Los guantes mágicos

A total delight. Martin Rejtman's "The Magic Gloves" is like an early Almodovar film on Prozac. Actually there's an awful lot of pill-popping in this off-the-wall comedy, most of them taken by Cecila, ex-girlfriend of our hero Alejandro, (a wonderfully deadpan Vicentico). She's been diagnosed with depression by her travel agent who's married to a musician known as Piranha who invites Alejandro home believing him to be an old school-friend of his porn star brother. Yes, it's a comedy of identity, mistaken or otherwise, that wouldn't disgrace Jarmusch or Kaurismaki or maybe even Albert Brooks whom Alejandro actually resembles. As for 'props', all you need are some dogs and a car or two and you've hit the jackpot. I loved it.

This is a modestly paced film which suits the character of its main protagonist, Alejandro, the service driver, (sort of, but not quite, a taxi driver, apparently). It sits in the comedy genre but the comedy is of a gentle and knowing kind.

It will not suit those who prefer their movies to be long on narrative and short on insight but if you're interested in the adventures of a pretty normal guy and his attachment to his Renault 12 then there is much of value.

Anyone who has ever dabbled in amateur rock should check it out just for the gags surrounding 'Piranha' and his CD.

The very well written screenplay co-ordinates a group of intertwined Idiosyncratic characters very well. I am a fan of the director's style of subtle comedy - it needs to be delivered with exact timing and with the minimum of movement and change of expression. I would suggest that it is not that easy to do and that there would be a fine line between success and failure.

(I agree with the first commenter that it recalls Kaurismäki, which is of course a compliment, but I really don't see any reference to Almodovar).

I'm not usually the kind of person who likes everything he sees, or at least finds always something good in a movie, but this movie really touched me.

This bitter-sweet comedy shows us how we are: lost, absent, trying to figure something out, but not really making it. Beyond the little scenes of absurd banality, you can have some insight in the life of Argentina and the social and economic hold-up it went through (illustrated by the pitiful arrangements the main character is making without gaining anything).

The first thing I thought after I saw this was: That's were french social comedy should be today if it hadn't been sold to TF1 and other profit-only based production companies for whom the receipt is to «make it look American».

Attempting to set up a South American mixture of Kaurismäki and Almodovar, Martín Rejtman does not succeed.

Though I certainly laughed my way through some quite humorous moments, especially during the first half hour, the script is neither enough 'on the edge' to be absurd, nor is it subtle enough to deliver a story of much interest.

Having said that, most characters are very well casted, and the acting is brilliant at times.

Don't avoid this film for any price, but don't expect even half a masterpiece.