El Chino

I need to say that Argentine cinema is surprising me more and more at each movie I watch. They are decades ahead of us here in Brazil. Not that we don't ever produce good works.

A rich cast and a good script makes Un cuento chino a excellent option to amuse you at any time, being you alone and sad or laughing with friends.

Trust me, the jokes and the faces are priceless. Ricardo Darín is at his best form, doing what he is best of. His character, Roberto, is an slang disturbed man. He owns a ironware store where he always counts hot many bolts are in the box, so he is not cheated. He turn off the lights every day at 23 pm, etc. One day he is sitting there near the airport, watching the planes takin' off, drinking his beer when this china is thrown off a moving cab. Roberto decide to help the poor boy and, since then, their lives will suffer some changes.

Awesome Argentine movie, freaking hilarious !!

From the beginning to the end, excellent and funny jokes...the much the time passes more funny the jokes get. The Chinese guy makes you LOL all the time...the Argentine guy is really funny, and the story itself is comical amusing and very entertaining.

The story is about rare and freakish events that may happen to anyone anytime.

Watch it and you'll know what i'm talking about.

Be ready to have an awesome time and entertain your self with a really great comedy !!!

In Buenos Aires, the bitter and methodic Roberto (Ricardo Darín) is a lonely man and the owner of a hardware store. Roberto collects bizarre worldwide news in an album as a hobby and his acquaintance Mari (Muriel Santa Ana) has an unrequited love for him, but Roberto is always evasive.

One day, Roberto sees a Chinese named Jun (Ignacio Huang) being expelled from a taxi while he is watching the landing of airplanes in the airport and he helps the man to stand up. Jun does not speak Spanish and shows a tattoo with an address on his arm. Roberto heads to the spot with Jun and discover that the place belonged to Jun's uncle that sold it three and half years ago. Roberto goes with Jun to the police station, to the China's embassy and to a Chinese neighborhood to seek out his uncle but it is a fruitless search. Roberto lodges Jun in his house and after a series of incidents, he finds a delivery boy that speaks Cantonese to translate Jun and he learns the dramatic story of the life of his guest.

"Un Cuento Chino" is a funny and dramatic film, with a refreshing story and excellent screenplay, direction and performances. Ricardo Darín is one of the best (if not the best) Argentinean actors these days; Ignacio Huang is great in the role of a Chinese that cannot speak Spanish and Muriel Santa Ana is very sweet with her beautiful smile. This film is another proof that for making a great film, budget is one of the least components. Story, screenplay, direction and performances are the most important.

The apparently absurd and bizarre idea of a cow falling from the sky on a boat is true and has happened in 1997 in the Sea of Japan, when a Russian cargo airplane with problems released a cow from a high altitude that hit a Japanese fishing boat that sank. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Um Conto Chinês" ("A Chinese Tale")

Usually telling the end of a film is considered a spoiler. In the case of Argentinian director Sebastián Borensztein, 'Chinese Take-Out' ('Un cuento cino' in the Spanish version) it would be a spoiler to tell how it begins. I actually watched the usual late comers to the cinema hall and wondered whether the film experience is really complete for those folks who entered even only two minutes late after the start of the projection. So, I won't make the mistake of revealing the start of this quite charming feel-good film, I will just say it's quite relevant.

The film tells the story of a grumpy mid-aged owner of a hardware shop in Argentina named Roberto who lives alone, refusing almost any relation with other human beings excepting his suppliers and customers (well, even with these ones only to the point where they do not walk on his toes). He is a good and decent man, and a very bad communicator at the same time. The last thing he needs in life is the appearance of a young Chinese man, Jun, frightened and disoriented, who looks for his uncle in the search for somebody to support him in finding a new way in a new country and who has no-one to rely on but Roberto whom he met accidentally. None of them speaks any word in the language of the other, and each hides traumas from the bast that justify their own barriers in communication. The whole movie is about finding ways to communicate and building a friendship that will help both in overcoming the hurdles of life.

