Luna de Avellaneda

Luna de Avellaneda is a 70 years old club, in the good ol' days it had more than 8.000 members. There they teach ballet, you can play basketball, you can chat with your friends... In short: it's your family out of your family. Now, times have changed, things are getting hard and people don't have much money. The club has nowadays less than 300 members, and has lots of debts. They're going' to have to sell the facilities, they say they're gonna build a casino, they say there will be a job for everybody, they say prosperity will be back in town... they say...

This is such of a metaphor of the whole Argentinian situation. He uses this club to represent the reality of a country that's been hurt very deeply, surrounded by looters and sick of promises. A country which uses the sense of humor and the sarcasm as a medicine.

Two hours of rage, love after love, and tons of hope... (we really need that) *My rate: 8/10

At once universal, in its complex Dickensian portrait of a society, and extremely timely - narrating in microcosm the recent economic crisis in Argentina - Luna de Avellaneda is a beautiful, eloquent film that will resonate deeply with both Argentine viewers and audiences worldwide. Very funny and very moving, the film is rich in human drama, its characters ranging from a small boy whose braces are killing him to an old man on his deathbed, with all sorts of variations in between - a man who discovers his wife is having an affair, a son who wants to escape the catastrophic situation by emigrating to Spain, a drunk who falls in love and tries to reform, a girl from a shanty town who wants to learn ballet. Small miracles occur throughout the film. The dialogues are brilliant, the acting consistently strong. As in reality (though not often depicted in films), economic concerns are never far from anyone's mind, yet at the same time the emotional life persists. Rarely have I seen such a felicitious melding of the two, as when the central character, Roman, whose marriage is failing, goes to buy cologne to try to spice things up and, after perusing the range of possibilities, can only afford the cheapest, and most acrid-smelling, scent on the shelves. Or when a still infuriated divorcee invites her ex to a romantic dinner in a five star restaurant and, after ordering numerous bottles of the best champagne, then slips away leaving him to foot the bill. I cannot recommend this film highly enough.

I am a great admirer of Juan Jose Campanella's films and this was the main reason why I decided to watch this film in first place. I did watch Son of the Bride and The Secret of Your Eyes, both great films. Ricardo Darin was another reason why I decided to watch it. I think he is now the greatest actor in the Hispanic cinema. It's amazing how the Capanella-Darin contributions worked so well in this "trilogy".

What is really cool about those films is that Campanella can create from a different situation many parallel stories. Like here for example, the main plot in "Luna..." is the administration board trying to save their beloved 70 year club from bankruptcy and to avoid the club to be sold and to build in his place a casino instead. From that plot Campanella shows not just the effort that the club employees do in order to save the club but he also shows the family and love relationships in the life of those people.

The trademark in the Campanella films is that he can balance the comedy with the drama. The soundtrack is beautiful as well like in all his films always with a great presence. The chemistry between Darin and Eduardo Blanco is always moving.

Although the film could it be a little bit shorter and sometimes the story does not develop as it should, its another great film by Juan Jose Campanella and Ricardo Darin that I definitely recommend it!

A group of people from a neighborhood come together in the midst of their many troubles in order to attempt saving a sports and social club which they have been a part of for most of their lives. Things get complicated as the economy takes a hit and people fight through their own struggles on the side. Juan Jose Campanella places us, the viewers, right in the middle of the many problems which exist in the lives of all the people who share the commonality of being on the board of the CLA. Each one of the characters is both emotionally torn due to family or relationship issues, and in big financial need. Although the club is a large part of the reason for so much financial instability, it also seems to serve as the fountain of energy and inspiration for all of the characters. The story demonstrates clearly how society has changed and how difficult it is to move past economical issues, even when it means throwing a lifelong tradition to the side. Furthermore, it does paint a beautiful picture of finding hope and passion in the memory of how things used to be and how they could be once again with some time investment and sacrifice.

I have seen the movie at the Montreal Film Festival. I am not Argentine and don't speak Spanish. It is, however, one of the ten best movies I have seen in my life. Argentines can rest assured that this will be as powerful abroad as it seems to be down there. Rarely have I seen an audience enjoy a movie so much, the

laughter, the emotion, the high sense of humanity. It is certainly one of the most, if not the most, popular movie in the Festival. Intelligent, timely, human,

incredibly witty, deeply emotional. A movie that makes you happy to belong to the human race.

Please, wherever you are in the world, if this movie shows up in your local

festival, DON'T MISS IT!!! Anybody can make movies about war and misery and

poverty, but a movie that creates so much warmth and drama from small every

day situations is a gem. It had me crying and laughing and crying and laughing again. The applause at the Festival was thunderous, and so were the reviews.

I have not seen "Son Of The Bride" which was a big hit here. I do not want to miss it now. It is refreshing to see that somebody gives us the pleasure to go back to the movies to learn and enjoy life. It's been five days since I've seen it, and I still can't shake it off my mind. I find myself laughing and tearing up in the oddest situations.

One of the best movies I've seen in my life.