend. When he meets Walter Donado, a big and dumb dog-trainer, he starts a partnership that leaves him short of money but richer in experience. Bombón (El Perro) is a pretty funny film, which makes good use of the expressive faces of Juan Villegas (yes, his name is the same as the character he plays) and the dog. Most of the situations they end up in are explicitly non-threatening or dramatic, and there are few cheap attempts at humour or tension throughout. When the ending arrives, there is somewhat of a build-up to a bad ending but when you realize what's really happening you can't help but smile. A very charming and simple movie. Here's a picture. If this does not make you want to immediately see the movie, you might as well don't. RATING: 4.5 PROS: Humorous character-study that somewhat avoids the usual world-movie cliches CONS: Some stupid dog-humour and cloying economy stuff ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420548/
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Sep 27, 2005 11:44
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 13:33 |
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