Sale temps pour les pêcheurs

I was having a bad day. Rented out both Skyline and this movie, and though Skyline was not nearly as bad as rumored, I'd be much prouder to have directed Bad Day.

The two leads, Gary Piquer and Jouko Ahola, the manager and wrestler respectively, are magic together. There was no mistake making their relationship the heart and soul of this film. They essentially rode into my memory without triggering the slightest hesitation on my part.

Gary, Prince Orsini, is a bit of a huckster though it's clear he's had some breeding. Jouko as the champion, Jacob van Oppen, is everything he should be, physically and emotionally. He's a massively muscled German, I think, whose best days are behind him. There's a world of humanity in his eyes though his life is being severely circumscribed by his handler and his quickly fading youth.

They go town to town challenging the local toughs for a prize they don't even have. They're barely scraping by. And then they visit Santa Maria, where the local tough, The Turk, is no push over. His betrothed is desperate for him to win enough for their wedding. Antonella Costa as The Turk's intended, Adriana, is every bit as skillful and unforgettable as the two main leads and in some ways, the whole film rests on her performance.

This is a real find which I intend to pass on to others whenever I get the chance. It's not flashy or grandiose but it nevertheless is totally affecting. I marveled at how effortlessly it was played out almost as if everyone involved were born to play their part.

First off, I take issue with the description of the film, where it states- "Jacob van Oppen, the former strongest man on earth, and his manager Orsini, who calls himself "the Prince", make a good living by traveling around small South American towns and organizing wrestling exhibitions." Wrong. They do not make a good living. They are living a precarious existence. Jacob, a shadow of his former self and Orsini, a con-man who does not even have the 'mil dolares' to back up and finance his bets. They are leading a terrible life, are both alcoholics, and both know it. Orsini is a self-described Italian Prince, but no one dare ask what he is doing, taking seedy bus trips, promoting a washed-up wrestler, all over South and Central America.

In any case, it's an excellent film. Jacob has become brain damaged from his years of wrestling and self abuse, he has reverted back to the mental state of a child. Not only that, he is bi-polar or has other mental issues which he takes medication for. As if that were not sad enough, Jacob also has some serious health issues. Although it has many comedic moments, it is nonetheless a sad film. It takes place in a fictional, back-water, town in Uruguay, in 1962. The acting and cinematography are all top notch. Jacob is somewhat devastated when he finds out the Orsini has been "fixing matches for him" and hand-picking opponents that insure Jacob wins the matches every time. The ending is brilliant and everything leads up to the final match at the end, where due to events in the town of Santa maria, Jacob must face a very tough opponent.

Bad Day to Go Fishing (2009)

What a terrific movie. It's filled with a slightly improbable, likable, colorful quality you have to watch even if you don't quite care. But you do eventually care. You want these quirky main characters to somehow succeed. Even if you don't know how they can do that.

It's set in South America, but in an unanchored place called Santa Maria. (Could be anywhere, but much of the filming took place in Uruguay.) The main two characters are a pair of scam artists with good hearts and somewhat simple methods. One is an impresario with a flair for convincing people of things. The other is an aging wrestling champion from Germany (of all places--this is Uruguay, right?). And so the two of them enter this town with their usual plan.

Except that their method of having a show and winning a finale match-off with a local big man wrestler gets off track when the challenger is a seriously huge and buff young man. And he can't be bought off.

This is enough, but it hardly does justice to the huge array of really convincing and slightly exaggerated figures. There is the newspaper man, wise and quickly savvy to what's going on but willing to let it unfold on its own. There is the first challenger, who turns out to be perfect, and a drunk. There is the woman who wants to get married above all and needs the money.

There is the town itself, filled with nostalgia--it feels like it's set in 1970, maybe, with old cars and old ways, and no cell phones or modern connections that might change the feel of it all. There is the idea of a strong man and wrestler in the first place, played by a rather woeful drunk himself. And there is the impresario, played brilliantly by Gary Piquer. He holds it all together, sad and wickedly charming and seemingly intelligent. He seems to have a good heart and yet he's scamming the town. And maybe (at times) leading on his main attraction, who also is his best (and only) friend.

In fact, this becomes more and more a movie about the relationship the two traveling men have together. It takes a turn, convincing and emotionally satisfying, at the end. There are shades (in the most abstract way) of how the two leads related in "Midnight Cowboy," so that it's not the circumstances that win the day, but these two flawed and beautifully interesting people.

This movie took me by surprise. I'm not sure why it gets so many low ratings. My suggestion is to go into it without expectations, and to let the characters slowly build. And to enjoy the scenes--the set design, old cars, and general lost in time quality is great all by itself.

This is one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. Give it shot!

If you like Hemmingway or Mark Twain, you'll love this movie. This is the story of a washed-out champ (with Hemmingway it is usually a bullfighter, here it is a wrestler) who's way past his prime and just doesn't know when to quit. But he is not so over the hill that he can't be used by someone -- in this case a con man calling himself Prince Orsini. Orsini takes the pathetic (think washing in public fountains and wailing loudly in churches) ex-athlete on a tour of South America. They go from town to town where Orsini offers a $1,000 reward to anyone who could last 3 minutes in the ring with the champ. Then he normally bribes the local strongman to accept the challenge and throw the fight (and of course charges everyone in town for admittance).

But in the town of Santa Maria, the duo lucks out: the local strongman turns out to be not only very strong, but also very honest: he won't accept a bribe. Orsini, afraid of losing both the reward money and his champ to boot, leaves no stone unturned in an attempt to get out of the fight. I won't give away the ending, but it very well done -- one of the best, most satisfying endings in any movie I've ever seen. In all, this is a masterpiece with many comedy moments and an excellent character development. You don't have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy (I'm not), and you won't be able to help reflecting on the fact that all of us will one day be past our prime.

Jacob used to be the strongest man on Earth. Now he and his manager Orsini travel South America, showing him and his feats off, and betting $1000 that no one can last 3 minutes in the ring against him. But one town proves troublesome for their endeavors; the man they hire to lose is arrested and won't be able to fight, and a new challenger surfaces. Since they don't have the money they've been promising, how will they get out of this situation? The acting is quite good. This is about getting by by any means necessary(not only for our two leads, several others are desperate as well, and the setting fits this perfectly) and the dangers of wrestling(the former champion is clearly brain-damaged - to the point where he has the mind of a child - and he has damaging addictions, such as drinking, not to mention the so-called "cycle" he goes through, wherein he sometimes gets extremely volatile). There is humor in this(I think it might be typically Spanish... I couldn't detail it more than that, it has some "stupid people" material). The film moves gradually towards the inevitable climax, a showdown. There is a bit of brutal violence, sexuality and disturbing content in this. I recommend this to fans of drama. 7/10