Simply Perfect

Awesome Movie

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Usually telling the end of a film is considered a spoiler. In the case of Argentinian director Sebastián Borensztein, 'Chinese Take-Out' ('Un cuento cino' in the Spanish version) it would be a spoiler to tell how it begins. I actually watched the usual late comers to the cinema hall and wondered whether the film experience is really complete for those folks who entered even only two minutes late after the start of the projection. So, I won't make the mistake of revealing the start of this quite charming feel-good film, I will just say it's quite relevant.The film tells the story of a grumpy mid-aged owner of a hardware shop in Argentina named Roberto who lives alone, refusing almost any relation with other human beings excepting his suppliers and customers (well, even with these ones only to the point where they do not walk on his toes). He is a good and decent man, and a very bad communicator at the same time. The last thing he needs in life is the appearance of a young Chinese man, Jun, frightened and disoriented, who looks for his uncle in the search for somebody to support him in finding a new way in a new country and who has no-one to rely on but Roberto whom he met accidentally. None of them speaks any word in the language of the other, and each hides traumas from the bast that justify their own barriers in communication. The whole movie is about finding ways to communicate and building a friendship that will help both in overcoming the hurdles of life.Films about overcoming cultural gaps doubled by barriers of language and making human communication possible despite of them have been made in the past, the one I happen to remember is the Israeli 'Noodle', which was telling the story of a stewardess who finds herself taking care of an abandoned Chinese kid. What makes the story different in 'Un quento cino' are the background stories of the two heroes and the fact that Ricardo Darin and Ignacio Huang are right on spot for the two leading roles. One of the nice ideas of the film is that Jun (Huang) does not really speak one word of Spanish during the whole film, he speaks Chinese, but no translation is available. The language gap is more than a emotional trick or a comic pretext in this film. It is the very glue upon which the relationship and eventually the friendship between the two characters is based upon. Although it is aimed eventually to be a feel-good movie (and succeeds to be so) 'Un quento cino' avoids falling into cheap melodrama because of the discrete humor built upon the day-to-day situations, also based on the fact that in the absence of words the characters need to use gestures which to some extent remind the pantomime style of the early cinema comedies. A discrete and pleasant film.

"Enjoyable but a bit sentimental" says Yalza, from Denmark, as a title to his critic for this movie. I don't quite understand it, this is not a Rambo movie, this is a very subtle composition about human values, about ethical decisions, about people reaching out to each other, trying to cope with emotions, sometimes small ones, sometimes too big and impossible to grasp in one take.I was mesmerized throughout the whole film, for moments afraid that the incredible pacing and magic created by this superb director (Sebastián Borensztein, also the script writer) could come down with some unforgivable faux pas that would destroy the fantastic story being told. But that improbability never happened. Not even in the most minuscule detail. Ricardo Darín created such a strong introverted character (Roberto) endearing from the very beginning with his constant cursing (I didn't see the English subtitles, but I'm afraid that most Argentinian cursing vocabulary is untranslatable) while Ignacio Huang (Jun) brought to life this lost, penniless Chinese immigrant, incapable even to say ROBERTO due to his total lack of the Spanish language (plus the handicap that Chinese people cannot pronounce R at the beginning of a word); Muriel Santa Ana as Mari projected so well her (not hidden at all) great love for Roberto that one felt immediately for her.And so it goes with the whole rest of the cast, all perfect, even to the smallest part. This movie grabbed me with the story of the lost immigrant in a country without the language because I was there and although it wasn't that tragic, I know how one can feel when it's impossible to communicate.There are some heart wrenching emotional moments (the ones I suppose our friend Yalza from Denmark found objectionable tear-jerkers) but they are an intrinsic part of those situations and their inevitable conclusion, otherwise we'd be dealing with robots.Anyway, to me this is an impeccable movie, so far removed from any Hollywood product (I'm convinced that Argentinian movies delve with the same profoundly human feelings that once did the Italian neorrealism in the 1940s) and --as far as I know and I don't know that much-- only Brazilian cinematography matches those feelings with the same intensity.Try to watch it because, honestly, it's a jewel of a movie. And oh! its final scene... what a gorgeous final scene to end a perfectly gorgeous movie!

If it were not written at the beginning of the film - based on a true story - the film lover might think: This is the Argentian version of "Amelie"- a film used by so many to seduce a beloved one. Poetic movie about life which tells the most incredible stories. Human and optimistic in its tone we follow the transformation of a pedantic, closed, lonesome hardware dealer back into society by the by chance encounter with an Chinese immigrant. As hard as the hardware dealer tries to be a lonesome wolf - he has the heart on the right place and continues to help his stranded Chinese. This encounter with the young Chinese helps him to unlock his daily routines.

Jun, a Chinese man, is seen with his would be wife on a boat. The setting serves as a romantic place in which he will propose marriage to her. Unfortunately, fate intervenes in the way of a cow falling from the sky, killing the woman and ending his aspirations.The scene changes to a contemporary hardware store in Buenos Aires where Roberto, the owner, is counting screws. Instead of the number specified in the box, Roberto has been gypped, something, he notices, that occurs all the time. He curses the company that cannot even count right. He is a man of few words who does not take kindly to idiots that come into his shop. One thing Roberto loves is to cut articles from newspapers with bizarre stories. The best are pasted on an album he keeps.One day, a Chinese man arrives at the store. It is Jun, the Chinese man we saw first. He has come looking for a relative, whose address he was given, is the one where the De Cesare's Hardware is located. Roberto does not understand a thing Jun is trying to tell him, and vice-versa. Since Jun has no place to go, and not acquainted with the city, he stays close to Roberto's shop. Roberto takes pity on the poor Jun by taking him to the embassy, where they promise to contact Jun's relatives. Roberto has a friend, Mari, who sees in the foreigner a man to be pitied having come from so far away to an uncertain future. Mari is also interested in Roberto in a more romantic way, although he seems oblivious to the way she looks at him.Through his newspaper clippings, we get to know a little bit of Roberto's life and his involvement in the Falklands war. There is an article that shows a young Roberto and the tragedy the country suffered plus the humiliation afterward, something that can explain his strange behavior. Trying to get Jun occupied, Roberto asks Jun to paint his patio. Roberto is in for a big surprise after Jun leaves, having found his distant uncle, by what Jun decided to paint on his wall!An interesting film from Argentina, written and directed by Sebastian Borensztein, the son of well known and witty comedian Tato Bores. The film works in unexpected ways because it is a comedy with an important message sandwiched in between. The title refers to the kind of stories that are so far fetched, they are not true. Roberto lives through exactly that, stories that are so incredible, that he puts himself in them, trying to make sense to escape his lonely existence.One could not imagine what the film might have been without the great Ricardo Darin playing Roberto. The actor is without a doubt one of the best actors working today. The intelligence of Mr. Darin permeates everything he does; he is no one other than Roberto, the strange shop owner facing a dilemma about what to do with his life. Ignacio Huang plays Jun and Muriel Santa Ana is Mari.