Conversaciones con mamá

This Argentinian film, currently in the international film festival circuit, is not-to-be-missed. It stars the 80 something year old South American diva of theater and cinema, China Zorrilla and Eduardo Blanco (of the 2001 Oscar-nominated hit "Son of the Bride"). A truly poignant story, it is nevertheless delivered with lots of humor - with the best exchange of one-liners between mother and son I can remember, making the film light and thoroughly enjoyable. There is not one dull moment, nor is there a climax. It is uniformly entertaining, thought-provoking, and emotional throughout. None of the corniness one would expect (I did) about the subject matter ever surfaces. It is fresh, delightful, and uplifting. If this film is not a 10, then there are no tens. Enjoy it.

A middle-aged man who's just lost his job and who's about to lose his home, his wife and his entire Argentinian-bourgeois world. An octogenarian mother with a goldfish memory and almost gaga who can only speak with the truth of the experience. The friend/lover of the mother (an anarchist-retired –as he calls himself-), that keeps on fighting' the system and raisin' his fist with the power which gives him the food that he finds in the garbage. Three characters, three different lives, three rivers which will come to the same ocean.

Simplicity envelops this Argentinian-Spanish production created through a series of flash-backs, and some sequences that looks a little chaotic (in principle). Grounded in very brilliant dialogs (that happens to be the usual thing in latest Argentinian cinema) which would not be as powerful as they are if not performed by these three giants: Eduardo Blanco, Ulises Dumont and, specially, the very veteran China Zorrilla.

"Conversaciones Con mamá" is a song to individualism, to tenderness, and to love, above all those deluxe cars, swimming-pools, and the 300 channels TV. Feelings come one after the other just like in an emotional roller-coaster: the sadness of that poor old woman who feels like she's been abandoned, the witticism of the old retired man while playing a game of chess...

So this is a movie that prepares you for the real life (as José Luis Cuerda said), or at least makes you feel a little bit better with yourself and with the entire human race. Maybe we're not that bad after all.

*My rate: 8.5/10

The film industry of Argentina is ruled by moments, or times. When it is someone's time he or she needs to take advantage of it; mainly if the person is creating some good material. When "Son of the Bride" became a hit, Juan José Campanella realized it was his time and did "Luna de Avellaneda", with his favorite actor who has enjoyed the "time" for a long time: Ricardo Darín.

But there was a supporting actor in Campanella's most famous films who also caught my attention: Eduardo Blanco. It's not his time probably, but he stars alongside the great China Zorrilla in "Conversaciones con mama". Surprisingly, when Eduardo Blanco was given a chance by Campanella in a movie called "El mismo amor, la misma lluvia", he didn't won an award for Best New Actor, but he got the Best Supportng Actor Award.

There are many viewers who dislike Eduardo Blanco; I don't, but I'll get into that later. Now, watching China Zorrilla is a pleasure for almost every Argentinean. I was given a chance to admire her for a second time, and she didn't disappoint me. Directors today choose their casts considering what the audience wants to see; but there's no problem with that if the actors are good.

Santiago Carlos Oves not only directed, but wrote "Conversaciones con mamá". Who is he? You might wonder. Well, he is no amateur in our film industry. He was part of the writing team who wrote the prodigious "El Faro", directed by Eduardo Mignona; he wrote "Sol de otoño", also Mignona's; and he was one of the writers of a movie with Federico Luppi called "Matar al abuelito".

I don't want to compare or criticize, but a thing that is noticeable in Oves as a writer/director is that he might choose the actors the people want to see, but he directs what he wants to sense and he writes what he want to hear; standing aside from others that work entirely for the business. The screenplay of "Conversaciones con mamá" is not something everyone will like; it is slow and detailed, and that's what makes it so good.

It covers the story of an Argentinean middle aged man in the middle class (Jaime, Eduardo Blanco's part); the most typical man of our country. But this man in particular has forgotten the good things life has to offer; the love for a woman, the respect for a son or daughter and the conversation with a mother (China Zorrilla) he calls once a day and asks how she is and she responds "fine" without being able of telling him that she has a boyfriend (a poor protester played by Ulises Dumont).

Oves' direction is revealing, and it plays a lot with the memory, taking advantage of China's ability of being the most charming person in the world for an hour and a half. Who would have a guess that a grown man can discover what he really feels through his mother, a woman that he doesn't visit much and doesn't eat with anymore? "I'm an appearance", he tells her. "And what's behind that appearance", she asks him. "Fear".

I admire Eduardo Blanco because he can play a human being looking like one. "He can't be an actor", I say to myself sometimes; because he is so real that you believe everything he does and says. I assume people don't like him because he always plays the same character. Well, he probably does, but let's just say that he looks better playing the same role here than China looks playing the character she knows by heart; and that's a compliment.