Films about overcoming cultural gaps doubled by barriers of language and making human communication possible despite of them have been made in the past, the one I happen to remember is the Israeli 'Noodle', which was telling the story of a stewardess who finds herself taking care of an abandoned Chinese kid. What makes the story different in 'Un quento cino' are the background stories of the two heroes and the fact that Ricardo Darin and Ignacio Huang are right on spot for the two leading roles. One of the nice ideas of the film is that Jun (Huang) does not really speak one word of Spanish during the whole film, he speaks Chinese, but no translation is available. The language gap is more than a emotional trick or a comic pretext in this film. It is the very glue upon which the relationship and eventually the friendship between the two characters is based upon. Although it is aimed eventually to be a feel-good movie (and succeeds to be so) 'Un quento cino' avoids falling into cheap melodrama because of the discrete humor built upon the day-to-day situations, also based on the fact that in the absence of words the characters need to use gestures which to some extent remind the pantomime style of the early cinema comedies. A discrete and pleasant film.

This is a slightly entertaining flick with amusing as well as embarrassing situations , emotions and thoughtful deeds , too . This is a charming drama proceeded in slow-moving with plenty of sentimentalism , sensibility and a few surprises . In Buenos Aires, Argentina, lives Roberto (Ricardo Darin) who is a loner and relunctant to engagement with his lover Mari (Muriel Santa Ana) . Roberto has dark secrets on his past and he is the owner of a DIY store. One day, Roberto meets a missing Chinese named Jun (Ignacio Huang ) being thrown out of a taxi . Jun does not speak Spanish language and both of them are lost in translation . Jun shows a tattoo with an address on his arm . Roberto and Jun head to the location and find out that the place belonged to Jun's uncle , but then things go wrong .

Austerily wonderful film based on actual events , that contains drama , mystery about the strange personality of a Chinese man , and haunting poetic fantasy . This is an enjoyable as well as strange flick , here filmmaker/writer Borenzstein established again his uniquely poetic and visually striking style . Besides,there are brooding , provoking and interesting issues running throughout the engaging story . Nice interpretations all around . It stands out Ricardo Darin as a lonely as well as methodic man who collects rare worldwide news and holding ancient prejudices and pains , that's why he is a solitary man . Darin is an excellent leading figure of the most important Argentinian movies , such as : "El Faro" (1998), "El Mismo Amor La Misma Lluvia" (1999), "Nueve Reinas" (2000), "La Fuga" (2001) and especially known for ¨The secret in your eyes¨ and ¨El Hijo De La Novia¨ . His acquaintance is Mari , well played by Muriel Santa Ana , who has an unrequited and evasive love for him . And the mysterious Chinese with surpring and fantastic past was well performed by Ignacio Huang .

Furthermore ,an atmospheric and appropriate musical score by the notorious musician Lucio Gody , a prolific composer who has composed excellent soundtracks such as ¨Blackthorn¨, ¨All about my mother¨ , ¨Fin¨ , ¨Lunes Al Sol¨, ¨Amador¨, ¨Aura¨ and deemed to be one of the best Argentine/Spanish musicians . Competently produced by Gerardo Herrero . Gerardo is a famous producer as well as filmmaker . He was President of the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1994-1994) . Great producer of big hits , being especially known for The Secret of your ears (2009), Sin Retorno (2010) , Balada Triste de Trompeta (2010) , Crimenes De Oxford (2008) and El Hijo De La Novia (2001). He also directed some good films such as ¨Silencio En Nieve¨ , ¨Corredor Nocturno¨ , ¨Principio Arquímedes¨ , ¨Crimen Galindez¨ , ¨Frontera Sur¨, ¨Territorio Comanche¨ , ¨Desvio a Paraíso¨ , ¨Al Acecho¨ and ¨Heroína¨ .

The motion picture was well directed by Sebastián Borensztein . He is a nice craftsman who has made nice films as Capitan Koblic , Sin memoria , La suerte está echada and various TV series . The picture won several Awards in Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina 2011 such as : Winner Award of the Argentinean Academy Best Film Sebastián Borensztein ; Best Actor Ricardo Darín ; Best Supporting Actres Muriel Santa Ana ; Best Supporting Actor Ignacio Huang .; Best Screenplay, Original Sebastián Borensztein ; Best Cinematography Rodrigo Pulpeiro. Furthermore, it won Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards 2012 : Silver Condor Best Screenplay, Original , Best Director : Sebastián Borensztein and Best Actor : Ricardo Darín . And Goya Awards 2012 Winner Goya Best Iberoamerican Film (Mejor Película Iberoamericana) Sebastián Borensztein