El Chino

Very good movie. Intense from the beginning to the end. Crafted with few resources, as were done the movies in the good times of the Nouvelle Vague. Few resources in terms of few actors, few places where the scenes where recorded, no special effects, stunts, wreckage etc, and at the same time, an outstanding existential weight. Existential weight in the sens that each minute in the film is meaningful and cannot be lost. Ricardo Darin is again a great actor. Muriel Santa Ana inspires beauty and sensuality being very simple all the time. Ignacio Huang is dramatic in spite that no one understand what he says. In short, a film which suggests that it is good to plan some place for wisdom in our lives.

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

¨I've got a Chinese guy living in my house who doesn't speak a word of Spanish.¨

Ricardo Darín has starred in two of my favorite Argentine films: El Secreto de Sus Ojos and Nueve Reinas. Darín is a great actor and he has proved he can do very different roles and manage them well. In this film he plays a quiet grumpy and lonely man whose life turns around when an unexpected visitor changes his every day routine. Un Cuento Chino was written and directed by Sebastian Borensztein, a director I wasn't familiar with until now. He has made a well crafted film by mixing the right amount of comedy with drama. The movie shines thanks to the original script and Darín's performance, along with two good supporting performances from unknown actors Muriel Santa Ana and Ignacio Huang. The film claims to be based on a true story, but actually it is just loosely based on an unexpected incident which had to do with a cow falling from the sky and sinking a Japanese ship. This story actually begins with a Chinese couple in a River who are interrupted when a cow falls from the sky. From that moment on you know that you are in for a very different movie, but there is a perfect explanation for the event. The cow falling from the sky is the only true event about this movie which is a fictionalization about a relationship between this lonely man played by Ricardo Darín and a Chinese immigrant in Argentina. Their failure to communicate is what makes this film so funny.

Roberto (Ricardo Darin) is a hardware store owner who lives on his own in the city of Buenos Aires. He is very grumpy and always complaining, but also seems to live a very quiet and routine life. His house is behind the store so he spends most of his time indoors keeping to his self and collecting newspaper clips of bizarre and rare stories in order to prove that life is meaningless. He goes to bed exactly at 11pm and wakes up the next morning to the same breakfast: coffee and bread. He seems comfortable living on his own. He seems to have had a short relationship with the sister in law of the person who always brings him the international newspapers. Her name is Mari (Muriel Santa Ana) and she lives in the countryside far from Buenos Aires, but happens to be visiting again and is very much in love with Roberto. His life changes when he runs into a Chinese immigrant named Jun (Ignacio Huang) who is thrown out of a cab after being mugged. Jun has nowhere to go and doesn't speak Spanish so Roberto decides to help him. He takes Jun to the address he has tattooed on his arm, but the person living there claims that a Chinese man sold the house to him several years ago. Roberto takes Jun to the Chinese Embassy where Jun can finally communicate his intentions: He has come to Argentina to find his uncle since he is the only family he has left. Despite the inconvenience Roberto decides to take Jun in for a few days until his uncle shows up. This will change Roberto's routine and affect his life.

Darin's character might be grumpy and mean, but he is also nice and has a big enough heart to accommodate a foreigner into his home. He will never expect how this relationship will dramatically change his life, but this relationship is exactly what makes the story work. There are other funny moments like some of the paper clips that Roberto finds and how he recreates those bizarre events in his mind, but the center of the story revolves around him, Jun, and Mari. The story moves slow at times, but it works really well because it shows us exactly how Roberto lived before Jun shows up. Once Jun is with Roberto everything changes and that is what makes for the funniest moments. Un Cuento Chino is a very rare film, but a good one with memorable characters and an unlikely pairing between Darin and Huang that works really well. The film has a feel good feeling to it and once the credits begin to role it's impossible not to leave with a smile in your face. I absolutely recommend this movie which won Best Argentine Film and the Goya for Best Iberoamerican Film in 2011.

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Interesting and somewhat fresh. Darin always knows how to insult properly, and we all Love that in Argentina. Its a movie about Life and its Magic, about rare events and Destiny. You will find the story quite relaxing and and end that boosts the movie just enough to make it a really good one. Not a classic so far of Argentinian Cinema in my opinion, I don't see it becoming One, is what I mean. But as I said, Solid, very watchable, funny here and there, and a message, nicely wrapped with good performances. And if you know about Buenos Aires Culture, its always a plus for this kind of movies. But if you are not familiar with our ways here, you are probably gonna miss some things but at the end, its a nice little journey.

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.