Tan de repente

Two lesbians Mao and Lenin kidnap a shop girl Marcia and take off with her in a taxi. Before too long Marcia goes along with things including having sex with the Mao? (one of the lesbians).

This grainy black and white film has no interesting story no cinematography to speak of and no acting! This is the kind of film that might come out of a college class.

Save yourself the trouble and money and rent some good Argentine movies like The Aura or Live In Maid or Intimate Stories...vastly better than this ?? term project at a junior college.

Do not recommend.

'Tan de repente' (Suddenly) is wrongly considered a landmark in the so-called 'New Argentine Cinema'. Who establishes those landmarks? Certainly a bunch of foreign critics and festival prize-givers with a weakness for art-house films, especially if they come from third-world (poor) countries. This one suits them perfectly; it comes from Argentina (country that has been a lot in the map recently due to its huge economic crisis), it is shot in grainy black and white, it contains some raw dialogue, a realistic though stylized look (the image treatment reminds of the superior Stranger than Paradise) and some extreme nudity. The perfect cocktail. But to be honest with it, the film is dull as a film can be and has some of the most abominable performances seen recently on screen. The unimaginative ultra-slow pace, divertive storytelling and the keenness of portraying the ugly from a low point of view doesn't help either. Lerman's film may fool a good few abroad, with its exasperating still photo of country skies, high-tension wires and rear-view mirrors, but ultimately cannot hide the director's inability to reach any standard of storytelling. It is a pity that this is the kind of argentine film commercially released internationally, for the embarrassment of argentinians abroad and the regular filmgoer.

Marcia (Tatiana Saphir) is a heavy-set woman who is stuck in a dead-end job selling underwear in a lingerie shop that attracts few customers. Rejected by her fiancé after a two-year courtship, she goes through the motions of living. Her world is turned upside down, however, when she is kidnapped at knife point by two sullen, ice-cold, look-alike lesbians named Mao (Carla Crespo) and Lenin (Veronica Hassan) who tell her how much they want to have sex with her.

Based on the novel La Prueba by Argentine writer Cesar Aria, Deigo Lerman's Suddenly is a fascinating examination of power struggles in relationships that takes us to unexpected places - suddenly. Filmed in 16mm black and white by cinematographers Diego del Piano and Luciano Zito and reminiscent of Jim Jarmusch's episodic style, Lerman's first feature has, according to the director, "contradictions reveling in contradictions".

The film contains moments of comedy but these are undercut by a mysteriously sinister air that keeps us guessing as to where the film is headed. Marcia is scared but does not attempt to run away and seems curious about their overtures. The tough young women hijack a taxi and drive Marcia to visit Lenin's seventy-year old Aunt Blanca (Beatriz Thibaudin), who lives in Rosario, a seaside town near Buenos Aires with her two tenants, the shy Felipe (Marcos Ferrante), a Biology student and Delia (Maria Merlino), a painter and part-time teacher. Aunt Blanca in a fine performance by Thibaudin, is one of the few sympathetic characters in the film and her unconventional warmth allows Lenin to connect with the value of relationships.

When Marcia tells Mao that she enjoyed being with her, she tells Marcia to shut up and go to sleep. Mao is an unpleasant bully who, after consummating her relationship with Marcia, neglects her and rudely shifts her interest to Felipe. Passive to the end, Marcia does not stand up for herself or try to leave. Felipe seems bewildered by the girls but supports Mao in a shoplifting spree without considering the ramifications. Suddenly is a strangely involving film that shows great promise by the director but the lesbian butch women are caricatures that detract from the film's message, which after all is quite simple - when people are finished playing ego games with each other, what is left is love.

A brilliant, ever-shifting intimately-scaled comedy-adventure movie exploring the complicated relationships among about ten characters, young and old, mostly women. It is by turns a bit scary and sadistic, gentle, bawdy, warmly sympathetic, mysterious, yet ultimately rather clear.

Shot in B&W on blown-up 16 mm, and reminiscent of Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise." An edgy celebration of life, humanity, and vulnerabilities. Well worth seeing.

Surprisingly fresh, frank and lively film comes from Argentine, a gloomy country in terrible political, economical and ethical state. In his feature debut brave young man Diego Lerman has shown excellent knowledge of psychology of the youngsters who found themselves in hopeless situation. From the perspective of a Bosnian spectator, whose reality is not far from Argentinean, and having a friend there I know very well how similar are our lives, the story seems exceptionally convincing and realistic.

Two lesbian punks, Mao and Lenin (their nicknames could be a separate story!), hassle an unhappy chubby girl with shocking, direct sexual invitation. Poor Marcia, threatened with a knife, is being kidnapped «in the name of love» and her life turns upside-down in a flash. Her boring, monotonous world suddenly becomes an exciting, unpredictable and sometimes even scary adventure. Development and transformations of the characters are done marvelously and black and white division of between them in the beginning of this black and white film gets newer, richer spectrum and wider variety of gray shades. What looked like a funny on-the-road film in its beginning slowly becomes a drama. Widening the focus from three teenage girls to the characters of different generations and occupations shows that nothing is as simple as it looks at the first glance. Special credits go to the old Lenin's auntie whose appearing brings genuine, sincere and deep emotions.

I am not sure whether flattering comparison with Jim Jarmusch's films gains the point. You cannot say there was nothing «Jarmuschian» in this film (i.e. fabulous scene when five characters sit together around the table after the aunt has died), but it is far from copying the probable hero. With his clear expression an evident messages, Lerman cuts deep into the womb of a society. The simple fact he sees the way out of crises in connecting, understanding and supporting within family and friends is so human and well meant. Should you see this film? You bet!