What makes it different from others?

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This movie can only be understood in the context of the Argentine situation at the time. The year 1999 was the last of Carlos Menem's presidency. Menem's regime was an unqualified disaster, not unlike Boris Yeltsin's tenure in Russia. Free market policies were applied with a vengeance, dictated by international organizations like the IMF and the World Bank. Corruption was rife, state assets were liquidated at bargain prices and debts (mostly fraudulent) incurred by private banks were "nationalized" by the government. Social services were starved of funds or privatized, and unemployment soared. The post-Menem government was no improvement and the economy careened towards implosion, which occurred at the end of 2001 under the weight of an unsustainable foreign debt. It was a time of despair, reflected in this relentlessly dark film which has been absurdly described a "comedy". Even the title, "Felicidades", a greeting used in Argentina for holidays (Christmas in this case) is a sinister joke.This said, the movie is not entirely satisfactory and the script has weaknesses. The constant frustrations experimented by all characters are germane to the subject but become tiresome after a while; in fact, there seems to be a general inability to make even the simplest decisions. The ransacking of an apartment by policemen/thieves seems illogically stretched out; why not take the loot and run? Are the neighbor and two witnesses really necessary? Is it so difficult to dispose of a dead dog at night in a big city? And so on.There are also strengths in this film, among them an unfailing ear for dialog and excellent direction of actors. This is the only movie (except for shorts) by director Lucho Bender. His promise was truncated by his untimely death in 2004 at the age of 46.

It has ups and downs. Extremely good moments, and moments that you ask yourself what is the story trying to tell you. Some moments of the best acting Argentina has ever given (Alfredo Casero as a `buchón') and some of the most boring.Nevertheless it is worth seeing it. It helps you think about the loneliness during Christmas time and the light relationships of our times.It is a modern tango story (without tangos) but with the same taste in the mouth.

crazy dumb. Think pulp fiction with stale plots. This film aspires to convey a sense of hope in the face of despair, but falls short. Real short. I highly recommend this film to people having trouble sleeping because i have come to find (it took me 3 days to watch the entire thing) that this piece helps quite a bit.

FELICIDADES is Argentina's Y2K Oscar submission for Best Foreign Film. Director Lucho Bender, who also participated in the screenwriting, was tired of Christmas films in which everything works out, and FELICIDADES is his antidote. A Mitzvah entertainer, a novelist, his girlfriend, a doctor, a wheelchair bound man, a father out looking for a last-minute present - all are tied together without necessarily knowing it, both by circumstances that bring their lives to intersection, but more so by longing. The pace is fast, the characters engaging, and in the end, there remains the promise of better days to come.