Martín (Hache)

When you see four times a film and you discover new contents each time, evidence: this piece is worth-. I see my own evolution with this movie, my opinion growing, I notice concepts I hadn't before.

Martin (Hache) talks about life through incredibly deep characters, specially Martin (father), whose very balanced but also extremely dark side drives spectator into a superior intellectual world, in which you are overwhelmed by messages, looks, behaviors, feelings.

All actors are superb, there is a maximum connection with their characters, you forget you are in front of a TV, flowing in the story like a fish in the water, even understanding both sides of all the great and rich arguments they have. Everything is valuable, don't miss a minute!

Wonderful film that sadly was not released in the U.S. Beautifully written and acted character-driven piece about many things, among them the role of a parent in our modern civilization - and the role of the child as well; the relationships between men and women, and the friendships between straight men and gay men; the role of artistic expression in the lives of artists and in the lives of those who will never be artists. The film is also noteworthy for its portrayal of the hypocrisy of adults who impose upon their children "values" that they themselves reject in their day-to-day lives. The gay character is refreshingly unapologetic. And the female lead is heartbreakingly real, a brilliant and deeply moving performance by Cecilia Roth. If you ever get a chance to see this film, I highly recommend it.

At times I felt this film might have been adapted from stage-theatre, so good are the dialogues; scintillating, the right way to speak Spanish – if you will excuse the `porteño' accent so very necessary for the film. The old `maestro' Federico Luppi is about as good as in any other film I have seen him in, I suppose; Juan Diego de Botto is better than in other films of his that I have seen; but the real standing ovation is for Eusebio Ponce who plays very delicately and intelligently the philosophical homosexual, and Cecilia Roth is outstanding as the film-director's girl-friend. Though I must say that I am beginning to get accustomed to Cecilia Roth being outstanding in everything she does.

The direction is right – spot on; tight, befitting the excellent playing out of the dialogues and demanding great skill with the camera and later the person with the scissors. Adolfo Arastarain worked hard for this one: the result is a hugely satisfying piece.

Once again, as erstwhile said elsewhere in IMDb, for those who like real character-driven pieces with intelligent dialogues, this film is highly recommendable. However, for those of you with a fair knowledge of Spanish, if you are not used to the Argentinian (porteño) accent you may well have problems, such that you will need the subtitles. It is worth the effort, I can assure you: just over 8 out of 10, which is pretty high on my scale.

Once or twice in a lifetime you watch a movie that strikes you exactly in the moment when you need it, and you feel completely identified with it. That happened to me today when I saw Martín (Hache), commenting on movies is a very subjective thing to do, you can like a movie even if it's a flick just because you needed someone to tell you what the movie is saying in that exact moment. Anyway, that's what this movie is about; reflection and not only for young people also for adults.

This movie has lots of social and political opinions in between lines, it's a perfect mirror of the society we live in but it doesn't give a point of view that's what's great about it!, it keeps itself objective. Like Dante would say about drugs, they make everything relative the only truth is your truth, Post-modernism!, XX Century!, there aren't any more rules to obey, society is rotten and it's a dream to try and change it, so you might as well adapt and enjoy the "good" things about life.

After you see this movie I really hope you question yourself, what is the meaning of "good". Everything is relative, remember?

After the kind and tender portrait of human condition made in so wonderful film as "A place in the world", the Argentine film-maker Adolfo Aristarain submerges again into the storming sea of human relationship, but at this time he does with a harder and scrawnier outlook in this "Martín (Hache)", played by a dazzling Federico Luppi, which character, marked by the contradiction between his longing of independence and solitude and his need of surrounding himself with his loved persons, swings in a continuing "pendulum" of affection and disaffection that marks deeply the life of two persons more important for him: his son, Hache (Juan Diego Botto), and his lover, Alicia (Cecilia Roth) -both in masterful performances, too-. And marks, of course, his own life, that he tries to do utmost in his working face but without getting it.

"Martin (Hache)" is the typical proof of the "cinema of the word", this cinema in which the script, strong and solid, is construed over a torrential, permanent dialog that the characters express what they feel, what they think, what they are in what they say...