Voley

Martín Piroyansky is a young Argentine filmmaker who not only directed Volley, but wrote and starred in this film. That is quite an achievement. However, despite showing some real talent when it came to his directing and acting, the story itself left me very cold.

Volley is the story about six 20-somethings who go on a joint vacation to the summer home owned by Nicholas' family. Their plans are to hang out and get stoned. Nicholas, on the other hand, seems more interested in sex and through the course of the film, he has sex, or more correctly, nearly has sex with three of the four women. However, although he openly declares that men are just cavemen who NEED sex, he finds his values (or lack of values) challenged by the end of their trip.

As I said above, Piroyansky did a fine job when it came to directing this story. He also showed a nice flair for acting. But the story itself left me very, very cold for a variety of reasons. Most of the characters seem underdeveloped and you know almost nothing about them by the end of the film. While I liked where Piroyansky's character went through the course of the film, it was difficult to really like him or care about the other characters. Additionally, the film seemed very, very talky....and most of what they talked about was sex. Believe it or not, I found this all rather boring. Not a bad film at all, but you can easily find better.

The positives: Excellent cinematography; you get a glimpse at the Delta of the Paraná River, a fascinating region near Buenos Aires not unlike the Louisiana bayous. Direction by Martin Piroyansky is fluid. The negatives: Almost everything else. The characters are built from clichés, have no sense of humor and no perceptible redeeming features, so it's difficult to feel for any of them. As an actor, Piroyansky becomes tiresome after a few minutes. Some scenes are comically pretentious, like the one with Nessun Dorma as background music. A miss as comedy and drama. Piroyansky should stick to directing and leave acting and scripting to others.

Yes, it's not a masterpiece but it's very good for a directorial debut. Yes, there is some toilet humour, but come on, it's a comedy for young people! The script is quite original and makes you wonder how will it end during the entire movie. The cast is also good, formed by many more or less famous argentinian young actors. Good job, Martin Piroyansky!