User reviews

The plot: Victor, who lives and works in Toronto has arranged a business trip to Buenos Aires allowing almost an entire day with his family: mother Nelly, sisters Laura and Lucía, brother Andrés and Silvia, Victor's ex-girlfriend who has grown attached to Victor's family and is now an accepted family member. The scenario is the Lujine unpretentious but comfortable family house and environs (the street, a service station, a sidewalk cafe) with brief excursions into other locales such the campus of the University of Buenos Aires and Ezeiza airport.

This is not one of these family reunion movies where earthshaking revelations surface. In fact, most of what we know at the end is already revealed by Nelly in a conversation with her hairdresser and later, in a nostalgic session of juego de la silla = musical chairs with her family. There are oblique, vague hints here and there but nothing is really explicit: for instance, what were Silvia's reasons to live away from her own family. If the movie has a visible subject it is the meticulous planning by Nelly of the celebration for Victor, frustrated at each step.

The film places us as invisible witnesses of a conversation among strangers, frequently rambling and unfocused as in real life but connecting with ourselves and our feelings and experiences. We empathize with the characters in spite of their failings, which could be ours too. Director Ana Katz moves the tale forward smoothly and acting is good, perhaps with a few rough edges, and the final result is positive. The movie had a second life in the theater with successful runs in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.